Comin' at Ya -- Indies Riding 3D Wave, Too - Indies and minimajors are seriously getting in on the 3D act.

Published on The Wrap (http://www.thewrap.com)

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June 21, 2009, 3:11PM CDT
Category: MOVIES
By: Carolyn Giardina - 

Comin' at Ya -- Indies Riding 3D Wave, Too

Screen count the big hurdle for smaller 3D films.

Indies and minimajors are seriously getting in on the 3D act.

While most of the attention -- and box office -- for 3D surrounds big studio titles like Disney-Pixar's "Up" and DreamWorks' "Monsters vs. Aliens," smaller companies are riding the format wave as well.

"There are more 3D indies than tentpoles in development," said Bob Johnston, executive producer at 3D company Paradise FX.

Johnston said that Paradise has been in some level of discussion on nearly 40 potential independent 3D features, the majority of which are aiming for the $6-18 million budget range.

The company's indie 3D work includes "Dark Country," which was acquired by Sony but does not yet have a release date; and titles that are seeking distribution, including "The Hole," which is in post, 

and "Street Dance," which is in preproduction.

 

The cost of 3D will vary by the complexity of a production, but Johnston said that a film with $10-15 million budget, for example, would likely need an additional 10-15% for 3D. 

 

Exhibitors and 3D TV stakeholders -- who have been asking for a steady stream of 3D content to justify their investments -- will no doubt view this activity as good news. But others point out that there are pitfalls.

 

Some of these involve production and screen count. Estimates are that there are slightly more than 2,000 3D ready screens in the domestic market. Securing those screens for a theatrical release can be a challenge.

 

"There are not enough screens for indie movies right now, and too many big budget 3D movies are coming out," said Steve Schklair, CEO of 3Ality Digital Systems, the company behind "U2 3D." (Separately, RealD announced Sunday that it has doubled its installation base of RealD 3-D equipped cinema screens worldwide and notched 400% growth in Europe in the first half of 2009.)

 

Last weekend, for instance, Vivendi opened "Call of the Wild 3D." But with Disney/Pixar's "Up" playing in the majority of the 3D auditoriums, the indie opened on only 14 screens and at press time had generated a paltry $16,688.

 

In contrast, Lionsgate's "My Bloody Valentine 3D" found success in a three-week window last winter, during which it had access to 1,033 3D screens. The film was made for $16 million and generated $51.5 million at the domestic box office. On "My Bloody Valentine," an estimated $3 million of the $16 million total budget went to the 3D engineering.

 

"We were lucky that we released when we did," director Patrick Lussier said. "Our production budget was low, and we could afford to come out on just 1,033 screens and still make money. But the more you spend, the more screens you have to have."

 

Despite the bubbling up of 3D indies, Schklair still suggested, "I wouldn't pin my 3D indie on theatrical, but I would plan for direct-to-disc. And the investor needs to understand that it is a five year -- not one year -- payback, as it will take time to get the 3D TVs in homes."

 

But 2009 was the year in which lower-rung companies got into the 3D act. Following "My Bloody Valentine," Focus Features opened Laika-produced "Coraline." Henry Selick's 3D stop-motion animated film earned $75.3 million domestically and just over $105 million worldwide.

 

In August, New Line-Warner Bros' 3D release "The Final Destination" is slated to open August 28. New Line found success last summer with the surprise hit "Journey to the Center of the Earth," which  grossed $240 million worldwide on a $60 million budget. To be fair, it didn't have to share any screens with other 3D titles but it still showed what a format title can do given the opportunity.

 

And nWave Pictures, which produced last summer's Summit-distributed animated indie "Fly Me to the Moon," is working on its next 3-D movie titled "Around the World in 50 Years 3D."

 

As interest in the format grows, the indie community is starting to produce and view more 3D projects, including at demonstrations and conferences. But some are reporting getting headaches during some of these screenings, and that has stakeholders concerned.

 

"What scares me the most are bad 3D movies coming out," Schklair said. "That is what killed it in the '70s."

 

To address this concern, numerous stakeholders are participating in production education for the community.

