Harold
Lloyd Comedy Collection DVD includes 3-D photos and glasses
On
Nov. 15, New Line Home Entertainment will release The
Harold Lloyd Comedy Collection on DVD, a collection of
films, shorts and bonus features that effectively resurrect
a silent-film-era comedy great rivaling Charlie Chaplin and
Buster Keaton in his impact at the time.
Having appeared in more than 200 films and widely considered
to be one of cinema's most respected comic geniuses, Harold
Lloyd was one of Hollywood's first true movie stars. Now,
entertainment enthusiasts of all ages can enjoy the work of
the man who inspired generations of acting greats with The
Harold Lloyd Comedy Collection.
With a career that spanned more than 34 years, Harold Lloyd
essentially created the feature-length film. Best known for
his comedy movies including The Freshman, Speedy
and Safety Last!, which features one of Hollywood's
most iconic images of Harold Lloyd hanging from the hands
of a giant clock. The influence of his physical comedy is
evident in the performances of many of today's leading actors.
His trademark combination of physical skill, well-developed
characters and keen comic timing have influenced such acclaimed
talents as Lucille Ball, Jim Carrey, Dustin Hoffman and Johnny
Depp.
"Harold Lloyd was a true cinema icon whose unique brand
of filmmaking and comic timing have impacted generations of
movie-going audiences," said Justine Brody, senior vice
president of marketing, New Line Home Entertainment. "The
Harold Lloyd Comedy Collection is a virtual film history
treasure trove, offering viewers of all ages an outstanding
selection of remastered, restored and rescored Hollywood gems."
The three-volume, seven-disc Region 1 DVD collection includes
15 feature films, 10 shorts and a bonus disc containing a
treasure chest of extras including Harold Lloyd's home movies,
star tributes, photo galleries, all-new interviews and featurettes
and a 3-D bonus photo disc with a pair of 3-D anaglyphic glasses.
The disc containing the 3-D content is only included with
the collector's edition and will not be available as a separate
disc. Much, if not most, of the material has not been released
on TV or home video.*
Lloyd’s granddaughter Suzanne Lloyd spearheaded the
drive to restore the work and image of her grandfather and
worked with several producers on the massive collection of
bonus features, which includes Lloyd’s home movies and
a bonus photo disc with more than 100 3-D photos taken by
Lloyd of Marilyn Monroe and landscapes and shots of Lloyd
on the Eiffel Tower and Golden Gate Bridge.
“It has been a pleasure to work with New Line,”
she said. “They were willing to step out on a limb and
make Harold Lloyd a fresh, new entity.”
New Line will market the title primarily to adult film buffs
and collectors through online retailers such as Amazon.com,
as well as bricks-and-mortar outlets such as Best Buy. But
the company also will target general fans of comedy, including
kids, through mass retailers such as Target.
Volume 1 - Disc 1
Feature films and shorts - Girl Shy (1924), Safety
Last! (1923), An Eastern Westerner (1920), Ask
Father (1919), From Hand to Mouth (1919)
Commentary by Leonard Maltin director and Rich Correll on
Safety Last!
Production and publicity galleries
Animated menus
4X3 full frame versions
2M mono audio
Volume 1 - Disc 2
Feature films and shorts - The Milky Way (1936),
The Cat’s Paw (1934), Why Worry? (1923) Harold’s Hollywood: Then and Now Featurette
Production and publicity galleries
English subtitles and closed captions
Animated menus
4X3 full frame versions
Spanish subtitles (on feature films)
2M mono audio
Volume 2 - Disc 1
Feature films and shorts - Kid Brother (1927), The
Freshman (1925), Bumping Into Broadway (1919),
Billy Blazes, Esq. (1919)
Commentary by Leonard Maltin, Rich Correll and film historian
Richard Bann on The Freshman
Commentary by Harold Lloyd’s granddaughter, Suzanne
Lloyd, author Annette Lloyd, and Rich Correll on Kid Brother
Production and publicity galleries
Animated menus
4X3 full frame versions
2M mono audio
Volume 2 - Disc 2
Feature films and shorts - Feet First (1930), Grandma’s
Boy (1922), Dr. Jack (1922), Now or Never
(1921), High and Dizzy (1920) Scoring for Comedy Featurette
Production and publicity galleries
English subtitles and closed captions
Spanish subtitles
Animated menus
4X3 full frame versions
2M mono audio
Volume 3 - Disc 1
Feature films and shorts - Speedy (1928), Hot
Water (1924), Never Weaken (1921), Haunted
Spooks (1920),
Commentary by Suzanne Lloyd, Annette Lloyd and Rich Correll
on Speedy and Haunted Spooks
Production and publicity galleries
Animated menus
4X3 full frame versions
2M mono audio
Volume
3 - Disc 2
Feature films and shorts - Movie Crazy (1932), For
Heaven’s Sake (1926), I Do (1921), Among
Those Present (1921), A Sailor-Made Man (1921),
Get Out and Get Under (1920), Number Please?
(1920) Greenacres Featurette
Productions and publicity galleries
English subtitles and closed captions
Spanish subtitles
4X3 full frame versions
Bonus Disc (Collector’s Set Only)
Rare home movies
Introductions from film critic and historian Leonard Maltin
Photo galleries, lobby cards and production stills
Comparisons between domestic and international prints
“Then-and-now” location comparisons
Tributes and interviews with family, friends and legendary
celebrities including Debbie Reynolds, Robert Wagner, Tab
Hunter and director John Landis
Rogues’ gallery of autographed photos of celebrities,
presidents and sports heroes
Scrapbook collection - Reviews, programs, etc.
3-D photos (3-D glasses included)
Over 30 featurettes
and more!
*DVD special features subject to change.
The Harold Lloyd Comedy Collection will be available
in the boxset at a $89.95. Each volume can also be purchased
separately at $29.95 except the Bonus Disc, which is only
available in the collector's set.
Rod Serling to
Introduce 3-D Episode of NBC-TV's Medium
Reaching beyond the grave, and The Twilight Zone,
to hype one of its hits for this month's ratings sweep, NBC
has enlisted the late Rod Serling to introduce a 3-D episode
of its supernatural drama Medium.
The November 21 broadcast of Medium, starring Patricia
Arquette as a psychic crime-solver, will feature several spooky
three-dimensional effects, and the network is distributing
millions of 3-D glasses, most of them through TV Guide
magazine, ahead of the episode.
The most novel element of the broadcast for those viewers
without glasses, perhaps, will be the 45-second opening sequence
in which Sterling is "reanimated" by altering a
film clip from The Twilight Zone, the often-creepy
sci-fi anthology he hosted on CBS during the 1960s.
"He basically explains to people about the glasses,
when to put them on, and reassures people who don't have them
that they'll be able to enjoy the episode," Executive
Producer Glenn Gordon Caron said.
About two-thirds into the sequence, Serling will appear in
3-D.
Caron said the black-and-white clip of the master of irony
is being incorporated into Medium courtesy of Serling's
estate and his wife, Carol. The playwright and producer died
in 1975 at age 50.
"It's very flattering to be allowed to do this, to use
his image and take advantage of the extraordinary legacy that
he has," Caron said.
He said the episode, titled Still Life, was conceived
in part as a device to promote interest in the show during
the November sweep, when networks go all out to give the ratings
of local affiliates a boost.
Medium, which debuted last season, is one of the
few bright spots on NBC's schedule as the network seeks to
reverse a ratings slump. The show averaged more than 12 million
viewers a week so far this season, ranking in the top 20 among
all scripted series in prime time.
The drama is based on the experiences of real-life forensic
psychic Allison DuBois, played by Arquette, who helps police
solve crimes through her ability to commune with the dead.
Caron said the 3-D sequences include a butcher's cleaver
being thrown across a kitchen and a woman lying in the woods,
who reaches her hand out from under a tarp as she's about
to be buried alive.
Medium is not the first TV show to dabble in 3-D,
though the effect is more common in movies. Other TV series
to experiment with the effect in recent years have been The
Drew Carey Show and 3rd Rock from the Sun. The
show is also making history in that it is the first broadcast
HDTV 3-D episode.
Chicken Little
in Disney Digital 3-D™
Walt
Disney Pictures offers moviegoers a glimpse into the future
of theatrical exhibition with the November 4th debut of Chicken
Little in Disney Digital 3-D™. Disney Digital 3-D™,
presented exclusively in Dolby® Digital Cinema, is a brand
new state-of-the-art technology that provides the first true
three-dimensional digital experience in movie theatres.
In collaboration with Disney, Dolby Laboratories is overseeing
the rollout of its Dolby Digital Cinema systems in a total
of 84 specially-selected, high-profile theatres in 25 top
markets. Visual effects giant Industrial Light & Magic
(a Lucasfilm Ltd. company) rendered the movie in 3-D.
Digital 3-D pioneer, REAL D, applied several of its patented
technologies (screens, software and glasses) to make the Chicken
Little 3-D experience possible for presentation on the
Real D Cinema system. This joint effort has resulted in the
next leap forward in the evolution of motion picture entertainment,
bringing animation to life.
Chicken Little is Disney’s first fully computer-animated
feature film, and it brings the Studio’s distinct filmmaking
style and approach to this exciting medium. The sky’s
the limit in this delightful comedy-adventure that gives a
sophisticated and satirical twist to the classic fable. It
is now one year after the “unfortunate acorn incident”
when Chicken Little caused big-time havoc in his hometown
of Oakey Oaks by proclaiming that the sky was falling after
being conked on the head by what appeared to be an acorn.
Down but not out, the plucky chicken joins the local baseball
team in the hopes of reviving his reputation and winning the
respect of his father, Buck Cluck. When he leads the town
to an upset victory, he becomes the toast of the town. But
no sooner has the champion chicken redeemed himself when he
is hit on the head one more time. And this time the sky really
is falling! Fearful of once again being labeled crazy, he
is reluctant to tell anyone what has happened. Instead, he
enlists the help of his closest pals, Runt of the Litter,
Abby Mallard (aka Ugly Duckling) and Fish Out of Water, in
an attempt to save the day without sending the town into a
whole new panic.
