ESPN & Disney to release sports based film in digital 3D

Home > International News

ESPN & Disney to release sports based film in digital 3D  Story By: Businessofcinema.com Team updated on: 23/04/09

MUMBAI: ESPN and Disney will release the first sports-themed 3D film this summer with a special, limited one-week theatrical run starting 21 August . ESPN Films will produce and Walt Disney Studios Motion Pictures will distribute X Games 3D the Movie nationwide into digital 3D theaters around the country. Directed by filmmaker Steve Lawrence (Down the Barrel), the film will use digital 3D techniques to immerse sports fans into the world of action sports and its top stars. Iconic action sports personalities chronicled in the film are: Shaun White, Travis Pastrana, Danny Way, Ricky Carmichael and Bob Burnquist. "ESPN is extremely proud to join Disney in bringing the 3D experience to action sports fans. The proximity of the cameras to the action combined with the amazing performances by the athletes provides a mind-blowing, jaw-dropping storytelling encounter for fans of all ages," said ESPN Films senior vice president Ron Semiao. Walt Disney Studios Motion Pictures Group president Mark Zoradi added, "There is absolutely no sporting event better suited for the Digital 3D medium than X Games. ESPN continues to break boundaries by using digital 3D to put sports fans literally in the center of the action: preparing to launch down the big air ramp with Danny Way, racing downhill on Shaun White's snowboard and flying through the air in Travis Pastrana's Rally car. And Disney is proud to add X Games 3D the Movie to its robust, industry-leading slate of 17 other upcoming Disney Digital 3D releases." The full-length feature film will capture the drama and spectacle that play out every year at the X Games events and will also tell the stories of the featured athletes showing the sacrifices they make in pursuit of glory and progressing their sport on the industry's biggest stage. The featured athletes are: Shaun White, Travis Pastrana, Danny Way, Ricky Carmichael and Bob Burnquist.

Posted: Thurs., Apr. 16, 2009, 2:21pm PT

Steady progress for 3-D TV content

Networks, sports leagues excited about format

By DAVID S. COHEN - VARIETY MAGAZINE

While the electronics industry wrestles with a standard for stereoscopic television, there is steady progress toward 3-D programming, especially for sports and other live events.

"The chicken-and-egg problem is being broken," says Ian Rose, president of Kerner Software Technologies. Kerner is part of a new 3-D TV network venture with AMG TV and hopes to be broadcasting 3-D part time by the end of 2009.

They are looking at several potential sources for programming -- sources that will be available to whatever 3-D broadcasters emerge.

Several networks are experimenting with 3-D and looking forward eagerly to putting 3-D in homes.

"At each step, we get more excited about it," says Brian Lenz, head of product development for BSkyB.

Satcaster had its first-ever 3-D telecast earlier this month, sending a Keane concert out from Abbey Road Studio to a few 3-D viewing venues and over the Web.

"At each step we realize it's about perfecting it -- it's not about inventing it at this point."

BSkyB has experimented with 3-D sports but chose a more arts-centric event for its first stereo telecast. "We thought, 'Let's not get testosterone-centric and let's do other genres,' so we did some arts content."

Concerts and opera in 3-D are likely to become a regular attraction in theaters before sports, as rehearsed events in contained spaces are easier to shoot, and they present fewer technical challenges than football or basketball.

Still, some expect sports to be the "killer app" for 3-D TV, just as 3-D itself was the killer app for digital cinema, and 3-D sports tests are accelerating.

In the U.S., Burbank-based 3ality Digital has worked with the National Football League and the NCAA to beam football games to theaters. The National Basketball Assn. is especially enthusiastic about 3-D, having used technology from 3ality's rival, Pace Technologies, to broadcast 3-D games and All-Star events to arenas and theaters.

ESPN has tested 3-D with basketball, football and the X Games, though none of its tests have been seen publicly.

The network's exec VP of technology, Chuck Pagano, says: "From our judgment, when the fans see it, they're going to be blown away by it. But there's still a lot of challenges ahead."

Aside from the lack of consumer electronics standards, 3-D distribution remains a problem.