 

Schklair noted that proper budgeting is also a consideration: "It's not quite a low budget medium yet. Some projects end up with shots that will hurt your eyes, but they don't have the money to fix it in post."

 

But it really comes back to screen count. "We need enough screens to support three or more 3D film at once, that is when independents can take advantage of the format," Lussier suggested. "Some people say one day every movie will be in 3D, but until they can release all those movies in 3D, it going to be a while."

Source URL: http://www.thewrap.com/article/screen-count-big-hurdle-smaller-3-d-films_3807

Luc Besson to build mega studio - Facility to lure Hollywood blockbusters to Paris

Posted: Thurs., Jun. 11, 2009, 10:58am PT

Luc Besson to build mega studio

Facility to lure Hollywood blockbusters to Paris

By TOBIAS GREY, JOHN HOPEWELL

http://www.variety.com/index.asp?layout=print_story&articleid=VR1118004816&categoryid=3599

Luc Besson's EuropaCorp and Tarak Ben Ammar's Quinta Communications are partnering to launch the e30 million ($42 million) Paris Studios, France's first modern megastudio.

Paris Studios aims to rival London's Pinewood and Berlin's Babelsberg as home to big Hollywood shoots, as well as European and French productions. Construction begins in December, and the studios will open in early 2012.

Speaking at Thursday's launch, Besson, accompanied by Ben Ammar and Culture Minister Christine Albanel, said he'd already received positive feedback from Hollywood studios, singling out Fox Filmed Entertainment co-chair Jim Gianopulos.

With nine soundstages, including one at 23,680 square feet, Paris Studios will be part of the ambitious La Cite du Cinema film complex, located at a former power station in Saint Denis, northern Paris, where the press conference was held.

Beyond EuropaCorp and Quinta, other Paris Studios shareholders are facilities provider Euro Media Group and Besson's Frontline, which holds his 62% stake in EuropaCorp.

La Cite du Cinema will house the Louis Lumiere National Film School, offices for EuropaCorp and Ben Ammar, as well as workshops, offices for other movie companies and a state-of-the-art theater.

Outside the Paris Studios, La Cite is owned by La Nef Lumiere, a joint venture of Gallic state investment bank Caisse des Depots and Vinci, a French property developer.

Investment in La Cite -- including the Paris Studios, construction, equipment, hardware and offices -- runs at around $224 million.

La Cite is a Besson passion project, which he first conceived, he said Thursday, when he was forced to shoot 1997's "The Fifth Element" at Pinewood in London for lack of a big French studio.

Despite the huge productions they host, Europe's main studios are not large money-spinners. In 2008, Pinewood-Shepperton Studios turned a $9.2 million profit, Berlin's Babelsberg $4.9 million.

Albanel said the Paris Studios' greenlight had been facilitated by Gaul's new 20% tax rebates for Hollywood shoots, approved by the National Assembly in December.

The Paris Studios and Cite complex mesh with EuropaCorp's growth plans at a time when it's suddenly been thrown under the Hollywood spotlight by the $150 million U.S. box office for EuropaCorp-produced "Taken."

Two-thirds of EuropaCorp's movies are now aimed at the international market. It will be a major user of the Paris Studios while seeking international and French shoots to use them as well.

The Paris Studios will also help EuropaCorp's deliver productions to U.S. studios at competitive prices, as was the case with "Hitman," which EuropaCorp made for Fox.

The Paris Studios launch was greeted with jubilation by the Gallic film industry.

"They could have a very big impact as a complement to the tax rebates," said Patrick Lamassoure, managing director of Film France.

"Big foreign shoots will now have a complete studio with not only state-of-the-art soundstages but also high-tech and post-production facilities, like Pinewood or Barrandov," Lamassoure said.

EuropaCorp's Paris Studios investment will be capped at $8.4 million.