Commenting on the announcement, Dick Cook, chairman, The
Walt Disney Studios, said, “Disney Digital 3-D™
is a truly groundbreaking technology that combines the latest
innovations of science and art, and we are proud to be a part
of filmmaking history. Walt Disney pioneered many technological
breakthroughs and set an uncompromising goal for his Studio
to constantly push the envelope to offer a superior movie
going experience. We are very proud to add this animation
milestone to the long list of technological breakthroughs
for the studio, and we are especially thrilled to work with
entertainment technology leader Dolby in this exciting launch.
Likewise, we are proud to have the wizards at Industrial Light
& Magic to help deliver the movie in 3-D, and the experts
at REAL D on board to make 3D like no one has ever seen.”
Academy Award®-winning director James Cameron (“Titanic”),
a long-time supporter of 3-D, added, “I think digital
3-D offers an opportunity to do something as profound for
today’s moviegoing audiences as the introduction of
color and sound. This is the next big thing, and I think people
are going to respond to these really high quality 3-D images.
Chicken Little is going to go a long way towards
getting people really excited about 3-D again. I call it the
3-D renaissance. Disney is a leader in showmanship and animation,
and animation and 3-D go together like peas and carrots. Animated
films and fantasy films really benefit from 3-D. You get a
heightened sense of being personally present in the space
of the movie. You’re drawn into it. It’s like
the movie wraps around you and takes you into its reality.
That’s a very exciting thing for a filmmaker. I’m
really proud of Disney for grabbing the flag and running out
in front to make this happen.”
Tim Partridge, senior vice president and general manager
of the professional division for Dolby Laboratories, observed,
“We live in a digital world, and consumers expect most
of their entertainment these days to be delivered with the
quality of digital. Digital cinema ensures that the movie
will look as good on the hundredth screening as it did on
opening night. There’s no more dirt or scratches; the
image is always crystal clear and beautifully steady. What
you see on the screen is the movie exactly as the director
intended. As a result, audiences are able to get much more
involved in the story because there are no distractions. When
audiences go to see a movie played in Dolby Digital Cinema,
they will be blown away by the quality and will want to see
all their films digitally in the future.”
“Chicken Little really lent itself to 3-D
because of the way the filmmakers composed their shots and
told their story,” said Colum Slevin, senior director
of computer graphics at ILM Slevin. “The design is gorgeous,
simple and stylized, and your eye is always drawn to a particular
character or detail with the lighting. The 3-D enriches that
design and makes it pop, without ever slapping you in the
face. You just feel like you’re looking at a really
deep, rich image.”
Joel Aron, ILM’s digital production supervisor, observed,
“What’s amazing about the 3-D in Chicken Little
is that you’re able to look around and see everything
in the frame. You can see things behind the characters. You
can look out the window of Chicken Little’s home and
see the stars in the sky. This level of detail has never been
done before in 3-D and this is the latest evolution of the
technology.”
“We’re excited a studio with the prestige and
heritage of Disney has embraced the digital 3-D medium with
such enthusiasm,” said Michael V. Lewis, chairman, Real
D. “We’ve worked for years to create a digital
3-D delivery system that is elegant for exhibitors and extremely
comfortable for moviegoers, and we’re thrilled Disney’s
Chicken Little will be the premiere presentation
in the REAL D Cinema format.”
Added Joshua Greer, CEO, REAL D, “The REAL D Cinema
system projects left and right frame images sequentially at
144 frames per second, three times that of traditional film-based
3-D movies, which was the threshold REAL D deemed necessary
for creating a natural 3-D entertainment experience for the
mainstream consumer. As each frame alternates between left
and right eye images, the system changes the orientation of
the light of match the orientation of the glasses. The polarized
glasses that decode the images allow audiences to tilt their
heads and move around, making for the most enjoyable 3-D movie-going
experience ever. Finally, a specially-treated silver movie
screen keeps the polarization coherent, allowing audiences
to perceive depth. This complete system allows for the most
comfortable, highest quality 3-D experience ever produced,
and one we think audiences will come back to experience again
and again.
According to Chicken Little director Mark Dindal,
“What I like about the process is that it’s very
comfortable to watch. It feels like the screen becomes a window
instead of a wall, and you’re looking behind it into
this universe that really exists. It has the warmth and charm
of a View-Master®. As I would watch the dailies come back
in 3-D, I literally cheered and laughed and clapped my hands.
It was a fantastic collaborative experience.”
Cast:
Zach Braff - Chicken Little (voice)
Joan Cusack - The Ugly Duckling (voice)
Kelly Hoover - Runts Mom
Don Knotts - Mayor Turkey Lurkey (voice)
Garry Marshall - Father (voice)
Connor Matheus - Alien/Additional voices
Dara McGarry - Hollywood Abby
Dan Molina - Fish
Catherine O'Hara - (voice)
Amy Sedaris - Foxy Loxy (voice)
Jeremy Shada - Alien Boy (voice)
Harry Shearer - (voice)
Patrick Stewart - (voice)
Adam West - (voice)
Fred Willard - (voice)
Steve Zahn - Runt (voice)
Walt Disney presents Chicken Little nationwide
in Disney Digital 3-D™ exclusively in Dobly Digital
Cinema in the following theatres:
Rave Motion Pictures West Chester 18, West Chester
Columbus, OH
Rave Motion Pictures Polaris 18, Columbus
Portland, OR
Regal Cinemas Bridgeport 18, Tigard
Philadelphia, PA
UA King Of Prussia Stadium 16, King of Prussia
Chattanooga, TN
Rave Motion Pictures Chattanooga 18, Chattanooga
Knoxville, TN
Regal Cinemas The Pinnacle 18, Knoxville
Memphis, TN
Malco Paradiso Theatre, Memphis
Austin, TX
Regal Gateway 16, Austin
Dallas, TX
Rave Motion Pictures Hickory Creek 16, Hickory Creek
Rave Motion Pictures North East Mall 18, Hurst
Houston, TX
AMC Willowbrook 24, Houston
San Antonio, TX
Santikos Silverado 16, San Antonio
Salt Lake City, UT
Megaplex 17 at Jordan Commons, Sandy
Washington, DC
Lee Highway Multiplex Cinemas, Merrifield, VA
Regal Countryside 20, Sterling, VA
Loews Georgetown 14, Washington, DC
View-Master®
Releases New Reel Titles
View-Master® has released several new 3-reel sets. There
are several new movie and television related sets.
Chicken
Little
This epic tale presents a new twist to the classic fable
of a young chicken who causes widespread panic when he
mistakes a falling acorn for a piece of the sky. In this
hilarious adventure, Chicken Little is determined to restore
his reputation. But just as things are starting to go
his way, a real piece of the sky lands on his head. Suspense,
chaos and plenty of laughs ensue as Chicken Little and
his band of misfit friends attempt to save the world without
sending the town into a whole new panic.
WINX
Somewhere in the universe, witches and fairies begin
a battle in the name of good and evil. A group of teen
girls are the stars of this most exciting series. They’re
smart. They’re stylish. And they’re magical
fairies … They are THE WINX!I The 3 View-Master®
reels feature 21 magical 3D images of Bloom, Stella,
Flora, Tecna, Musa and their Red Fountain School friends
battling Darcy, Icy and Stormy, the witches of Cloud
Tower School.
Miss
Spider's Sunny Patch Friends
Miss Spider's Sunny Patch Friends are characters like
Miss Spider, Squirt, Bounce, Dragon, Holley Spider,
Wiggle, Spinner, Shimmer, Dripdrop and Pansy.
I'll Fly Away - Dragon is
faced with a tough choice: staying with his adopted
spider family or taking off for a life of dragonfly
adventures,
Stalking the Beanstalk - Bounce
and Shimmer get their hands on "magic" beans
that lead them on a surprising adventure.
All Pupa'ed Out - A tiny caterpillar
almost eats Shimmer and Squirt out of house and home
before turning into a beautiful butterfly.
Scooby
Doo Super Sound Talking Reel Set The Scooby Doo Super
Sound Talking View-Master® Reel Set contains 21 action
packed 3-D images on three reels plus a handy storage
case which doubles for a Sound Cartridge that you slip
into your Super Sound FX Talking Viewer to get exciting
realistic and clear sound FX, music and character voices.
Krypto
the Superdog
The super-powered dog from the planet Krypton that is
the pet and canine companion of Superman. A member of
the Legion of Super-Pets, Krypto wears a yellow dog collar
and a flowing red-and-yellow cape modeled after Superman's.
Super dogs to the rescue!
Three View-Master reels with 21 3D
images feate Superman's dog Krypto and his supercanine
companions, Ace the Bat Hound and the Dog Star Patrol,
an interstellar police force of dogs with incredible
super powers.
The Krypto the Superdog blister packet
is a limited edition.
Extreme
Sports
Grinds and whips, grabs and flips ... all kinds of mad
action sports tricks. Three 3-D reels with 21 awesome
images capture action sports athletes catchin' air on
bikes, blades and boards.
Manitou
Cliff Dwellings Museum, Seven Falls and South Cheyenne
Canon Cave of the Winds The Manitou Cliff
Dwellings are located in Manitou Springs, Colorado, at
the foot of Pikes Peak is and are a rare historical treasure.
Preserved under a protective red sandstone overhang, authentic
Anasazi cliff dwellings, built more than 700 years ago.
Only 10 minutes from downtown
Colorado Springs, world famous Seven Falls and South
Cheyenne Canon give you a breathtaking view of Colorado
scenery at its best!
The 3rd Reel is on Cave of the Winds
located in Manitou Springs. Some of the 3-D views are
Bridal Chamber, Painted Curtain, Oriental Garden and
more.
