Posts Tagged ‘3d movie’

In the long and impressive cinematic history of James Cameron, there is one film he refuses to put on his resume but is reminded of every so often: “Piranha 2.”  The young auteur was hired to direct the sequel years before he made the landmark “Terminator” in 1984, but was fired after only a few days of work.  Not enough for a credit in the “Titanic” creator’s mind.  Now, with “Piranha 3-D” in theaters and purposely shot in the immersive medium Cameron has rejuvenated with “Avatar,” the subject of the killer fish and their potential for cinematic mayhem has reached the visionary once more.  Needless to say, he’s hardly a fan.

Speaking to Vanity Fair, Cameron bluntly said, “I tend almost never to throw other films under the bus, but that is exactly an example of what we should not be doing in 3-D. Because it just cheapens the medium and reminds you of the bad 3-D horror films from the 70s and 80s, like Friday the 13th 3-D. When movies got to the bottom of the barrel of their creativity and at the last gasp of their financial lifespan, they did a 3-D version to get the last few drops of blood out of the turnip. And that’s not what’s happening now with 3-D.”

Cameron went on to note the medium is in a “renaissance” right now.  

”[The] biggest and the best films are being made in 3-D,” the Oscar winner told the magazine. “Martin Scorsese is making a film in 3-D. Disney’s biggest film of the year—’Tron: Legacy’ —is coming out in 3-D. So it’s a whole new ballgame.”

The filmmaker has been on something of a media blitz the past few weeks in anticipation of the re-release of “Avatar” this past weekend.  Unfortunately, the demand for the blockbuster’s return wasn’t what either he or 20th Century Fox expected.  In just 881 3-D and IMAX theaters, “Avatar” grossed $4 million which put it outside of the top ten movies at the weekend box office.  With $2.751 billion in worldwide theatrical revenue alone, neither party is crying over the result. For more on Cameron’s thoughts on the “Avatar” re-release, check out his exclusive interview with HitFix’s Drew McWeeny below.

Sony and Toshiba are reportedly in a race to develop quality 3D technology that you can watch with bare eyes, though they seem to be concentrating on this benefiting television screens. There are some pricing and tech issues, but there’s no reason to think at least an expensive model will be ready in a few years, perhaps just in time for Sony to market its product as a tie-in with a 3D Blu-ray release of its Spider-Man reboot.

Don’t expect to see that superhero movie in the format without glasses on the big screen, though. Given how long it took (and is still taking) for theaters to convert to digital 3D-capable screens, I don’t see the industry going too crazy for any further advances requiring more costly equipment upgrades. Not anytime soon. So the big issue here is that 3D TVs will keep improving and adapting to consumer satisfaction while cinemas will have to deal with what they’ve recently invested in for a long time. And people will have another reason to stay home: the 3D in their living room will be better and more comfortable.

Despite some spin made by blogs like Superhero Hype and Splash Page, I have to note that there’s no real connection made by Sony or by AP’s report on this topic between the Spider-Man reboot and its potential to be available in glasses-free 3D. By the time the Marc Webb-directed film hits home video 3D DVDs and Blu-rays will be fairly common, so it’s not a big deal or surprising that this 3D movie would also be available for 3D home video formats. However, it would behoove Sony to mark the film’s home video release as a temporal aim for its tech plans due to it being a Sony title. 

(Reuters) – When “Titanic” director James Cameron released his film “Avatar” last year, there were not as many theaters equipped with 3D equipment to screen the 3D version as he would have liked.

So, on Friday, film studio 20th Century Fox is releasing an “Avatar: Special Edition” version of the biggest blockbuster of all time ($2.7 billion in global ticket sales) exclusively in Imax 3D theaters and venues equipped with digital 3D.

Cameron spoke to Reuters about the nine minutes of new film on the “special edition,” the movie’s success, and whether movies or science is his favored pursuit.

Q: Why a new one? The first was pretty good.

A: “There are a couple of factors. There’s footage I think people would be interested in. I don’t want to completely reinvent the movie and turn it into something it’s not. It’s really more an embellishment; it’s a fuller experience.

“The other factor is I think people want to see ‘Avatar’ in movie theaters. That’s just my instinct. This all came about because when “Alice in Wonderland” came out, they had booked all the Imax 3D screens. We were still doing well, still selling out … but we lost all those screens in one night. So, we knew there was still a market for people seeing the film.”

Q: Many people, me included, thought, ‘they already made $2.7 billion! How much more do they want?’ Money grubbers?’”

A: “Yeah, we are just money grubbing vampires. (smiles) No, I think making money is called good business. At least, in this country it still is. And two, it’s a side-effect of giving people what they want. If we’re correct and this is what people want, then we’ve done a humanitarian service (laughs).”

Q: Right, Hollywood does perform humanitarian services.

A: “Sometimes. (laughs again) Sometimes it can, but it’s usually just liberal guilt…

“No, it’s like an illuminated manuscript, there’s just more to it. I also want to encourage people to remember the movie in 3D on the big screen. And this will be the last hurrah … It’ll disappear from big screens — other than an occasional Imax may want to book it — for 10 years, 20 years, maybe forever.”