"It's still a bandwidth hog," says Pagano, and while 3ality has demonstrated 3-D over a normal HD satellite link, Pagano is still looking for the next generation of broadcast compression.

Occupying some middle ground between arts and sports is the 3-D footage TV Globo in Brazil shot of Rio's Carnaval.

"My feeling is that 3-D will be the biggest revolution in cinema, games and television for the upcoming years," says Jose Dias, R&D multimedia director for the network.

Dias, a longtime 3-D buff, says, "The reaction (to the footage) is amazing -- people really love it."

Dias expects it will be five to 10 years before there's a standard to bring 3-D broadcasts into homes.

Read the full article at:
http://www.variety.com/article/VR1118002502.html

AMG to become first 3-D network - Variety - April 14, 2009

AMG to become first 3-D network

Kerner to offer stereo technology for viewers

By DAVID S. COHEN - Variety  - April 14, 2009

The seeds of the nation's first 3-D broadcast network have been planted, repping a small step for television, but a giant leap for 3-D.

Signet Intl. Holdings, a publicly traded company led by former NBC and PBS exec Tom Donaldson and boxing promoter Ernie Letiziano, is buying AMG TV, a modestly sized net that feeds syndicated programs to some 200 terrestrial station affiliates, some of them carrying programming only part of the day.

Simultaneously, Signet has pacted with Kerner Broadcast Corp. for exclusive use of Kerner's 3-D TV technology. Kerner, a spinoff from Lucasfilm's Industrial Light and Magic, is also taking an equity position in Signet.

"We fully plan to have, as soon as we can acquire the library, the first full-time 3-D network in the country," Donaldson told Daily Variety.

Donaldson said as part of the deal, the company expects to receive a capital infusion of around $14 million, to be used for personnel expansion, technical development and an advertising and PR campaign.

Currrent set-top boxes for cable and satellite aren't equipped for 3-D, though many TVs already sold are technically 3-D ready.

To that end, Kerner plans to introduce two solutions: an add-on box for cable and satellite subscribers; and an "enhancement" that will turn any HD television into a 3-D TV for about $50, including the cost of glasses.

Yuska Siuicki, CEO of Kerner Broadcasting, said "on a one to 10 scale, it's a five" in terms of 3-D picture quality, but it would make home 3-D TV affordable and widely available for the first time.

To fill the sked, Kerner plans to convert existing programming to 3-D. AMG will also make its 3-D network available to other content providers that want to try 3-D but are not yet ready to upgrade their own systems.

Companies known to be experimenting with 3-D broadcasting include ESPN, Fox Sports, 3ality Digital, the National Football League, the NBA and the NCAA.

Japan's Nippon Broadcasting launched a limited schedule of 3-D programming over a satellite channel in 2008.

AMG claims 200 terrestrial affiliates in North America and Latin America, many of them in the exurbs of major markets, including WRNN in the Hudson Valley and KHIZ Victorville, Calif., which has carriage on some L.A. cable systems. Net is also on cable in the Caribbean and is negotiating for carriage in Europe. Donaldson said AMG is in "over 70 million homes."

The plan is for AMG to be broadcasting in 3-D several hours a day by year's end.

"We don't feel it's rocket science on the broadcast end," said Siuicki. "The rocket science is getting 3-D pictures into the household."

Kerner is the former practical f/x shop of Industrial Light & Magic. It was spun off by Lucasfilm with the proviso that it not compete with ILM in the digital visual effects field. Instead, its engineers have supplemented the f/x business with advanced electronics and 3-D technology. Their other efforts include 3-D camera rigs and advanced imaging software (Daily Variety, Nov. 24).

Terry Elaqua, prexy of AMG TV, said, "I think in the baby stages of this you'll see a series of specials" that would be released on the network and made available elsewhere.