Pooh's
Heffalump Movie There's a strange rumbling in the Hundred
Acre Wood that could only be caused by one thing: a Heffalump!
When too little Roo sets off on his own journey to capture
the much-feared creature, Pooh and the rest of the crew
are in for an enormous surprise. Hop along for the adventure.
The
Backyardigans Boxset
The Backyardigans is Nick Jr.'s animated musical adventure
series about five high-spirited preschool friends, Uniqua,
Pablo, Tyrone, Tasha and Austin, who rely on their vivid
imaginations to embark on amazing, epic adventures.
In every episode, the backyard transforms into a new
fantastic, photo-real landscape that serves as the backdrop
for completely original, story-driven musicals.
Each 3-D CGI-animated
episode is a journey into the kind of fantasy play that
happens in every little kid’s mind. Every day
they meet in their adjoining backyards to explore wherever
their imaginations take them – be it a deep tropical
rainforest, an enchanted castle, or a vast ocean.
In each fully realized
adventure, “The Backyardigans” sing and
dance to tango or tap, jazz or hip-hop, calypso or operetta,
rockabilly or Irish jigs. They explore the whole wide
world without ever leaving their backyards.
The book is primarily a filmography of 3-D movies however
it also provides an extensive history of 3-D Movies.
The electronic version of The World of 3-D Movies
is made available in portable document format (PDF) and is
readable with the free "Adobe Acrobat Reader". The
downloaded file contains scans of all pages in the original
book. You can read the book on-screen or print out selected
pages. The full text of the book can also be searched for
keywords and phrases. Copyright 1992 Eddie Sammons. All rights
reserved. This copy of the book is made available with the
permission of the author for non-commercial purposes only.
Users are granted a limited one-time license to download one
copy solely for their own personal use.
Titles of chapters in the book include
3-D in the Beginning and Now
3-D or Not 3-D
The Formats
The Movies - A Chronology
The Movies - The Filmography
Who Directed What
At Home With 3-D.
An errata list is provided at the end of the book.
The book is 209 pages in length and is provided as a fully
illustrated and fully searchable 14.5mb downloadable pdf file.
Steven
Spielberg's Secret Project Could Take 3-D Inside the Movie A technological breakthrough can take the viewer
inside the movie, write John Harlow and Jonathan Leake
Steven
Spielberg, the most influential visionary in U.S. films, is
involved in patenting what Hollywood has been dreaming of
for decades, three-dimensional movies that can be viewed without
using special glasses.
Spielberg, who pioneered the blockbuster with Jaws
and computerized special effects with Jurassic Park,
believes the technology for plain-view 3-D films has finally
arrived.
In an interview with a Hollywood trade magazine, he let slip
that he was involved in patenting a system that puts the viewer
into the film "inside the experience, which will surround
you top, bottom, on all sides."
He tells The Hollywood Reporter, "A good movie
will bring you inside of itself just by the sheer brilliance
of the director/writer/production staff. "But in the
future, you will physically be inside the experience, which
will surround you top, bottom, on all sides. "I've invented
it, but because patent is pending, I can't discuss it right
now."
If the technology wins acceptance, it will revolutionize
cinemas, forcing them to tear out their traditional screens
and replace them with giant plasma screens specially adapted
to project Spielberg's 3-D images.
This could revitalize the film industry, which is faced with
declining audiences and fierce competition from rival mediums
such as advanced video games.
But there is one big question...will it work? Filmmakers
have been experimenting with 3-D since 1903, and there have
been a succession of over-optimistic claims that it is about
to become a mainstream technology.
The first screening of a 3-D film for a paying audience came
in June 1915 when a short film, Jim the Penman, was
shown in New York featuring scenes from rural America. It
was treated as a novelty and forgotten.
In the 1950s, there were more claims that 3-D had arrived
with the releases of Bwana Devil, which depicted
attacks by maneating lions, and The Creature from the
Black Lagoon. But the format failed to take off.
Hollywood tried again in 1983 with Jaws 3-D, the
third of four films about killer sharks. It famously ended
with the shark's teeth emerging from the screen and going
for the audience.
The film was a flop and since then even pornographers, obvious
potential beneficiaries from 3-D, have been scared away by
the technical issues and cost.
The key problem is that so far all 3-D formats needed viewers
to wear glasses with a red filter for one eye and a green
filter for the other. Some people find these cause headaches
and disorientation. Doing away with the glasses is crucial
to taking 3-D into the movie mainstream.
Spielberg's timing may be right, several big electronics
manufacturers have recently demonstrated plasma screens that
can project 3-D images visible to the unaided eye.
One of them, Opticality Corporation, recently demonstrated
a 3-D screen that was 4.5m wide and 3m high, approaching the
size of a cinema screen. It is believed Spielberg's potential
patent describes a way of adapting such technologies to operate
on the larger scale.
The essential requirement for all 3-D viewing is to create
two slightly different images from any given scene and then
project one into the left eye and the other into the right
eye.
Until now this has been done using two cameras to film each
scene. The two sets of images are then projected simultaneously,
but the colored glasses worn by viewers mean the left eye
sees the images from one of the films while the right eye
views the images from the other. This fools the brain into
thinking it is seeing a three-dimensional scene rather than
a flat screen.
The new technology uses the same principle, but instead of
two cameras it uses a powerful computer to split each image
as if it were being seen from different perspectives. These
images are then projected simultaneously out of the screen
at different angles, by subdividing the screen with tiny strips
of filter material.
Spielberg and other directors have been seeking a 3-D breakthrough
for years. He recently linked up with James Cameron, the director
of Titanic, still the most financially successful
film in history, and George Lucas, creator of Star Wars,
to lobby U.S. cinema managers to prepare for the "3-D
revolution."
Lucas and Cameron are keeping their options open. Lucas has
announced plans to produce 3-D versions of all six Stars
Wars films. Cameron is making his next film, a science
fiction epic provisionally called Battle Angel, in
3-D. However, all these will still require glasses.
In the end, technology may not be enough. Peter Guber, the
producer of such films as Batman and Rain Man,
said of the effort: "People don't go to the movies to
admire the computer technology, the zeros and ones, but for
the oohs and the aahs. Successful filmmaking always comes
down to the fundamentals, a good story well told."
National Geographic
Kids Prints 3-D Issue in September in USA and October in South
Africa
National
Geographic Kids, a magazine that believes in reinventing
the wheel in every issue and bringing the education of kids
from the future to the present, printed their entire September
issue in 3-D.
The magazine also be printed all their advertorials and advertisements
in 3-D. Although the magazine can be read without the special
glasses found in every issue, another dimension will become
apparent when readers put them on, as National Geographic
Kids looks into the future to find out what life will
be like in 2035.
Kids can also look forward to the 30 cool things the future
has to hold for everyday life in 2035 like: biscuits that
are good for us, robots that do all our boring chores, what
it's like to holiday in space, living in a techno world and
clothes that mend themselves and are constantly repairable.
Fiona Thompson, Editor of National Geographic Kids
magazine, says: "Magazines like ours that tackle technology
and the future help kids think out of the box and get them
excited about all that lies ahead."
National Geographic Kids is edited to entertain
and educate kids ages 6 to 14. An interactive, multi-topic
magazine focusing on the subjects of most interest to kids,
National Geographic Kids covers animals, entertainment,
science, technology, current events, and cultures from around
the world. Regular departments include “Inside Scoop”,
“Amazing Animals”, a kids' achievement feature;
and a colorful seven-page “Fun Stuff” section
devoted to challenging games, puzzles, comics and more.
Editor's Note: The National Geographic Kids magazine
printed for South Africa dated October 2005 is the 3-D issue
with slightly different cover art.
Fly Me
To The Moon, the First Computer Generated Feature Film in
Real 3-D begins production
nWave
Pictures, one of the world’s largest suppliers of stereoscopic
entertainment, recently started production on Fly Me To
The Moon, the first computer-animated feature film to
be conceived, designed and created in 3-D. Directed by nWave
founder Ben Stassen and produced by company president Charlotte
Huggins, Fly Me To The Moon centers on three tween-aged
flies who buck the conventional wisdom that “dreamers
get swatted…” and stow aboard the Apollo 11 flight
to the moon. The film is a funny, heart-warming journey that
includes a thrilling, edge-of-your-seat ride alongside astronauts
Neil Armstrong, Buzz Aldrin and Michael Collins. The script
was written by Domonic Paris, who will co-executive produce
the film with Stassen through his company Illuminata Pictures.
Producing for Illuminata are Paris’ partners Mimi Maynard
and Gina Gallo Paris.
Fly Me To The Moon is the first feature length animated
film conceived and created as a 3-D experience. “Recent
advances in computer technology make it possible to convert
2-D films to 3-D,” says Stassen. “However, while
converted films like Chicken Little and Monster
House will be crucial to spurring the development of
digital 3-D theaters, to fully use the potential of 3-D cinema,
you must design and produce a film differently than you would
a 2-D film. It’s a different medium. It involves more
than just adding depth and perspective to a 2-D image. There’s
a very strong physical component to authentic 3-D,”
Stassen adds.
Stassen speaks from experience as nWave has produced nearly
one quarter of all films ever made in 3-D IMAX™, including
3-D Mania: Encounter In The Third Dimension, Wild Safari
3-D and Haunted Castle. “Haunted Castle
has attracted a half-million people to one venue in Berlin.
It wasn’t because of the cast or the script. It was
the experience of 3-D.” nWave’s films have generated
over $150 million in grosses in less than 150 theaters, without
the benefit of big stars or major marketing support. “That’s
a clear indication of 3-D cinema’s appeal,” says
Stassen.
nWave Pictures’ entry into feature filmmaking comes
at a time when the industry is recognizing the value of 3-D
digital projection to attract audiences to theaters. Along
with the industry’s recent adoption of specifications
for digital cinema have come 3-D film announcements from blockbuster
directors George Lucas, James Cameron and Robert Zemeckis.