Q: So, the new footage, what are people going to see?

A: “We got different kinds of stuff. Some of it little things, 10-, 15-, 30-second pops that just show up here and there where if you’ve seen the movie, you’ll ask yourself, ‘did I see that before, or is that new.’

“Then, there are going to be things like a big action scene where they hunt these herd animals that didn’t even exist in the first movie because we’d cut them out. There are new creatures, a big flight scene, almost like a Buffalo hunt. I think it’s one of the top visual scenes in the film.

“There’s an emotional scene that plays out at the end where Tsu’tey is dying and there’s a very emotional scene with Jake and Neytiri. Everybody thought I was crazy when I took it out. I did it for pace and tempo, but I was playing it pretty conservative. I was concerned about eye fatigue on a 2-hour and 40-minute film. I was concerned about sensory overload…

“We never got much criticism about length. I was expecting a lot. I was expecting at least critics to say, ‘really good film’ or ‘pretty good film, but too long,’ but we didn’t get much of that. It seemed like we had permission to go longer.”

Q: So, you and Fox have the two top grossing films of all time. Can you now get about anything you want from Fox?

A: “Do they listen to me more, now? Probably not, if they weren’t going to listen to me after ‘Titanic,’ they’re not going to listen to me now, any more or any less.”

Q: You’re doing another ‘Avatar’ film. Is there a third?

A: “The next script will be essentially two scripts, and I don’t know if we’ll shoot it together or shoot it separately. We’ll release it separately, obviously.

“If that works, there will probably be another one, but at that point, I probably won’t be directing them. I do want to do the second and probably the third film myself just because it’s so much a part of me and my philosophy and ideas.”

Q: Beyond movies, you’ve become a bona fide expert on deep underwater exploration. When all is said and done, what do you want to be remembered for — big movies or exploration?

A: “What goes on the tombstone?” (laughs)

Q: Well, without having to ask it that way, yes.

A: “I’m satisfied with ‘innovator’ because it requires innovation to do all this deep ocean exploration. We’re building lights, cameras, robotics, submersibles, fiber optic systems, and I love all that stuff. I love imagining something, building it, and making it work in the ocean…

“On the filmmaking side, there’s the innovation of how you make the movie and there’s the innovation of what the movie is, meaning the story, the characters, the creation of a world, the imagination required for that. I love all that stuff. The problem for me is task managing in such a way that I don’t get so focused on one that I forget about doing the other.”

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A sequel to Alexandra Aja’s Piranha 3D has been confirmed. The film hit the box office this week, taking in just over $10 million in ticket sales. Now Dimension has given the go ahead for Piranha 3D: The Sequel.

The film’s producer Mark canton said, ” We are thrilled that audiences are not just loving Piranha 3D, but cheering for it. And its fantastic so many critics are really getting the movie and recommending it. We can’t wait to get to work on the sequel.”

The sequel will hit cinemas in 2012.

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Marvel Studio’s current plan is to convert Thor into 3D once the film is completed, and the recent footage shown at Comic-Con was presented in this format. Captain America: The First Avenger is also set to be converted into 3D, with its effects being rendered instead of converted. Now word comes from Showbiz 411 that Joss Whedon will actually be shooting The Avengers using 3D equipment as opposed to converting the film once it has been shot.

This will be the first time Marvel Studios has actually shot a film in the popular 3D format. Whedon and the studio have hinted for some time that The Avengers would be presented in 3D. Showbiz 411 is reporting that efforts to actually shoot the film instead of converting it are a “done deal”.

The 3D news hasn’t been confirmed by Marvel Studios as of yet, and we’ll be sure to keep you posted with any further news on The Avengers as soon as we have more information.

Another upcoming project from Marvel is X-Men: First Class and just added Oliver Platt to its growing cast. Deadline has the scoop on Platt joining Matthew Vaughn’s ensemble comic book adaptation as a character known only as “The Man in Black.” Apparently this odd character is neither a mutant nor a reincarnation of the mysterious character from “Lost.” Okay, so who is he? Tons of casting news keeps coming out of the woodwork for X-Men: First Class. Just last night we heard the lovely Rose Byrne would play Professor X’s love interest Moira McTaggart; over the weekend it was also reported that Jason Flemyng would be playing Azazel, a mutant who is father to Nightcrawler (of X-Men 2). There’s probably a little bit more casting down the road, too. After all, we still don’t have anyone lined up for Cyclops yet. Stay tuned for the latest updates!

The Avengers comes to theaters May 4th, 2012 and starsRobert Downey Jr., Scarlett Johansson, Chris Evans, Chris Hemsworth, Samuel L. Jackson, Don Cheadle, Clark Gregg, Tom Hiddleston. The film is directed by Joss Whedon.

Ridley Scott is expanding his depth into 3D with a bid for an ownership stake in one of the top manufacturers of 3D glasses and projection systems -MasterImage 3D. He has named his new production company Scott Three Productions ,  and is planning on the set of Alien prequels to be shot in 3D.Scott is hoping that the new increase of 3D and digital theaters will make MasterImage 3D a much stronger competitor over the dominant 3D tech companies like RealD and XpanD. MasterImage 3D sells equipment outright to movie theaters, and does not demand royalties for each ticket sold.