Read the full article at:
http://www.variety.com/article/VR1118004816.html

Cine Expo - Europe d-cinema rollout hung up on funding

Europe d-cinema rollout hung up on funding Exhibitors air frustrations at annual Cinema Expo confab By Carl DiOrio June 22, 2009 AMSTERDAM -- Dithering over funding and other details has European theater operators as frustrated as U.S. exhibitors with the slow rollout of digital cinema. With bank financing still scarce, d-cinema proponents have been left scrambling for innovative other means of tapping into the required capital. "It's very hard," said Howard Kiedaisch, CEO of the London-based d-cinema integrator Arts Alliance Media. "But we do take heart from the deal we were able to do in December." In that case, Arts Alliance went to the Brussels-based leasing tech financier Econocom to back its rollout of equipment to convert 400 screens in France. More conventional lenders remain on the digital sidelines on the continent and elsewhere, but there are some other signs of progress. Presently, at least two Hollywood majors are poised to announce virtual print fee agreements covering screen conversions throughout Norway, using government funding to get things going. A similar, more limited arrangement is also being mulled for German exhibitors. But much of the d-cinema talk at Cinema Expo -- the annual exhibition confab that opened its four-day run at the RAI convention center here Monday -- amounts to so much grumbling. "Many of us are frustrated that it hasn't been going stronger," European Digital Cinema Forum chief Dave Monk acknowledged in an opening-day presentation. "That's because we've been struggling with recession and financial meltdown. But the boxoffice shows digital cinema is real -- not just some fancy-pants, one-off kind of thing." Of course, the real sweet spot in digital cinema is 3-D, which allows exhibs to charge a premium price for movie tickets. Gino Haddad of Beirut-based Circuit Empire said eight of the Middle East exhib's 92 screens have been converted to digital, and six of them now also boast 3-D capability. "It's only for the difference between 35mm and 3-D that the customer is willing to pay the premium," Haddad said. At Empire that means a markup of $2 to $3 on general ticket prices running $6 to $8, depending on location. EDCF's Monk said 3-D's global footprint reached 4,000 screens in the second quarter. Beverly Hills-based 3-D vendor RealD announced Monday that its European footprint has grown fivefold this year, with its worldwide installations now totaling more than 3,200 screens in 45 countries. "RealD 3-D continues to defy global financial trends with consistent boxoffice results multiple times that of 2-D screens," RealD chief Michael Lewis said. Digital projection also saves studios big bucks on distribution costs -- which is why they've been willing to sign VPFs around the world to help cover most installations costs. The studio agreements provide payments stretching over several years. But upfront bank capital still is generally needed to get hardware shipped and installed. And that's been the sticking point for longer than anybody likes to think about. "Digital cinema is a small business that really requires a lot of work," Fortis Bank exec director Christophe de Winter shrugged during a d-cinema panel discussion. The banking stall has kept exhibs from implementing thousands of planned screen conversions for the past year. In the U.S., execs at JPMorgan hope finally to go to market in July with a long-stalled lending syndication on behalf of the nation's three biggest circuits. "These things are extremely complicated and frustrating," Disney senior vp Jason Brenek observed. Once installed, d-cinema does offer another notable benefit for exhibs besides 3-D: alternative programming. Arts Alliance numbers among distributors of cultural and sporting fare that now regularly supplements film programming in theaters around the world. The company also occasionally distributes niche-market specialty films such as "Iron Maiden, Flight 666," a heavy-metal concert documentary whose one-day theatrical success Arts Alliance hopes to replicate in September with the eco-drama "The Age of Stupid." The Pete Postlethwaite starrer will promote its global release with a "solar cinema tent" premier in New York's Central Park in September. Arts Alliance may extend the "Stupid" run beyond its opening day if results match the pic's well-received recent run in the U.K.