“These are very encouraging signs that Hollywood is
starting to pay attention to the 3-D revival spreading worldwide
through the giant screen theater network,” observes
Stassen. “The Polar Express benefited from
a great 3-D IMAX™ version, which generated over $40
million of the film’s $283 million worldwide grosses
on only 64 screens. That is phenomenal. It won’t take
long for exhibitors to see 3-D as a formidable draw against
home theater competition.”
By summer 2007, when Fly Me To The Moon is ready
for release, nWave President Charlotte Huggins estimates,
“there will be hundreds, maybe thousands, of digital
theaters in North America capable of showing authentic 3-D
along with over 200 IMAX™ theaters. The technology for
displaying 3-D; whether in Imax™ 3-D or digital 3-D,
has been perfected.”
Huggins notes that 3-D-CGI production technology has also
continued to improve. “It is the perfect platform for
creating a 3-D stereo film, and we have a cohesive team that
has been developing and using this technology together since
1992. We know how to make it work.” Huggins adds, “This
story offers the ideal environment for 3-D. Unlike scripts
that are written with an in-your-face 3-D ‘punchline’
every few pages, Fly Me To The Moon has levels of
elements and environments that lend themselves well to a compelling
use of 3-D space throughout the story.”
Stassen hints at some of the visual techniques that will
be used in Fly Me To The Moon by noting, “We
will have different visions, not just a normal perspective
but also ‘macrovision,’ where you see things from
a fly’s perspective. To the flies in this film, the
human environment around them appears gigantic. If a fly lands
on a cup of coffee, it becomes a giant swimming pool. A head
of hair is a dense forest. In ‘fly-vision 3-D,’
the ordinary is transformed into the extraordinary!”
nWave’s longstanding expertise with 3-D computer animation
positions it to strongly compete in the growing marketplace
for independently produced CG features. Huggins believes,
“We can deliver Fly Me To The Moon at a reasonable
budget of around $25 million.” The company is producing
the film with in-house financing along with equity investors
while seeking a distributor.
Stassen expects that distributors’ interest in 3-D
will only grow as 3-D films from Robert Rodriguez, Zemeckis
and Cameron arrive in the next couple of years. “It’s
a natural evolution,” says Stassen. “While we
are not suggesting that every feature film released in the
future will be in 3-D, the pressure to create event movies
in stereo will increase once audiences get a taste of good
3-D presentations in their local multiplex.”
Sculptor
Mary Lewis of Rainier corrects details on clay forms she
carved last winter. The forms are the first step in a
cast-and-mold making process that will result in bronze
reliefs of the five Luminous Mysteries of the rosary,
a commission for The Grotto in Portland.
Somebody should sculpt Mary Lewis's hands.
Strong, steady, agile, Lewis's hands started building toys
during the Depression and have rarely rested since.
After decades devoted to carving, the Rainier sculptor has
lost none of her feverish creativity. At 78, she recently
completed a quintet of bronze reliefs depicting the five new
mysteries, or meditation points, added to the rosary by Pope
John Paul II.
The works were installed in September 2005 at The Grotto
in Portland, where they join three other sets Lewis completed
in 1989 for the 15 existing rosary mysteries.
A heart attack in June, not long after she had completed
her work, scared Lewis but barely made her skip a beat. In
early September she was bemoaning a bruise on her leg. It
happened, she explained, when she "was up on the roof,
fixing the chimney."
Cantankerous, bubbling with laughter, fretting over arthritis,
the artist is moving on to a six-foot piece of walnut she'll
carve into a calla lilly. She also wants to sculpt a new work,
of a man she noticed lifting up his child at a carousel museum.
"His arms were around the child, and the child's legs
were hanging out, like this," she said. "I got all
inspired!"
Artists seem born to their work; they certainly don't retire
from it as others do. Mary Lewis's mother wrote about her
daughter in a letter saved by the artist, "Mary visited
Esme Bath over the fourth for three days, which made her very
happy and gave us a breathing spell. Then she began the playhouse
project and wouldn't give me any rest 'til I allowed her to
fence off the N. end of the back porch with sheets, living
quarters. She works so hard she is dead at nite, so it is
no rest for her nor any members of the family, but I do admire
her tenacity and one-ness of purpose and she surely has ingenuity
and skill for a 10 yr. old child!" Jessie Thayer Lewis,
in a 1936 letter.
One-ness of purpose propelled Lewis to the study of stone
carving, first at the University of Oregon and then in Syracuse,
N.Y., where she earned an MFA and went on to serve as assistant
to sculptors on the East Coast and overseas. She was mentored
by two sculptors she reveres: Mark Sponenburgh at Oregon and
Ivan Mestrovic at Syracuse, and still visits Sponenburgh at
his home on the Oregon Coast.
For six years, Lewis sculpted the characters and scenes for
View-Master® in Portland, which produced the plastic "stereo"
viewers and slides that told three-dimensional stories for
children. In 1976, Lewis left View-Master® and moved to
the family property in Rainier. She worked for a time at the
Lower Columbia College library, but most of her life has been
consumed by carving.
The cozy house where she lives, built in 1958 and largely
unchanged, looks through towering firs at the Columbia River.
Lewis types on a tall Underwood manual typewriter, plays records
on a phonograph and only recently surrendered to an answering
machine for her phone. She has built a separate studio incorporating
windows salvaged in Portland, and more recently, a free-standing
gallery for her work.
In 1989, Lewis was commissioned to do 15 bronze reliefs for
The Grotto, a wooded park and shrine run by Servite priests
in Portland. The Catholic rosary (for garland of roses) is
a loop of beads that designate certain prayers as the person
goes around the loop. While the prayers are said, certain
mysteries, or themes, are meditated on. Three sets of five
mysteries each, the Joyful, the Sorrowful and the Glorious,
existed until last year, when Pope John Paul II decided that
another set was needed, the Luminous Mysteries. Lewis's work
on the new mysteries sums up the artist in the same way her
sculptures capture the essence of a beetle, a frog or the
mother of Christ. "She happened to be visiting here,"
said the Rev. Jack Topper of The Grotto. According to Topper,
Lewis insisted that the existing installations of the rosary
reliefs in the shrine's peace garden would not be complete
without bronze counterparts of the new ones. "I wasn't
really sure if we were going to go head and get these as well,"
the priest said in late spring. "But she was determined;
she didn't want anyone else to do them." Topper said
he told the artist "at present, we have no money"
for such a project. "She said, 'I'm sure that someone
is going to come through and support it.' Before I knew it
she was starting to work.
"It took some time, but there happened to be a family"
named Eubanks, seeking to memorialize a son, Robert Eubanks,
Jr., who had died. And so the funding materialized, the priest
said, "with that conversation, and them showing interest,
and Mary already working on it before I had had any contact
with them." Lewis saw the work as fated from the start.
"Little did the Pope know, he was giving Mary Lewis a
new job," she said, chuckling. "Father Jack said
they had no money, so I said I'd do it on faith. I knew I
had to do it, and do it while I was able. I couldn't let someone
else finish the series. "Father Jack, bless his heart,
let me."
She was off, working so hard that she was "dead at nite,"
as her mother once wrote. Of course, to see Mary Lewis at
work is to see her most alive. She gets started before noon
and works late. A wood stove takes the chill off the studio,
with its high ceilings. Dense firs filter the afternoon light.First,
she draws. She had to interpret the Baptism of the Lord, the
Wedding at Cana, the Proclamation of the Kingdom of God, the
Transfiguration and the Institution of the Eucharist (communion).
Lewis is a devout Episcopalian and does a lot of religious
art. So the symbols flew: fish, grapes, sheaves of grain,
a bird, a glorious sun.
Once satisfied with the designs, she met with the client
for approval. When everything had passed muster, she prepared
her work station: a tall vertical board in the middle of the
studio that supports wood frames filled with oil-based clay.
When the carvings were done, Lewis took photos for a final
OK.
Then the five reliefs came down to lie on tables, where she
began creating a series of plaster casts by first making a
mold for each image, then pouring plaster into the molds the
way you would pour Jell-O into a form to create its shape.
"I have to break the mold off in pieces. If I make a
mistake, I can patch it." She colored the plaster blue
at one point, so she could see it as she chipped it away,
leaving the white carving underneath. Lewis holds up a chisel.
"I inherited these from my friend in Connecticut. Look
at this lovely little tool. I love tools. I've loved them
every since I was a child."
One afternoon, clusters of grapes begin to emerge. "I'm
still working on them," Lewis said, "sanding them
so they're round. You can do all sorts of patching and carving.
This grape fell off. I had to attach it again. It's been a
long haul, picking the blue out of the dove's nest. I'm a
perfectionist." Still, she said, "I have to be careful
that I don't touch them up so much that they're machine-like.
It's the rough quality that gives them life." Lewis packed
the heavy molds in crates designed and fabricated by her brother
John. In her old Volvo station wagon, she drove them to a
foundry in Boring, Oregon.
There, another complicated round of wax casting and latex
coating and bronze pouring and firing took place. Lewis drove
to the foundry again to inspect the bronzes, touching them
up before she packed them off to Trovo Design in Portland,
where Bob Thomas mounted each of the five in a blue-green
steel frame.
Thomas and his crew transported the installation to The Grotto
and bolted it in place, along the same path where Lewis's
other works are positioned. Father Topper called the Luminous
designs "remarkable." "I don't know that you'll
find too many places that would include the Luminous Mysteries,"
he said. These new themes "bring out a different aspect"
than the previous ones, he explained. "If you look at
the Luminous, they're about the life of Christ while he was
active the wedding feast and the first miracle, for instance,"
the priest said. "In a sense, they complete all of the
mysteries."
Lewis's stone and wood carvings are at St. Stephen's Episcopal
Church and St. John Medical Center in Longview, and in gardens
and private collections. She taught in Lahore, Pakistan on
a Fulbright Lectureship in 1958-59. She has installations
in Connecticut, Boston and Sacramento.