Read the full article at:
http://www.variety.com/article/VR1118002408.html

--
Bob Johnston
Producer
johnston.rw@gmail.com

My Blogs:
http://3dproductionnews.blogspot.com/
http://filmmoney.blogspot.com/
http://3devents.blogspot.com/

CNN Money.com - 3-D gets down to business

3-D gets down to business The same technology that makes images pop off movie screens now helps corporations design models, build objects - even manage employees. By Michael V. Copeland, senior writer Last Updated: March 23, 2009: 2:57 PM ET (Fortune Magazine) -- Was your idea of a romantic evening watching My Bloody Valentine 3-D? You weren't alone: The film, released in mid-January, has raked in box office receipts of $50 million, thanks in part to eerily realistic special effects. (That coal miner's pick really does look as if it's heading straight for your face.) Indeed, this is a killer moment for all things 3-D. Movies are hot: This year some 21 films in 3-D are slated for theaters, up from five in 2008. And 3-D now extends beyond Hollywood. Special 3-D computer technology, long used in industrial design, is fast becoming embedded in the general business world. Thanks to huge improvements in software and the development of faster, cheaper computer processors, nearly every industry, from pharmaceuticals to fashion, is making use of that added dimension to improve processes and products: With the help of 3-D, construction crews are building office towers, doctors are detecting diseases - and designers are creating ever cooler-looking objects. Here are a few: Mapping workflow Spread along a lazy river outside Bakersfield, Calif., is a 100-year-old oilfield the size of Manhattan. Owned and operated by Chevron, the Kern River facility pumps about 80,000 barrels of crude a day from a dusty landscape studded with 13,000 wells. Managing those mechanical beasts is no small task. As many as 800 people tackle nearly 4,000 maintenance jobs a month, patching leaky valves on steam injection wells, replacing worn pump belts, and performing regular upkeep on the holding tanks that separate oil and water. Until last November, all that work was managed by sticking colored magnets on a map attached to a magnetic whiteboard. "Work crews would regularly show up at a well with the wrong equipment or find another crew nearby doing something that, for safety reasons, made it impossible for them to do their job," says Ray Thavarajah, project manager for Chevron's so-called iField project at Kern River. To address the tangle of information, Thavarajah and his team developed an electronic 3-D map of the surface, complete with oil wells, structures, vehicles, and people, all updated in real time. The work orders are layered on the map, stacked like poker chips in order of priority. The 3-D view makes it much easier to deploy people, Thavarajah says, because it gives a complete view of each crew's location, plus a snapshot of ongoing and planned projects. "What used to take a few hours - to get a work schedule for the week - now takes 45 minutes because you don't have to try to wade through all the clutter," Thavarajah says. Medical breakthroughs The medical industry has long employed 3-D imaging, but a new machine from device maker TechniScan produces a 3-D object that goes way beyond pretty pictures. It provides intelligence to help doctors in planning their treatments. TechniScan's device, still in trials pending FDA approval, uses ultrasound imaging technology to capture cross-sections of a breast and employs some off-the-shelf graphics processors to assemble a complete 3-D rendering. The result provides far more detail than a picture ever could: A physician can look at the image from various angles to examine a lesion seemingly in situ, after the patient has gone home. The image isn't merely a representation; it is almost as good as the real thing. Intelligent design Such advances are finding their way into all sorts of 3-D-generated objects. Take an office building designed using modern 3-D tools. It doesn't just look like a real-world version of a structure: The windows "know" what their insulating properties are and how light exposure and the use of various materials affect energy consumption. The latest 3-D technology also lets an architect test the building for performance and durability before the real version is built. Such virtual prototyping is already happening across all strata of engineering. The next frontier: instant physical prototyping. Jeff Kowalski, chief technology officer at 3-D software provider Autodesk, says that someday soon, companies and even individuals will be able to design something in 3-D on a computer, then instantly produce it using a cheap, rapid prototype machine. "Don't like the way your sunglasses fit?" Kowalski muses. "Make new ones." STRAIGHT TO VIDEO: 3-D Goes Home Forget high-def. The latest home entertainment craze is going to be 3-D. Hollywood studios, electronics manufacturers, and chipmakers all see the home theater market as the next frontier for 3-D. As studios shoot a growing number of movies in 3-D, they're itching for a way to present those films to home audiences. (Home-video sales and rentals accounted for about 68% of the $88.9 billion worldwide movie market in 2008, according to PricewaterhouseCoopers.) They also have another motive; 3-D movies are harder to pirate (though you can be sure someone will figure it out). TV makers, meanwhile, are salivating at the chance to sell consumers 3-D-ready televisions - and yes, unfortunately, those silly-looking LCD glasses. But movie theater owners shouldn't feel too threatened for now. The industry has yet to agree on standardized 3-D technology. If the long and bloody battle between Blu-ray and HD DVD is any indicator, cinemas have the advantage for years to come.  First Published: March 20, 2009: 5:16 PM ET   Find this article at:  http://money.cnn.com/2009/03/20/technology/copeland_3d.fortune