Find this article at:  http://www.hollywoodreporter.com/hr/search/article_display.jsp?vnu_content_id=1003986486

Euro producers may get credit crisis benefit - The Hollywood Reporter - June 22, 2009

Euro producers may get credit crisis benefit Discussions of tax incentives at international film confab By Scott Roxborough June 22, 2009 COLOGNE, Germany -- The credit crisis could have a sliver lining for European producers as cash-strapped U.S. filmmakers are forced to turn to the international marketplace to finance their projects. Speaking at the opening panel of the International Film Conference in Cologne on Monday, indie film veteran including Bleiberg Entertainment CEO Ehud Bleiberg, IFP executive director Michelle Byrd and Oscar-winning producer Peter Herrmann ("Nowhere in Africa") agreed that, in the indie film world, the center of gravity might be shifting towards Europe. "The traditional way of financing independent films in the U.S. isn't working anymore," said Bleiberg, suggesting that U.S. independents need to embrace international co-production if they hope both to get their films made, and have a chance of recouping their investment. "With tax and other incentives in the U.S. you can maybe cover 30% of your risk, but you still have to recoup 70%," Bleiberg said. "If you can do a European co-production with Germany, France, Spain or Italy say, you can get up to 80% of your budget from European soft money, leaving just 20% risk." Herrmann agreed that for many U.S. companies, the national blinkers have come off. "It used to be that U.S. producers were only interested in (foreign producers) if you could get them money. Now they are interested in real co-production," he said. But famed German director Tom Tykwer, who gave a keynote speech to open the conference, warned European filmmakers of the perils of diving into the murky waters of the U.S. film business. Tykwer spoke of the Byzantine layers of bureaucracy and legal complications involved in the making of his U.S.-German co-production "Heaven" (2002) and advised German filmmakers "to only do a co-production with the U.S. if it makes sense for the story." Bleiberg said European producers and directors should be more confident to tell local stories for an international market, instead of trying to "tailor their films to a U.S. audience." And that they should be aware of the leverage they have. "Here in Europe you are in a much better position than we are in the U.S.," he said. "American producers who have had to go outside to get financing suddenly need international partners. I truly think for European producers, this could be a golden age." The International Film Congress, backed by the NRW Film Board, ends Tuesday.

Find this article at:  http://www.hollywoodreporter.com/hr/search/article_display.jsp?vnu_content_id=1003986444

BBC - Digital technology could enable the 2012 Olympics to be shown in 3D in cinemas - June 21, 2009

Call for 3D Olympics screenings

By Neil Smith
Entertainment reporter, BBC News, in Edinburgh

Digital technology could enable the 2012 Olympics to be shown in 3D in
cinemas across the UK, former film producer Lord Puttnam has said.

It should be possible to show the London Olympics "every single day in
3D on every screen in the country", he said at the Edinburgh Film
Festival.

3D sport, he said, could be a "real game changer" that could put
cinemas "at the heart of digital Britain".

He was speaking in the wake of Lord Carter's Digital Britain report.

" Digital technologies, including broadband, have the potential to
transform the role of cinemas " Lord Puttnam

That report, published on Tuesday, laid out the government's strategy
for broadband and digital content.

Best known for producing such films as Chariots of Fire, Local Hero
and The Killing Fields, David Puttnam was made a Labour peer in 1997.

Sir Sean Connery, patron of the Edinburgh Film Festival, was among the
audience as he offered his thoughts on cinema in the digital age.

"Digital technologies, including broadband, have the potential to
transform the role of cinemas," he said.

"The film industry, and film culture in general, have a fantastic
opportunity to play a pioneering role."

'Far too timid'

Currently, he continued, just 10% of cinema screens in the UK were
equipped for digital presentation.

Its flexibility, however, enabled cinemas to become "incredibly
valuable focal points, especially in smaller and more rural
communities".

Lord Puttnam - who described himself as a "quasi-politician" and
"something of an outsider" - said the film sector must prepare for "a
new round of change".

Cinema, he went on, had a "significant political role in moments of
crisis" and could speak to people of all ages and backgrounds.

However, he continued, contemporary cinema "remains far too timid
about using its ability to positively influence young minds".

Climate change was one issue filmmakers should tackle more often, he said.

They should also shake off the notion that films could be either
worthy or successful, but rarely both.

'Dangerous propaganda'

Since leaving the world of commercial film, Lord Puttnam has become
chancellor of the Open University and president of Unicef UK, a post
he will shortly relinquish.