The sculptor has shown her work in exhibitions from coast
to coast, culminating in a retrospective at Lower Columbia
College in 2000. Earlier this year, she was among Northwest
artists juried in to the Works of Faith exhibit at the First
Presbyterian Church in Portland, and she's included in the
2005 text,"The Sculpture Reference."
But in a long-running argument with herself, Lewis debates
whether or not she has achieved what she might have. It's
not about fame or money, said the artist, who has never married.
There were times she was "flat broke," but she has
survived "almost entirely from my work all these years.
Don't forget, I've lived frugally. I've never borrowed from
anyone. "What nags her is artistic fulfillment. "I
just don't feel that I've achieved my full potential,"
she said. "I was interrupted, you see. When I was in
Pakistan, Mother had a stroke and I was called home. "My
sister was too old and my brother had died so I took care
of the family trust. I worked in the two-story bank building
in Boulder, Mont. for two summers to sort papers" after
her father died, leaving Lewis to close out the gold and silver
mines he operated.
The discussion, replayed over time, winds up the same. "I
don't resent it; I think I put it into my work," Lewis
said. "I don't care, really. I care about being able
to work and have enough to pay my bills and help others."
She lingers near the new installation at The Grotto, pointing
out the effect of lowering sun as it skims a pond and reflects
up onto the bronzes. It pleases her. She confides that she
brought a cloth last time to clean fingerprints off the reliefs.
"This is my legacy, I guess," she says.
Back home, she will set herself to tease the lilly from the
walnut, and maybe after that, the father and child. She'll
chip away with her lovely tools, working with the same tenacity
that set her in motion on the back porch in 1936. Her mother
would not be surprised.
The
Paramount is proud to announce a major cinematic event, Wellington
New Zealand’s first 3-D Film Festival featuring Vincent
Price in House of Wax and Grace Kelly and Ray Milland
in Alfred Hitchcock's Dial M For Murder.
House of Wax has not been seen in New Zealand in
its original 3-D format since first release in 1953 and Dial
M For Murder has never been seen in 3-D before in New
Zealand. This is a historic opportunity to see two cinema
classics, restored, exactly as their creators intended them
during a two week engagement only.
These films are being presented in the superior StereoVision
process that uses 3-D glasses with polarized lenses rather
than the cheap cereal-packet, red-green lenses most of us
will have experienced.
The two films will roll on the silver screen at the Paramount
starting Thursday, December 4. Details of the technical process
and links to more film information, can be found at www.paramount.co.nz.
The Paramount Cinema has been in operation since 1917 at
25 Courtenay Place in Wellington, New Zealand.
Adventures in Animation
3-D playing at large format theatres
Have
you ever wondered how Gollum in Lord of the Rings
and all the characters in The Polar Express are created?
Adventures in Animation 3-D is a large format 3-D
film that transports you into the awe-inspiring world of virtual
actors. The animated, computer-generated, three-dimensional
characters are so true-to-life they may be destined to be
the movie stars of tomorrow.
Colorful virtual hosts Phil and Maria will lead you through
Adventures in Animation 3-D, using the giant-screen
format's multi-story crystal-clear images, super-powerful
digital sound and realistic 3D to full advantage as they showcase
the creation of virtual actor Slim, beginning with his "birth"
as a single polygon. When Slim is "complete," big
ego and all, Phil and Maria set him loose his first film set,
a 1930s boxing arena filled with cheering fans. Slim's role
is as a featherweight boxer convinced by a shady boxing promoter
to fight heavyweight Killer, a mountain of muscle who has
43 wins, all by knockout, under his belt.
Will Slim be a success in his first role?
And, equally important, what is the answer to Maria's "big
question": "Will virtual actors ever replace real
actors?" Like Gollum in Lord of the Rings, all
the characters in Adventures in Animation 3-D are
animated with motion capture via real actors.
See this astonishing 40-minute animated adventure and experience
its one-two punch: a behind-the-scenes look at the creation
of a virtual actor and front-row seat for the break-through
role of his career.
When the lights go down, and the film begins, you will be
amazed, inspired and just plain "wowed!" by Slim
and the lovable cast of Adventures in Animation 3-D.
In-Three
/ IMAX Trial Dates Pushed Back
by Joseph L. Kleiman - Courtesy of www.worldentertactive.com
In an October 25 order, Judge Florence Cooper reestablished
the court dates for IMAX vs. In-Three. The new dates are as
follows:
Markman Opening Briefs: March 7, 2006
Markman Responsive Briefs: March 21, 2006
Discovery Cut-Off Date: July 11, 2006
Motion Cut-Off Date: Nov. 6, 2006
Pre-Trial Conference: Jan. 8, 2007
Jury Trial Date: Jan. 30, 2007
For the time being, all discovery and other procedures in
the case have been stayed pending a private mediation scheduled
for Dec. 19, 2005.
Sources have confirmed that IMAX, in addition to entering
mediation in the In-Three case, has entered into a settlement
phase with New England public television station WGBH regarding
accounting discretions and copyright violations on WGBH’s
large format production Island of the Sharks. IMAX has also
just completed settlement of their only other outstanding
case in Federal court, the wrongful termination lawsuit of
former Sonics executive Mark Easter.
Cost
and quality issues associated with 3-D, whether it be stereoscopic
live-action production, the cost of re-mastering 2-D films
to 3-D in postproduction or sustained 3-D projector brightness
were among topics discussed during a panel at the Entertainment
Technology Center's Digital Cinema Lab in Hollywood.
Whether 3-D projection will be a key driver in the conversion
to digital cinema remains to be seen. But in the meantime,
3-D is being looked at as a man of the hour for a lagging
boxoffice.
In an opening presentation, moderator Marty Shindler cited
collapsing DVD windows, lame movies, pricey tickets, incessant
in-theater ads and competing forms of media as reasons for
theatrical exhibition's downturn.
In the face of the decline, however, 3-D has shown real promise,
panelists said. One of the bright spots on the exhibition
landscape in recent months was the boxoffice performance of
The Polar Express in Imax 3-D.
Combine public interest with recent advances in digital cinema
and 3-D technologies, add filmmaker and studio interest, and
you've got fertile ground for 3-D exhibition, panelists said.
Exhibition was not represented at the event, so such ongoing
behind-the-scenes issues as heated negotiations over costly
and long-term contracts between theater owners and equipment
vendors, pricey and time-consuming projection booth rebuilds,
silver screen installation and the accessories needed for
3-D viewing went largely unaddressed.
However, a few other interesting wrinkles in the conversion
to 3-D were raised. In-Three president and CEO Michael Kaye,
Real D co-founder and CEO Joshua Greer and Cobalt Entertainment
founder Steve Schklair discussed the rapid evolution of auto-stereoscopic
televisions for the home that do not require 3-D glasses.
Attendees at IBC in Amsterdam last month witnessed the first
live broadcast of auto-stereoscopic content. 3-D systems for
the home could be in stores as soon as Christmas 2006, but,
as with HD displays, there might not be much original 3-D
content available for the screens.
Peter Anderson, an Academy governor and expert in specialized
cinematography, had photographed much of the material displayed
at the lab Thursday. He argued that the material being shown
was not even close to what he had originally shot, saying
the severe color loss, overcompression of files and dimly
lit material raise all kinds of questions about the sustainability
of quality 3-D in theaters. He wondered what will happen when
3-D material ends up on screens not as well nursed by tech
experts at the d-cinema lab.
Panelists had varied explanations for the degraded 3-D images.
Texas Instruments' Glenn Kennel explained that the ETC screen
was too big at 50-plus feet and that 3-D ideally should be
presented on screens ranging from 35-40 feet, a fact that
the Walt Disney Co. is well aware of with the rollout of Chicken
Little on 85 screens next month.
"No matter how you do 3-D, you lose light," said
Real D's Greer, noting that ideally 3-D would be projected
with 14-foot lamberts, though at the lab people were only
seeing three lamberts worth of brightness. Because of 3-D
projection lenses and polarization, which darken the image,
in addition to the long throw to the screen, many 3-D projections
are too dark and show severe color space distortions.
As distributors and exhibitors prepare for wider 3-D releasing,
these are issues that need to be recognized and dealt with
if the format is to live up to its promise as the savior of
theatrical exhibition.
Driving
an historic rollout of digital cinema in North America, REAL
D has reached five-year licensing deals with 24 theatre circuits
in the United States, Canada and Mexico for the initial installment
of REAL D Cinema systems for the exhibition of digital 3-D
content. Eighty-five screens in the United States and Canada
and four screens in Mexico will offer feature presentations
in the REAL D Cinema format starting with the Nov. 4, 2005
launch of Disney's Chicken Little, the highly anticipated,
first-ever CG animated feature from the studio.
AMC Theatres, Century Theatres, Dickinson Theatres, Harkins
Theatres, Loews Cineplex Entertainment, Muvico Theaters, National
Amusements, Rave Motion Picture Theaters and Regal Entertainment
Group are among the U.S. and Canadian based theater chains
adding REAL D Cinema systems to venues in top markets. CINEMEX,
Cinepolis and MMCinemas will offer REAL D Cinema on screens
in Mexico City and Monterrey, Mexico. A complete list of REAL
D Cinema partners is below.
"REAL D Cinema is the next step in the evolution of
cinema," said Michael V. Lewis, Chairman, REAL D. "It
not only provides our exhibitor partners with premium entertainment
experiences that can't be duplicated at home, but it also
equips theaters with the latest digital entertainment capabilities
and expands their opportunities to deliver new and unique
programming."
"Digital 3-D cinema is the future, and theater owners
looking to differentiate and improve the movie-going experience
are choosing REAL D Cinema for its quality images, ease of
use and affordability," said Joseph Peixoto, President,
Worldwide Cinema, REAL D. "REAL D Cinema is the first
system capable of capturing a sizeable cinematic footprint,
making 3-D a mainstream reality."
