March 21, 2009

• Hollywood Goes 3-D!

  Hollywood is looking at the future through 3-D colored plastic glasses.

  My Bloody Valentine, Coraline and the Jonas Brothers concert film were just warm-up acts. The attack of the 3-D movie revival begins in earnest next Friday when Monsters vs. Aliens, the latest computer-animated funhouse from DreamWorks, is launched into theaters.
  
  At least 12 other titles will follow this year, including such milestones as Up, Pixar’s first foray in the format; Ice Age: Dawn of the Dinosaurs, a rare chance to see that disaster-prone Scrat get flattened in 3-D; and Avatar, James Cameron’s return to feature filmmaking after a 12-year hiatus that will attempt to do for live-action futuristic thrillers what his Titanic did for sinking ships.

  If ever a digital-age update on what was once an Ike-era novelty were going to take hold — and persuade more theater operators to invest upward of $100,000 to convert to the technology — it is now, with such already anticipated titles ready to give it a real workout.

  “What’s going to happen in the next few months is that theater owners will ask themselves, ‘Do I want to be the guy watching cars drive by to a screen down the road?’ ” predicts Jim Gianopulos, co-chairman of Fox Filmed Entertainment, which is behind both the Ice Age sequel and the Cameron release. “With Monsters vs. Aliens and Ice Age ramping up to Avatar, there will come a tipping point.”

  • 6:58 pm
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