Earlier this year, he launched the Curriculum Foundation, a new
organisation aimed at improving school life.

His other positions include president of the Film Distributors'
Association and deputy chairman of Channel 4.

This, however, did not stop him taking the channel to task for airing
The Great Global Warming Swindle in March 2007 - a programme, he said,
that constituted "dangerous propaganda for a minority view".

Lord Puttnam's keynote address was held on the fifth day of the 63rd
Edinburgh Film Festival, which runs until 28 June.

Actress Brenda Blethyn, US director Darren Aronofsky and Scottish
film-maker Bill Forsyth are among this year's other celebrity guests.
http://news.bbc.co.uk/go/pr/fr/-/2/hi/entertainment/8111726.stm

Published: 2009/06/21 14:34:11 GMT

© BBC MMIX

VARIETY - 3-D reaches a tipping point in Europe - Once-skeptical exhibs and distribs flock to format June 12, 2009

VARIETY

Posted: Fri., Jun. 12, 2009, 2:17pm PT

3-D reaches a tipping point in Europe
Once-skeptical exhibs and distribs flock to format

By JOHN HOPEWELL MADRID

— Suddenly, but decisively, Europe is embracing 3-D. Opening with
Pixar's "Up," Cannes underscored Europe's newfound 3-D faith.
"Cannes was the defining 3-D moment. It was all about 3-D," says Erik
Jensen at Belgium's CDC United Network.

A dozen or more 3-D films, five of which hail from Europe, hit Cannes'
market. At least 20 3-D indie pics, including pioneering Euro 3-D
tooners "Holy Night!" from Spain's Dygra, and Pascal Herold's
"Cinderella," are now in production.

And Cannes 3-D deals got done.

France's StudioCanal licensed "Around the World in 50 Years"
worldwide. Nu Image sold "Dark Country" to France, Italy and Spain.

Italy's Eagle Pics bought "Sanctum" and "Around the World," having
picked up "Ocean World" at Berlin. Even low-budget family picture
"Call of the Wild" sold to several territories.

With the economics of 3-D now in place and the B.O. upside clearly
demonstrated, and with Hollywood icons and Euro exhibitors trumpeting
3-D commitments, the format has gained critical mass.

For European exhibition, "The tipping point's December 2008 through
February 2009," says David Hancock, head of cinema at research company
Screen Digest. In December, Odeon/UCI, Europe's biggest theater loop
with 1,600 screens, announced it would outfit another 70 venues,
bringing its DCI-compliant total to 111 cinemas across Europe that
have digital or full-fledged 3-D systems. (It has also committed to
upgrade another 89 eventually).

"After Odeon's declaration, other exhibitors had to decide whether
they were out or in with 3-D," Hancock comments.

They were in: From late January through February, big chains --
Britain's Cineworld and Vue Entertainment, Holland's Amsterdam Booking
Co. -- made large 3-D announcements. France's Cineville followed in
March, rival CGR in April.

Combined, the exhibitors' promised around 1,000 additional 3-D screens.

For distribs, the main game changer's been 3-D B.O. Odeon/UCI's Drew
Kaza glows about 3-D grosses from "Chicken Little" to "Beowulf" and
"Journey to the Center of the Earth." European distributors also cite
a bevy of 3-D faith-forging B.O. milestones, most between October and
Cannes. Released in October in Gaul, Ben Stassen's "Fly Me to the
Moon" punched a $40,839 print average, doubling normal print figures,
one Gallic distrib enthuses.

The 3-D explosion comes, crucially, amid the broader-picture downturn.

"The straight-to-DVD market is dead. Sales agents need to sell movies
with clear theatrical potential. 3-D films are theatrical films by
definition," argues Vicente Canales, head of international at Filmax,
which received offers at Cannes from "nearly every major territory"
for "Magic Journey to Africa."

European 3-D rollout is still patchy: Germany -- a forecast year-end
149 screens -- and Scandinavia are off the pace, though Svensk
acquisitions head Robert Enmark hopes "Avatar" will boost Scandi
exhibitor investment.

Already, though, the indie 3-D boom threatens a bust.