REAL D will announce additional exhibition partners in the
coming months as the company works towards its goal of equipping
more than 1,000 screens globally with REAL D Cinema systems
over the next two years to accommodate the future release
of 3-D content, including motion pictures and live events.
REAL D Cinema systems adhere to the technical specifications
for theatrical digital equipment outlined by Digital Cinema
Initiatives, LLC (DCI), allowing for any compliant digital
system to be upgraded to a REAL D Cinema system. REAL D Cinema
systems comprise several components, including a specially
treated movie screen; REAL D Cinema glasses; and a REAL D
Cinema Z-Screen lens that mounts in front of the digital projector,
enabling the projector to show 3-D. Customized software by
REAL D integrates the components to deliver a flawless 3-D
movie experience.
Exhibitors are choosing REAL D Cinema systems for their ability
to play either digital 2-D or 3-D content using the same projector,
and for REAL D Cinema's 3-D glasses, which are easily stylized
and can be taken home by the audience as souvenirs.
"REAL D Cinema is the first truly transforming technology
to meaningfully enhance the movie-going experience,"
said Tom Stephenson, President and Chief Executive Officer,
Rave Motion Picture Theaters. "Digital cinema is nothing
without 3-D. 3-D is the killer app for digital cinema."
"We're enthused to work with Disney and REAL D to rollout
this exciting next step in exhibition entertainment,"
said Tony Kerasotes, Chief Executive Officer, Kerasotes ShowPlace
Theatres.
"We are very excited with the recent partnership of
REAL D Cinema and MegaPlex Theatres," said Dale Harvey,
General Manager, MegaPlex Theatres, part of the Larry H. Miller
Group. "The exceptional pairing of REAL D Cinema's digital
and 3-D technology will give our movie audiences a unique
experience and more reasons than ever to see Hollywood's latest
movies at MegaPlex Theatres. We are looking forward to our
first 3-D show of `Chicken Little' on November 4th."
The following U.S. and Canadian theater
circuits and independently owned theaters will be equipped
with REAL D Cinema systems:
AccessIT's Pavilion Digital Showcase Theatre
AMC Theatres
Celebration Cinema
Century Theatres
Cineplex Galaxy LP
Classic Cinemas
Crown Theatres, LLC
Dickinson Theatres/Midwest Cinema Group
Harkins Theatres
Kerasotes ShowPlace Theatres, LLC
Loews Cineplex Entertainment
Malco Theatres, Inc.
Mann Theatres
MegaPlex Theatres, Inc.
MJR THEATRES
Muvico Theaters
National Amusements
Premiere Theaters, LLC
Rave Motion Picture Theaters
Regal Entertainment Group
Santikos Theatres
Select screens at the following Mexican theater chains will
be equipped with REAL D Cinema systems:
CINEMEX
Cinepolis
MMCinemas
DDD Launches
3-D TV Set Top Conversion Box
DDD
Group, the 3-D software and content company, today announces
the introduction of the TriDef® Vision+ 3-D set top box
(Vision+). Vision+ automatically converts most popular consumer
video formats to 3-D as they are watched, allowing any broadcast,
DVD and videocassette content to be presented in 3-D on the
latest 3-D displays and projection systems.
The delivery of the Vision+ set top box represents the final
milestone in a £140,000 development agreement with Arisawa
Manufacturing Co., Ltd. (Arisawa), announced in late 2004.
By combining the real time 3-D conversion capabilities of
the Vision+ with the large 30" 3-D LCD displays developed
by Arisawa's optoelectronics division, Arisawa and DDD have
delivered an efficient and effective solution for mass-market
3-D television.
Using Arisawa's innovative 3-D optics, the flat screen 3-D
televisions are capable of displaying conventional 2-D pictures
as well as 3-D. When the viewer decides to watch in 3-D, they
simply activate the Vision+ set top box using their remote
control and put on a pair of 3-D glasses. The system then
delivers a 3-D image from any viewing position in the living
room with the same clarity and quality as the latest 3-D digital
cinemas.
In addition to the real time conversion feature, the Vision+
also supports the playback of specially made 3-D movies. This
yields an important in-home distribution channel for the latest
generation of Hollywood 3-D movies that are in production
for the new 3-D digital cinemas that are presently being opened
around the United States.
The Vision+ is compatible with DVD, video and broadcast standards
used in the United States, Japan and Europe. Vision+ also
supports twin projectors allowing it to be used in trade show
and professional/educational venues where big screen 3-D is
required for large audiences.
Both Arisawa and DDD are now actively engaged in presentations
and discussions with leading flat screen display manufacturers
with the goal of licensing the combined solution for mass-market
3-D television.
"Vision+ represents another substantial achievement
for our company," said Chris Yewdall, Chief Executive
of DDD. "DDD's real time 3-D conversion solutions have
been instrumental in our recent agreements for PC and mobile
telephone solutions while Vision+ now allows us to expand
the 3-D viewing experience into more popular consumer products
including 3-D flat screen television. We are very pleased
with the visual quality that we have achieved in conjunction
with Arisawa and we are now jointly focused on securing mass
market licensees for our combined solution."
"We are excited by the recent reaction to the combined
Arisawa/DDD 3-D television solution," said Dr. Sanji
Arisawa, President and Chief Executive Officer of Arisawa.
"We are seeing increasing interest in consumer 3-D television
and we expect that this easy to use solution will demonstrate
that the television market is now within reach for our prospective
licensees."
DDD Awarded Key
Korean Patent Covering 2-D to 3-D Conversion
DDD
Group, also known as Dynamic Digital Depth, announced that
it has received notification of allowance from the Korean
patent office of its key "Dynamic Depth Cueing"
(DDC) technology. DDC is a core DDD technology that enables
existing photo, film or video images to be converted for display
in stereo 3-D.
The new Korean patent extends DDD's coverage of technologies
that allow the conversion of existing 2-D content libraries
to 3-D and their delivery in a format that remains compatible
with today's 2-D screens. The DDC patents enable a wide range
of mass market 3-D applications for viewing on 3-D 'without
glasses' display screens.
DDC regenerates 3-D information that is not recorded when
a conventional film or video camera is used. Once the 3-D
information is recreated, it is then used to manipulate the
underlying 2-D image, allowing 2-D images to be transformed
to 3-D for a wide variety of 3-D display formats ranging from
large format IMAX films to the latest generation of mobile
telephone 3-D displays.
Dr. Julien Flack, Chief Technology Officer of DDD commented,
"The approval of DDD's key 2-D to 3-D conversion and
transmission patent in Korea is an important step since so
many of the emerging 3-D display technologies are being developed
in Asia. The fact that DDD's content solutions are protected
by a large international patent library is a becoming an increasingly
relevant factor when our consumer electronics and display
partners are considering the legal implications of launching
their 3-D products in various markets."
3-D Center
of Art and Photography present an exhibition of 3-D advertising
and Further 3-D Sea Adventures Part 2
Each
month, the 3-D Center of Art and Photography features different
featured artists provide a glimpse into the contemporary world
of 3-D. Original contemporary art may be viewed and purchased.
Daily 3-D slideshows allow the visitor to slip into the amazing
world of depth.
Interactive displays explain how we are able to see depth
and create a 3-D image on a flat surface. Stereocards like
those that entertained our grandparents are available for
viewing, and only a few steps away a computer station allows
visitors to see another modern approach to seeing in 3-D.
Showing Nov. 10 through Dec. 31 at the center:
The
Deep Pitch
On the gallery walls of the 3-D Center of Art and Photography
, John Dennis, Editor of Stereo World magazine, has
assembled an exhibition of advertising done in 3-D. You won’t
want to miss these ads, dating from the 1930s to the present.
A wide variety of products have been advertised in 3-D ranging
from beds to beer and from cars to cattle. Radios, cameras,
popsicles, refrigerators, towels and more have also appeared
in various 3-D image formats, and some of the more interesting
or strange will be included in this exhibit.
Much of the stereoscopic art created for these promotions
has been among the best to be found, furthering both popular
and commercial interest in 3-D and aiding the careers of the
artists involved, while some is bad to the point of being
unviewable, with presumably the opposite effect.
Two broad categories define the examples to be found in the
exhibit. The first includes advertisements published or distributed
to a mass audience to boost the retail sales of a product
or service. The second includes promotions aimed at retailers
or distributors by manufacturers, promising better sales or
profits with the help of often elaborate, catchy 3-D images,
frequently accompanied by free viewers in custom packaging.
Not included in the exhibit are 3-D images distributed with
commercial advertising on the back or outside the image, but
with images not related to the product. Prime examples are
the British Cigarette Card series and some rare 19th century
stereoviews. Also not included are ads for 3-D cameras, viewers
or pictures, most of which were unfortunately flat but could
fill a separate exhibit.
Further 3-D Sea Adventures, Part 2 The
hourly slide show allows viewers to experience underwater
creatures and vistas in captivating 3-D! Come see the continuation
of John Roll’s love of deep-sea stereo in Further 3-D
Sea Adventures, Part 2.
Here is your opportunity to see the beauty and majesty of
ocean creatures without getting wet! The show is a breathtaking
look into the sea.
John is an Interventional Neuroradiologist from Portland .
He and his wife, Dace, have traveled extensively. John enjoys
trying to use various camer a systems, depending on the subject
matter. This has led to many modifications and experiments
with equipment. He is a part of a small group of underwater
stereo photographers. The peculiar demands of taking good
images underwater have led to his development of his own set
of cameras and housings.
His stereo photography is not limited to underwater subjects
and his shows have been presented at events for the National
Stereoscopic Association and International Stereoscopic Union.
Many have been award winning presentations and all have been
a visual delight. His wife, Dace, is the membership treasurer
of the International Stereoscopic Union. She shares his enthusiasm
for stereo photography and often helps find music and offers
advice about the choice of images for the shows.
The 3-D Center of Art and Photography is located at 1928
NW Lovejoy in Portland, Oregon. Hours: Thursday through Sunday,
1 to 5 p.m. First Thursdays, 6 to 9 p.m.