B to B - The Craze for 3D Media - April 6, 2009

The craze for 3D media Tanya Meyer  Story posted: April 6, 2009 - 11:09 am EDT Drastic time scall for unusual measures. Diverse Time Inc. Publications—Entertainment Weekly, Fortune, People, Sports Illustrated and Time—devoted significant editorial coverage at the end of March to showcasing 3-D media. Jeffrey Katzenberg, the DreamWorks film studio CEO, predicted at last year's American Magazine Conference that consumers would soon invest in 3-D glasses the way they formerly invested in bowling shoes. Moving forward, he pitched the magazine concept to John Huey, editor in chief of Time Inc., according to Advertising Age, which is also owned by BtoB's publisher, Crain Communications Inc. It's not surprising that Katzenberg believes 3-D to be such a juggernaut. In 2007, DreamWorks Animation announced it would produce all its films in 3-D starting this year. The five magazines structured content to suit their identities and readers with Time reporting on the re-emergence of 3-D movies and Fortune featuring an editorial that cited 3-D technology as revolutionizing construction, engineering and the health care industries. 3-D glasses were packaged with all the magazines. Total paid circulation is expected to reach 12 million. All the issues were supported by ads from Hewlett-Packard Co., Intel Corp. and McDonald's Corp. But this marketing move has also met with some controversy. "In better economic times with less competitive pressure, it's conceivable that editors would have resisted the arrangement because of fears that advertising might appear to unduly influence what is running on editorial pages," wrote Advertising Age reporter Nat Ives.  PRINTED FROM: http://www.btobonline.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20090406/FREE/904069993/1155/HOLD&template=printart Entire contents © 2009 Crain Communications, Inc.

---

LA TIMES - April 6, 2009 - 'Monsters vs. Aliens' in 3-D: Taking filmmaking to another dimension

---

http://www.latimes.com/news/nationworld/nation/la-et-3d6-2009apr06,0,3132067.story

From the Los Angeles Times

'Monsters vs. Aliens' in 3-D: Taking filmmaking to another dimension

Its success has studios plotting their next move in the format.

By John Horn

April 6, 2009

"The Jazz Singer" brought sound to the movies. "Becky Sharp" did the same for color. Now "Monsters vs. Aliens" is accelerating Hollywood's 3-D revolution.

Change in the movie business usually happens at a glacial pace, but the surging popularity of 3-D movies, dramatized by "Monsters vs. Aliens' " $59.3-million opening weekend -- the biggest for a 3-D movie -- has directors and studio executives quickly reconsidering which, and how many, of their future film projects can be reworked into the immersive medium.

" 'Monsters vs. Aliens' is the BC-AD of the 3-D platform," said Greg Foster, chairman and president of Imax Filmed Entertainment, which sold $5.1 million of tickets for the animated film's opening weekend in large-format Imax theaters, almost all of which showed the space-invasion comedy in 3-D. "Fifteen years from now, when people are talking about 3-D, they will talk about the business before 'Monsters vs. Aliens' and the business after 'Monsters vs. Aliens.' It's the line in the sand."

Like many recent 3-D hits ("Journey to the Center of the Earth," "Bolt") that preceded it, DreamWorks Animation's "Monsters vs. Aliens" is a kid-friendly film. But the next wave of 3-D titles will include R-rated horror, some general audience live-action comedies and perhaps even an art-house film or two.