The real question now is if Scott’s investment will make him rethink his reluctance to re-release the original Alien or other classic Scott movies like Blade Runner in 3D. Let’s hope not.

Most of you know now that Cameron’s Avatar has crowned the filmmaker once again with the Worlds highest grossing movie of all time earning a whopping 3 billion dollars at te box office. While this position has contributed greatly to the traction 3D cinema currently spellbinding entertainment consumers, there is on glaring drawback in Mr. Cameron’s opinion, companies jumping on the 3D bandwagon and putting out horrible conversions.

Movies like Clash of the Titans andThe Last Airbender were shot in traditional 2D and converted into 3D after seeing Avatar’s success.

“I think it’s horrible and absolutely the wrong way to go,” Cameron said before the re-release of Avatar in 3D with added footage.

“I think it’s a quick, knee-jerk reaction to seeing the gold rush happen and the studios just wanted to jump in on it and that’s the only way they could do it. It’s the studio making the decision and then handing it over to some company to process it through a sausage grinder and come up with some kind of faux 3D, or a 2 1/2D mess,” he added.

The interesting footnote is he plans on re-releasing 1997’s Titanic in a 3D redux. Cameron fully admits that the conversion will be a “2.9D”, but goes on to add, “We won’t succeed. It will wind up being 2.9D, but it will still be .9 better than the 2D we released before. These other slapdash conversions, where they are not spending the time and money and not involving the filmmaker, are like 2.2D,” The Herald Sun quoted the 55-year-old filmmaker as saying.

It seems there is a drive to be the world’s first porn movie shot in 3D. Chinese director Christopher Sun has a 3.5 million erotic epic on his hands, Sex and Zen: Extreme Ecstasy, being shot in Hong Kong and slated for release next Year. There is also a film titled Kama Sutra, Produced by Mark Dorcel (apparently the “Hugh Hefner” of European porn), with Hustler, the movie is called Kama-Sutra and stars Brigitte Lahaie.

Meanwhile, Italian director Tinto Brass has announced he would produce a 3D remake of his 1979 erotic film Caligula, while Hustler plans to release a pornographic spoof of 3D science fiction film Avatar, the top-grossing movie of all time which has earned some 2.7 billion US dollars worldwide since its release.

Saori Hara, 22, one of the two female Japanese stars, said the film’s technical complexities made it tougher than her previous movies.

She said: “I have to work harder to not let the audience down. I hope people all around the world will see this movie.”

Leading man Hiro Hayana, 35, said starring in his first erotic film was daunting — but had no complaints about a scene in which he must satisfy 100 women.

He said: “I felt like the king of the world.”

The current onslaught of 3d films being released is a testament to remerging technology that exploded in the early 1950’s. Starting Aug 13 and running for two weeks in august, New York City’s Film Forum  is hosting  a two week classic 3-D series featuring films from the golden era of Hollywood’s foray into 3-D cinema, 1953-54.

Today Avatar lies at the pinnacle of state of the art 3d film making, and we are on the threshold of 24 hour 3D channels beaming into homes around the world. Wealth TV (http://www.wealthtv.com) will be launching around the clock 3D programming in Jan 2011. This isn’t the first time the public has undergone a period of insatiable craze for 3-D entertainment.

Re-looking at these pioneers truly demonstrates how far the art and technology of 3-D cinema has come. The Film Forum, located at 209 W Houston at the edge of NYC’s SOHO district, is the only cinema in New York equipped to screen vintage double screen 3-D projection. The 15 films featured will be screened with polaroid filters and lenses using double projectors, 2 reels running simultaneously, one for the left and right eye respectively.

Included in the series are some of the most accomplished films of this era. KISS ME KATE (1953) is a show within the film staging of Shakespeare’s Taming of the Shrew, the Broadway musical adapted for the screen by MGM, and serious stereoscopic dance fest.  HOUSE OF WAX ( 1953) tells the story of Vincent Price as a mad wax sculptor who,  aided by his muted henchman, repopulates his Victorian Chamber of Horrors with Wax coated victims. DIAL M FOR MURDER ( 1954) is Hitchcock’s tale explores a flat broke husband’s jealousy of his rich wife’s friendship with another man, and his plan for the perfect murder.

You can find more information and the entire slate of films scheduled at http://www.filmforum.org/films/classic3d.html .

With mass appeal for 3D programming growing, the demand for home systems is ever rising. Samsung’s dominant position as a provider of home 3D systems (http://3dguy.tv/3d-store-2/3d-tvs-2/) calls for 3D content at an unprecedented pace.

In a month that has heralded in the box office smash of Toy Story 3, it seems that 3D fever is gripping Hollywood, and the stars are even getting on board.

Twilight star Kristen Stewart said during the week that she hopes the widely popular Twilight film series can offer their next installment in 3D format, brining the seductive pale skin and blood even closer to the audience. Read the rest of this entry »