Journey to the
Center of the Earth in 3-D
Empire
Magazine is reporting that Walden Media, one of the production
companies currently working on The Lion, the Witch and
the Wardrobe, is planning an update to the class story
Journey to the Center of the Earth.
The new movie will feature a modern day father/son team who
discovers that Jules Verne’s novel was not fiction.
The new film will reportedly be shot only in 3-D, and is
aiming for a wide release, hoping to pull in 3,000 theatres.
The
Ant Bully is 3rd IMAX 3-D Adventure
IMAX
Corporation, in association with Warner Bros. Pictures, Playtone
Productions, its principals Tom Hanks and Gary Goetzman and
John A. Davis of DNA Productions, announced that The Ant
Bully, an animated CGI film from the director of the
2001 box office hit Jimmy Neutron: Boy Genius, will
be released simultaneously in IMAX 3-D and conventional 2-D
format on Aug. 4, 2006.
The Ant Bully is directed and adapted by John A.
Davis, writer and director of Jimmy Neutron: Boy Genius,
as well as Santa vs. The Snowman 3-D , which was
released in IMAX 3D in November 2002. Tom Hanks, Gary Goetzman
and John A. Davis produce, and Keith Alcorn executive produces.
The Ant Bully is based on a book by John Nickle,
which tells the tale of a young boy who floods an ant colony
with his water-gun, and is magically shrunken down to insect
size and sentenced to hard labor in the ruins. Before returning
to half-pint stature, he comes to appreciate the selfless
nature of the ants and learns a valuable lesson about tolerance
and empathy. The Ant Bully is based on a beloved
book which teaches kids important life lessons in an entertaining
way.
The film will be voiced by an all-star and Academy Award-winning
cast, including Nicolas Cage, Julia Roberts Meryl Streep,
Paul Giamatti, Lily Tomlin, Cheri Oteri, Alan Cumming, Regina
King, Ricardo Montalban and newcomer Zach Tyler Eisen.
"The Ant Bully will be our third adventure
in IMAX 3-D ," noted Gary Goetzman, producer of The
Ant Bully. "It adds unique dimension to the story
and presentation." The film will be digitally converted
into IMAX 3-D and feature IMAX DMR (Digital Re-mastering)
technology. The picture marks Playtone's third IMAX film project
and Warner Bros. Pictures 10th film commitment to IMAX. Warner
Bros. Pictures will be the exclusive distributor of The
Ant Bully to IMAX theatres worldwide.
The
Polar Express in IMAX 3-D to return to 62 Screens on Nov.
23
The
Polar Express in IMAX 3-D returns to large-format theatres
beginning November 23 in select IMAX, IMAX Dome and IMAX 3-D
Theatres on screens up to eight stories tall with 12,000 watts
of digital surround sound.
The Polar Express in IMAX 3-D is the first full-length
feature ever converted into IMAX 3-D.
The Polar Express, a Warner Brother holiday themed
film based on the classic Caldecott award-winning children's
book written by Chris Van Allsburg, is directed by Oscar®
winner Robert Zemeckis and stars two-time Academy Award®
winner Tom Hanks.
Using state-of-the-art CGI and stop-motion photography to
create a unique blend of realism and fantasy, it tells of
a doubting young boy who takes an extraordinary train ride
to the North Pole and embarks on a journey of self-discovery
that shows him that the wonder of life never fades for those
who believe.
Starting Nov. 10, Warner Brothers is having a "Wish
it and you can Win It" sweepstakes on the official The
Polar Express Web
site, where you could win up to $10,000.
One
of the best places to find View-Master® and other 3-D
items for sale is Jefferson Stereoptics regularly held View-Master®
and stereoview auctions conducted by John Saddy. The latest
collection of View-Master® goodies goes on the auction
block on Tuesday, Nov. 22, 2005, featuring lots 1 through
299. The second part of the auction concludes on Thursday,
Nov. 24, 2005, with lots 300through 598.
Subscribers receive John's catalog several times a year.
Cost of the subscription pays for printing the catalog and
postage to mail it. Each issue of the printed catalog includes
photos of some of the most sought after 3-D items featured
in each sale.
Some of the interesting and rarity items in the November
auctions:
Lot 219 - Lucky Luke De Daltons Breken Uit (Cartoon)
(Euro-GAF#2, B455) Dutch language. Minimum bid $75.
Lot 265 - Lake Geneva (S6, C133) This is an extremely
rare item, and this is a prototype packet. It reads "stereo
pictures" superfluously at the bottom right, which
is crossed out in pen. There are also green pen guidelines
over the sky in the upper right area of the cover indicating
the factory wanted the text moved more to the right. These
markings would also be made at the Belguim factory. Inside
are reels #2020 (number is crossed out and replaced with
C1331), #2026 (crossed out and replaced with C1332) and
#2028 (crossed out and replaced with C1333). Titles match
the back of the packet. Other than the markings, reels are
about excellent. The packet has more cross outs on the back,
and some tape on the back of the packet.The first two reels
have been red rubber stamped "SAMPLE, NO COMMERCIAL
VALUE." Minimum bid $50.
Lot 301 - Model 11 Space Viewer, black, sealed in original
Disney's The Black Hole packaging. The cardboard
handle is somewhat creased, otherwise, all seems mint. One
of the Black Hole reels is in the viewer and one scene can
be viewed. Minimum bid $150.
Lot 536 - Silver Model K VM Viewer. This was only available
at the Epcot Center for a limited period. Black advance
knob. Minimum bid $200.
Lot 560 - VM Single Reel Toyko and Mount Fujiyama,
Japan (1949) Negligible wear on the reel. There is
some soil on the back of the left cell of image #6. This
detracts from viewing. The soil may be removeable but John
hesitates to try on a consigned item. Very Rare! Minimum
bid $35.
and much more
The auction items are also listed on John's Web site at www3.sympatico.ca/john.saddy.3d/.
The Web site is easily navigated by topic. All lots are scanned
and on the Web site. Each item is grouped in areas of interest
such as View-Master® packets USA and Canada or
View-Master® packets Television and Movies and
so on. You will need to register on the site in order to place
a bid online.
John grades each item and includes elaborate descriptions,
too. Unlike eBay, sniping is not part of the equation in John's
auctions. Lots are closed with a very liberal waiting period.
Beginning at the closing time, after 10 minutes with no bids
or inquiries, all lots are closed together.
You can contact John via an e-mail link on his Web site to
find out about subscribing to the catalog. Jefferson Stereoptics
is located in London Ontario, Canada.
The
Association of Moving Image Archivists (AMIA) has formed a
new 3-D Moving Image Group. The group's first official meeting
will be at the AMIA Conference from 6:30 to 7:30 p.m., Friday,
Dec. 2, 2005, in Room 402 of the Hilton Austin at 500 East
4th Street Austin, Texas. The 3-D session is part of the larger
AMIA
2005 conference taking place from Nov. 30 through Dec.
3.
The
3-D Moving Image Group was created to promote issues relating
to preservation, archiving, storage and access of 3-D films
and video. According to Kathleen Fairweather, "Our main
focus is on issues relating to the preservation and access
of commercial, theatrical and home-produced 3-D film and video.
This includes studio and independently produced feature length
theatrical films and documentary, factual, narrative, experimental
film and video art, electronic art and all works produced
in the digital realm including Web-based art and newly emerging
technological art. Independent works created for kiosks, trade
shows, theme parks, Large-format and the public television
market are also included."
The Association of Moving Image Archivists (AMIA)
is a non-profit professional association established to advance
the field of moving image archiving by fostering cooperation
among individuals and organizations concerned with the acquisition,
preservation, exhibition and use of moving image materials.
AMIA's members range from those who work solely with moving
images to organizations where moving images are only a small
part of their collection to individuals who want to protect
their personal collection, home movies or small gauge or video,
to film buffs concerned with losing our visual heritage.
Here are a few auction results on 3-D items from the past
month.
A lenticular 3-D poster for the movie
A Nightmare Before Christmas sold for $905.76
with six bids.
A pair of Stereo Realist cameras, one
f/2.8 and the other f/3.5, with a Steinhill-Munchen
Stereo Redufocus lens in case, filter set, film identification
unit and Realist Mounting Kit sold for $575 with 13
bids. The well known Dr. T was the winning bidder.
An original vintage theater-used
folded three-sheet movie poster (measures 41" x
81") from 1953's 3-D film Bwana Devil
sold for $501.99 with 15 bids. The poster touted "The
world's first feature length motion picture in Natural
Vision 3 dimension. A lion in your lap! A lover in your
arms!" This three-sheet was printed in two sections.When
the studios began making posters, they could only print
sizes up to 27" x 41". They printed three
sections of the smaller size that could be combined
to form the larger poster. From the early 1930s through
the 1980s, technology allowed for three-sheets to be
printed with two sheets. In the 1970s some three-sheets
were printed with a single three-sheet-sized piece.
An original vintage theater-used
folded three-sheet movie poster (measures 41" x
81") from 1953's 3-D film Hal Wallis' Cease
Fire sold for $32.58 with nine bids. The Owen Crump
3-D Korean War military documentary melodrama "Produced
and photographed entirely on the battlefields of Korea
in 3-D in cooperation with the Department of Defense"
starring Roy Thompson, Henry Goszkowski and Richard
Karl Elliott. This three-sheet was printed in two sections.
It looks like the theatre taped over the printed area
about the film being in 3-D. Our guess is that the poster
came from a theatre not equipped for 3-D projection.
A Williams' 3-D Showtime
Pinball Machine flyer from 1958 is currently at the
asking price of $80 in one of the eBay stores. It looks
like the pinball company was cashing in on the 3-D craze
a few years late. It does not appear that the pinball
machine had any 3-D features other than the name.
A TDC Project-or-View Stereo Model 132
sold for $755 with 35 bids. The sale included the original
"Temporary Operating Instructions" dated December,
1953. On the last page was a tear-away coupon to send
in to claim your copy of the real instuctions, as soon
as they became ready.