"You could do 'My Dinner With Andre' in 3-D, and it would be incredibly compelling," said Patrick Lussier, director of January's "My Bloody Valentine," the first modern horror movie in 3-D. "Suddenly, you are seeing that this new venue is more than a fad."

The filmmaking brothers Peter and Bobby Farrelly are considering making their planned live-action feature "The Three Stooges" in 3-D, Lionsgate Films is developing as many as half a dozen potential 3-D movies, and Walt Disney Co. is using the stereoscopic technique not only for a flood of upcoming animated films but also for live-action titles, including the dance movie "Step Up 3-D" and a remake of the sci-fi story "Tron." 

At last week's ShoWest, the annual convention of movie theater owners, DreamWorks Animation SKG head Jeffrey Katzenberg celebrated the format's rapid growth: By his count, there are more than 40 3-D movies in production, with the release slate growing by 50%, with 10 titles set to come out this year and 15 in 2010.

Although making a movie in 3-D can add as much as 15% to a film's budget -- DreamWorks said 3-D added about $15 million to "Monsters vs. Aliens' " original $150-million budget -- the studios are rushing to the format for several reasons. 

Even with 2009 box-office admissions running about 8% ahead of last year's pace, movies shown in 3-D have been able to generate higher per-capita revenue than 2-D movies because premium ticket prices for adults can run as much as $6 higher. In its second weekend of release, "Monsters vs. Aliens" was on pace to gross more than $30 million. That placed it well behind "Fast & Furious," but it was nevertheless a solid return for a second weekend.

With bootleg copies of films draining billions from Hollywood coffers -- a nearly complete version of this summer's big-budget "X-Men Origins: Wolverine" landed on the Internet last week -- 3-D movies are nearly impossible to pirate because they can be projected only on special screens and seen through 3-D glasses. 

Finally, well-executed 3-D movies can fulfill Hollywood's escapist storytelling mandate by pulling an audience deeper into make-believe worlds. It's partly why A-list directors James Cameron ("Avatar"), Steven Spielberg ("The Adventures of Tintin: Secret of the Unicorn") and Robert Zemeckis ("A Christmas Carol") are all in the midst of ambitious 3-D productions. 

"More and more, the theatrical experience needs to be something special," said Dick Cook, whose Walt Disney Studios is making more 3-D movies than any other company. Its slate includes this summer's Pixar movie "Up," the guinea pig comedy "G-Force" and 3-D versions of the first two 2-D "Toy Story" films, which hit theaters this October. 

"I think 3-D gives the audience an unmatched element of excitement and fun," Cook said.

"In some sense, doing 'Toy Story' in 3-D has been a dream, because we created the movie in 3-D anyway" as opposed to single-plane, hand-drawn animation, Pixar's John Lasseter said, adding that theaters couldn't exhibit it in the format a decade ago. "And a generation of kids who only have seen the first two movies on TV and video can now see them in theaters."

Convinced it was the best way to draw audiences to their sophisticated (and low-budget) animated film "Battle for Terra," the makers of the May 1 movie about a futuristic alien-versus-human battle overhauled their completed 2-D movie into a 3-D work. 

"I really think we're going to see a lot more 3-D films," said Keith Calder, a producer of "Terra," "from big animated movies to independently financed dramas."

For the immediate future, though, moviegoers may struggle to find theaters showing new movies in the 3-D format. 

Thanks to a drawn-out clash between theater owners and the movie studios over who would pay as much as $150,000 per screen to make auditoriums 3-D friendly (coupled with tightening credit), there are only about 2,100 3-D screens in North America, about half the number studio executives had hoped would be available by now. In a compromise with the theater owners, studios are partly underwriting the roll-out of digital projection systems via a payment to exhibitors called a virtual print fee. 

And there's another 3-D money battle brewing: Who should pay for the 3-D glasses (which run about $1 apiece)? Currently the costs are being covered by the studios. 

But all this can be seen as an investment in a growth business, as opposed to what was the low-tech, and often low-brow, use of 3-D several decades ago. 

Anne Globe, the worldwide marketing head for DreamWorks Animation, said the studio's exit polls found that 40% of viewers who watched "Monsters vs. Aliens" in 2-D would have preferred the film in 3-D had screens been available.