"I saw a lot of promos in 3-D. The successes will have to be good
quality. It's going to be very hard to get the screens they need,"
Vairo says.

Read the full article at:
http://www.variety.com/article/VR1118004886.html

VARIETY - Buzz builds for home 3-D - Digital Cinema Summit looks beyond glasses - June 9. 2009

posted: Sun., Apr. 19, 2009, 8:00pm PT

VARIETY MAGAZINE

Buzz builds for home 3-D
Digital Cinema Summit looks beyond glasses

By DAVID S. COHEN

LAS VEGAS -- Audiences are becoming interested in 3-D television, and
the industry must satisfy that demand for 3-D movies to thrive.
That was the message from a series of panels Sunday morning at the
Digital Cinema Summit held at the Las Vegas Convention Center.

Phil Lelyveld, a strategy adviser for the Entertainment Technology
Center at USC, hailed the momentum behind 3-D movies but warned, "If
we don't show visible progress now (on 3-D in the home), this momentum
could die and move into a niche environment."

Lelyveld led a panel offering the studio perspective on home 3-D.
Others on the panel were Darcy Antonellis, Warner Bros. president of
technical operations; Real D co-founder Josh Greer; and Nandhu
Nandhakumar, senior VP of advanced technology at LG Electronics.

Antonellis said Warner has identified 40 titles in its library that
are candidates for conversion to 3-D. "We're working on both new
titles and on trying to revitalize our library," she said.

But that effort depends on being able to tap into homevideo revenues
that aren't available because 3-D TV is in its infancy, with multiple
incompatible formats and almost no penetration of the home market.

"We want to move it into more of a 'long tail' experience," Antonellis
said. "It changes the whole economic model."

At the corporate level, Warner has been somewhat reticent on 3-D as it
is still negotiating deals for virtual print fees, but the studio had
a surprise 3-D hit in "Journey to the Center of the Earth."

Antonellis and other panelists agreed it is essential that the
industry make buying a 3-D TV simple so that consumers know what they
need, understand what they'll get and enjoy the experience once they
have it.

"I need to be sure," Antonellis said, "and our marketing folks will
ask this: Will the experience be the same across all devices? Will the
features be the same across all devices? Those are reasonable
questions to ask."

She added that Warner expects to see "a fair amount of movement in
(the 3-D TV) space" in 2010.

For now, homevideo 3-D releases such as Warner's "Journey" are going
out in anaglyph format, similar to the old red/green glasses method
that almost everyone wants to put behind them.

"I would call anaglyph a necessary evil right now," said Greer. "For
people who've never seen 3-D, it's kind of like the gateway drug. It
lets you know there's a possibility." However, he added, many viewers
don't like it.

In an earlier presentation, Entertainment Technology Center executive
director David Wertheimer presented research showing that audience
interest in 3-D is growing and is strongest among people who've seen
3-D movies.

"I guarantee if you did this survey in the '50s or '70s and '80s,"
said Wertheimer, "you would have gotten the opposite response: 'I have
no interest in seeing another 3-D movie; I have no interest in having
it in my home,' because those earlier versions of 3-D were so
uncomfortable to watch."

For example, the ETC's statistics show that half of consumers overall
would pay extra for a 3-D television, but among people who've seen a
3-D movie in the last year, that number climbs to more than 60%, with
30% willing to pay $100 extra.

Moreover, ETC research shows consumers who've seen recent 3-D movies
are undeterred by the prospect of wearing glasses at home to watch
3-D.

The strongest interest in 3-D, said Wertheimer, is among the 18-29
demo, especially those with children in the home. It's unclear, he
said, whether that's because younger auds like 3-D or because so many
3-D releases have been aimed at children and families.

Wertheimer also said that consumer interest in 3-D is similar to the
response to high-def TV. Consumers were skeptical at first, but
"they'd see content in high-def and say, 'Wow, I've got to have that.'
The same thing is happening with 3-D."

There will be a separate 3-D Techzone at the 2010 Consumer Electronics
Show to display 3-D home electronics.