A Lake Tahoe, California
Central Pacific RR stereo view by C.R.Savage sold for
$667.89 with 20 bids. You can see several structures
and a two masted schooner on the shores of Lake Tahoe
with the Custom House sitting at the end of a short
pier. Under strong magnification there is a large "Billiards"
sign visible above the front entrance and also at the
very top of the building ,a sign for the "Post
Office" with "Lake Tahoe Custom House"
below.
A Samuel Clemens, aka Mark Twain, stereo view sold
for $406 with 17 bids.
The view is Keystone View Company. #V34494 titled
Mark Twain at Work. It shows the humorist writing
while sitting in bed.
A Union Pacific Railroad stereo view sold for $599.89
with nine bids.
The west from Omaha stereo view shows a train with
many dozen of folks standing on the railroad tracks.
A rare stereoview of William Henry Jackson at his photographic
camp in Utah sold for $787.77 with six bids.
The image shows his camera, plate boxes and darktent clearly
visible. Titled in period script on the front of the mount,
possibly in Jackson's own hand, "Camp scene in Echo Canyon
showing formation of rocks" and "110. Camp in Echo
Canyon" on the back of the mount. Two wooden wet-plate
or chemical boxes are seen to the right of the tent. Next
to Jackson is his large-plate camera with its lens facing
the viewer. His large portable darktent is seen behind his
sleeping tent and his rifle is leaning up against the tree.
Circa April, 1869, this view is numbered in the right negative
(with 110 scratched into the dark blotch on the tent).
The book Lens on the West describes how Jackson
built this large box covered in black calico to transport
his photo equipment and to use it to develop his negatives
and prints. This book and Picture Maker of the Old West
discuss Jackson's 1869 trip to Utah from Omaha. Picture
Maker (page 28) states "He set up his tent in Echo
Canyon beside the railroad tracks, traded pictures of train
crews for free rides...and waited...for chemicals to be sent
from Salt Lake City." Interestingly, this description
may explain the green mount. Both local Mormon photographers,
Savage and Carter used green mounts at this time and Jackson
may have purchased some from the same supplier.
There exist two versions of Jackson in his photo camp in
Echo. The first version is the view that was auctioned. The
other view was on a mustard color mount with Jackson's imprint,
but without the manuscript title. The second version shows
the same photo camp, but in it Jackson is holding a negative.
It does not show his camera. Jackson is wearing the same clothing
in both views and it is clear that both were taken around
the same time.
The writing on the view being auctioned may be in Jackson's
hand. His art sketches from the 1800s are reproduced in Picture
Maker of the Old West and many have his written captions.
The writing style appears very similar and the description
of the landscape is similar to his sketch descriptions. Jackson
left Utah just before the Joining of the Rails Ceremony uniting
the Central Pacific and Union Pacific Railroads. He returned
to Omaha to get married on May 10, 1869, the exact day of
the Railroad Ceremony. The back of the mount has a label imprinted
"Barkalow Bros. & Co...Omaha, Nebraska."
A stereoview of, and by, perhaps the most important western
photographer of the era. Jackson photographed the Hayden Expedition
and other U.S. Geological Surveys, Yellowstone National Park,
railroads, Colorado, Utah, New Mexico, etc. and Indians.
A Custer's Expedition stereo view sold for $400 with 15 bids.
This is View No. 854 - Custer's Expedition by W.H. Illingworth.
Illingworth was the photographer who documented General Custer's
1874 expedition into the Black Hills to map the territories
and scout for gold. This one shows General Custer in the foreground,
mounted on his horse and proudly leading this major expedition.
There is a wooden topped wagon by itself in the center just
behind him. The canvas covered wagons are lined up in rows
behind that facing the camera, There must be 80 or 90 wagons
showing and more behind them that you can' t really see going
back over the horizon. The back has the list of the views
in this series and a short description of the Black Hills
territory.
A Salt Lake City stereo view showing East Temple Street sold
for $676 with eight bids.
A street scene of Salt Lake City,Utah, by the great western
photographer C.W. Carter titled "57 East Temple Street"
from his "Carter's Salt Lake City Views" series.There
are covered wagons, people, horses and many businesses with
their signs clearly visible in this western street scene.But
the highlight is Carter's Photograph Gallery smack dab in
the middle of the scene. The backmark also that advertises
Carter's "View Emporium" as adjoining Well's Fargo
& Co.
A stereo view of a Stereo View Factory sold for $336.55 with
11 bids.
This intriguing stereo view shows the interior of a stereo
photo manufacturing premises. You can see every aspect of
the process. The view is hand tinted. The equipment, the girl
operators in victorian gowns, baskets full of off cuts and
sweepings all over the floor. A young man in the foreground
seems to be holding a wooden mallet. The cards hanging in
the background are fascinating.
On
Nov. 15, New Line Home Entertainment will release The
Harold Lloyd Comedy Collection on DVD, a collection of
films, shorts and bonus features that effectively resurrect
a silent-film-era comedy great rivaling Charlie Chaplin and
Buster Keaton in his impact at the time.
Volume
3 - Disc 2
Reaching beyond the grave, and The Twilight Zone,
to hype one of its hits for this month's ratings sweep, NBC
has enlisted the late Rod Serling to introduce a 3-D episode
of its supernatural drama Medium.
Walt
Disney Pictures offers moviegoers a glimpse into the future
of theatrical exhibition with the November 4th debut of Chicken
Little in Disney Digital 3-D™. Disney Digital 3-D™,
presented exclusively in Dolby® Digital Cinema, is a brand
new state-of-the-art technology that provides the first true
three-dimensional digital experience in movie theatres. 
National
Geographic Kids, a magazine that believes in reinventing
the wheel in every issue and bringing the education of kids
from the future to the present, printed their entire September
issue in 3-D. 
nWave
Pictures, one of the world’s largest suppliers of stereoscopic
entertainment, recently started production on Fly Me To
The Moon, the first computer-animated feature film to
be conceived, designed and created in 3-D. Directed by nWave
founder Ben Stassen and produced by company president Charlotte
Huggins, Fly Me To The Moon centers on three tween-aged
flies who buck the conventional wisdom that “dreamers
get swatted…” and stow aboard the Apollo 11 flight
to the moon. The film is a funny, heart-warming journey that
includes a thrilling, edge-of-your-seat ride alongside astronauts
Neil Armstrong, Buzz Aldrin and Michael Collins. The script
was written by Domonic Paris, who will co-executive produce
the film with Stassen through his company Illuminata Pictures.
Producing for Illuminata are Paris’ partners Mimi Maynard
and Gina Gallo Paris.
Have
you ever wondered how Gollum in Lord of the Rings
and all the characters in The Polar Express are created?
Adventures in Animation 3-D is a large format 3-D
film that transports you into the awe-inspiring world of virtual
actors. The animated, computer-generated, three-dimensional
characters are so true-to-life they may be destined to be
the movie stars of tomorrow.
Driving
an historic rollout of digital cinema in North America, REAL
D has reached five-year licensing deals with 24 theatre circuits
in the United States, Canada and Mexico for the initial installment
of REAL D Cinema systems for the exhibition of digital 3-D
content. Eighty-five screens in the United States and Canada
and four screens in Mexico will offer feature presentations
in the REAL D Cinema format starting with the Nov. 4, 2005
launch of Disney's Chicken Little, the highly anticipated,
first-ever CG animated feature from the studio. 
DDD
Group, the 3-D software and content company, today announces
the introduction of the TriDef® Vision+ 3-D set top box
(Vision+). Vision+ automatically converts most popular consumer
video formats to 3-D as they are watched, allowing any broadcast,
DVD and videocassette content to be presented in 3-D on the
latest 3-D displays and projection systems.
Each
month, the 3-D Center of Art and Photography features different
featured artists provide a glimpse into the contemporary world
of 3-D. Original contemporary art may be viewed and purchased.
Daily 3-D slideshows allow the visitor to slip into the amazing
world of depth. 
The
Deep Pitch
The
hourly slide show allows viewers to experience underwater
creatures and vistas in captivating 3-D! Come see the continuation
of John Roll’s love of deep-sea stereo in Further 3-D
Sea Adventures, Part 2.
Empire
Magazine is reporting that Walden Media, one of the production
companies currently working on The Lion, the Witch and
the Wardrobe, is planning an update to the class story
Journey to the Center of the Earth. 
IMAX
Corporation, in association with Warner Bros. Pictures, Playtone
Productions, its principals Tom Hanks and Gary Goetzman and
John A. Davis of DNA Productions, announced that The Ant
Bully, an animated CGI film from the director of the
2001 box office hit Jimmy Neutron: Boy Genius, will
be released simultaneously in IMAX 3-D and conventional 2-D
format on Aug. 4, 2006.
The
Polar Express in IMAX 3-D returns to large-format theatres
beginning November 23 in select IMAX, IMAX Dome and IMAX 3-D
Theatres on screens up to eight stories tall with 12,000 watts
of digital surround sound. 
The
Association of Moving Image Archivists (AMIA) has formed a
new 3-D Moving Image Group. The group's first official meeting
will be at the AMIA Conference from 6:30 to 7:30 p.m., Friday,
Dec. 2, 2005, in Room 402 of the Hilton Austin at 500 East
4th Street Austin, Texas. The 3-D session is part of the larger
The
3-D Moving Image Group was created to promote issues relating
to preservation, archiving, storage and access of 3-D films
and video. According to Kathleen Fairweather, "Our main
focus is on issues relating to the preservation and access
of commercial, theatrical and home-produced 3-D film and video.
This includes studio and independently produced feature length
theatrical films and documentary, factual, narrative, experimental
film and video art, electronic art and all works produced
in the digital realm including Web-based art and newly emerging
technological art. Independent works created for kiosks, trade
shows, theme parks, Large-format and the public television
market are also included."