The theater famine -- only 28% of the more than 7,300 screens playing "Monsters vs. Aliens" opening weekend did so in 3-D, though they accounted for 56% of the revenue -- means only one 3-D movie can be in wide national release at a time. Consequently, because there are so many 3-D titles, any new 3-D movie has only a month or so before the next one bumps it into the street.

"If we didn't release 'Battle for Terra' on May 1, there wouldn't have been another window available until 2010," said Howard Cohen, whose Roadside Attractions, a distributor of art-house films such as "Super Size Me," is making its 3-D debut with "Terra." "We really do think that the 3-D really helps us market the movie. Without it, you're starting at zero awareness."

Because 3-D movies are best advertised in 3-D, it's nearly impossible to craft effective television ads. A Super Bowl spot for "Monsters vs. Aliens" was widely derided, and without 3-D glasses, it looked out of focus. 

Even amid surging box-office grosses, the recent crop of 3-D movies has done exceptionally well. The stop-motion animated movie "Coraline" has sold more than $74 million in tickets, and the R-rated "My Bloody Valentine" grossed more than $51 million, a strong enough outcome for Lionsgate to consider more such works.

"We want to create a really immersive experience for the audience," said Joe Drake, president of Lionsgate Motion Picture Group. "For us, the take-away on 3-D from 'My Bloody Valentine' was that it's an absolutely fantastic, cost-effective technology that can really turn a movie into an event." 

It's far from certain that all filmmakers will embrace 3-D, because of the limited number of screens and the potential for making naturalistic dramas feel peculiar. 

"It doesn't translate to all movie genres with the same impact," said Eric Brevig, who directed 2008's "Journey to the Center of the Earth" and is working on a possible 3-D "Yogi Bear" and "Journey" sequel. 

Despite the recession, some moviegoers don't seem to mind paying a steep mark-up for 3-D admissions. 

"It's worth it," said Elmer Navarette, who went with his girlfriend and her 3-year-old niece to Universal City to see "Monsters vs. Aliens" in Imax 3-D, where tickets cost $18 for adults and $15 for children. 

Navarette said they were not put off by the high prices because they wanted to participate in something extraordinary. "It's not something you see every day."

john.horn@latimes.com

Times staff writers Richard Verrier and Alicia Lozano contributed to this report.

CINEUROPA.org - French War of the 3D Glasses

CINEUROPA.org

April 3, 2009

Exhibitors – France The war of the 3D glasses The financial potential of 3D films is one of the major arguments for speeding up movie theatres' transition to digital projection. However, tensions are growing between distributors and exhibitors over the division of rental costs for the special viewing glasses provided to cinemagoers. Paramount's French distribution arm sparked an outcry this week with the release of Monsters vs Aliens, by demanding a €3 increase in admission prices for 3D screenings. Deeming that the increase in admission prices (50% of which the distributor recovers, excluding VAT) should not exceed €1-2 in order to remain attractive to viewers, the CGR and Kinepolis networks, as well as several independent theatres, refused this ultimatum and decided to release the film in just 2D digital. In total, the film has only been released in 3D in 44 of the 80 specially-equipped cinemas in France. The crux of the debate is whether exhibitors can recoup the rental costs for the 3D glasses, which is estimated at €1.2 per screening. For the release of Bolt in early February, Disney's distribution arm opted for a more conciliatory strategy, requesting a €1-2 increase in admission prices and reimbursing the exhibitor €0.60 per rented pair of glasses. The current average admission price in French cinemas is €5.95. In 2008, the number of digitally-equipped theatres rose from 54 to 252 (including 144 for CGR and 33 for Kinepolis). Meanwhile, the number of films released in digital format increased from 30 to 50 (including 35 via the distribution arms of US Majors, ten via distributors connected to TV networks and five by independent distributors). Fabien Lemercier

--
Bob Johnston
Producer
johnston.rw@gmail.com

My Blogs:
http://3dproductionnews.blogspot.com/
http://filmmoney.blogspot.com/
http://3devents.blogspot.com/