Category Archives: Digital 3D

No More Silver Screens In France

Posted by J. Sperling Reich | March 11, 2012 12:34 pm

By 8:00 am Friday morning I had three voicemails and five emails all either trying to pass along or confirm the same implausible news. Rumor was spreading fast that France’s Le Centre national du cinéma et de l’image animée, otherwise known as the CNC, had banned silver screens throughout the country, giving exhibitors a five year timeframe to comply. If true, it could have enormous implications in the 3D market.

I initially thought some announcement the CNC had made was being misinterpreted after the rumor mill twisted it into something far more alarming. As a part of France’s Ministry of Culture the CNC is responsible for regulating cinema as well as the production and promotion of “audiovisual arts” within the country, so it’s easy to see how such a rumor could be easily believed. However, a quick trip to the CNC website informed me the news was accurate.

At the start of a six day conference on technology in exhibition and distribution, CNC president Eric Garandeau announced an “agreement to ensure the quality of film screenings in movie theaters in the digital age.” In his opening remarks Garandeau acknowledged all the hard work that goes into making a movie and that, “if so many people put so much care to seek perfection in the image, it is necessary that these efforts are visible and even sublimated on the screen, in the most beautiful manner.” Wanting to see the difference for himself, Garandeau held a test screening to see “if a layman could make a comparison and tell the difference between a white screen and a silver screen.”

Garandeau says he saw the bright smile of Oscar winning actor Jean Dujardin switch from white to gray during the test and that the brightness level at the edges of the screen, compared to the center, decreased significantly. Not surprising since color balance, luminance consistency, and hot spots are the major drawbacks when it comes to silver screens, especially when they are used for 2D films.

Popularity: 5% [?]

Posted in Countries, Digital 3D
Tagged as AFNOR, CNC, CST, Dolby, Eric Garandeau, France, IMAX, L'ARP, MasterImage, NF S 27100, Real D, Silver Screens, Volfoni, Xpand

2 Comments

A Deeper Look At Sony’s Battle With Exhibitors Over 3D Glasses

Posted by J. Sperling Reich | September 30, 2011 2:03 pm

Some industry professionals will look back at September 27, 2011 as the day motion picture studios took their first step on what may be a long road to end the practice of subsidizing 3D glasses for their movies. Others will remember it as the day the inevitable finally happened.

For those who still aren’t aware of the events of the past week, I’d like to be the first to officially welcome you to the planet earth and invite you to join us as we read between-the-lines of this latest industry scuffle. On Tuesday of this week The Hollywood Reporter broke the news that Sony Pictures Entertainment had sent a letter to North American theatre owners stating as of May 1, 2012 they would no longer pay for 3D glasses. What makes this major industry news is that Twentieth Century Fox tried a similar move back in 2009 with the release of “Ice Age: Dawn of the Dinosaurs” but retreated when exhibitors revolted en masse. They now fear Sony might succeed this time around causing other studios to follow suit. Talking to the Reporter, Sony’s president of worldwide distribution. Rory Bruer said:

“This is an issue that has to be resolved between us and our exhibition partners. We are trying to give them a very lengthy lead time in regards to the change in policy.”

As one might expect, it didn’t take long for the National Association of Theatre Owners, the trade organization which represents exhibitors, to respond to Sony’s move. Their press release dated September 28, 2011 stated:

NATO believes Sony’s suggestion is insensitive to our patrons, particularly in the midst of continuing economic distress. Sony’s actions raise serious concerns for our members who believe that provision of 3D glasses to patrons is well established as part of the 3D experience… we are concerned that Sony’s attempt to change this business model would unilaterally upend long-standing industry practices… Sony would be well advised to revisit its decision.

There were some grumblings from theatre owners and the media that NATO’s statement had no bite, though making sweeping threats is not necessarily their responsibility. This is not true of the organization’s members, like Amy Miles, chief executive officer of Regal Entertainment, who said if Sony stuck with their announced plan to stop paying for 3D glasses, then her circuit might show 2D version’s of Sony’s films in the future.

Popularity: 1% [?]

Posted in Digital 3D
Tagged as 3D Glasses, Amy Miles, Dan Fellman, Hollywood Reporter, IMAX, NATO, Real D, Regal Entertainment, Rory Bruer, Sony Pictures

3 Comments

Katzenberg Discouraged Over Decline Of 3D

Posted by J. Sperling Reich | June 9, 2011 1:28 pm

Jeffrey Katzenberg

There has been no greater champion of 3D than Dreamworks Animation head Jeffrey Katzenberg. Except maybe filmmaker James Cameron, there have been few, if any, industry cheerleaders as vocal about 3D than Katzenberg. As far back as 2007, Katzenberg could be heard at trade shows and in the press hailing digital 3D as “the single most revolutionary change since color pictures”.

To paraphrase an old cliché, Katzenberg should be careful what he wishes for, he just might get it. Four years after he began touting the new motion picture format digital 3D films have flooded the market in search of incremental box office from ticket surcharges. Though as a string of movies featuring poor 3D conversions hit theaters during a global economic downturn, a majority of moviegoers are choosing the 2D version of recent releases such as Dreamworks’ “Kung Fu Panda 2″.

Now Katzenberg is lamenting the “decline of 3D”, calling it “heartbreaking” in an interview published earlier today by The Hollywood Reporter. Katzenberg stated:

“I think 3D is right smack in the middle of its terrible twos. We have disappointed our audience multiple times now, and because of that I think there is genuine distrust — whereas a year and a half ago, there was genuine excitement, enthusiasm and reward for the first group of 3D films that actually delivered a quality experience. Now that’s been seriously undermined. It’s not in any fashion, shape or form the demise of 3D, but until there are 3D experiences that exceed people’s expectations, it’s going to stay challenged. It’s really heartbreaking to see what has been the single greatest opportunity that has happened to the film business in over a decade being harmed. The audience has spoken, and they have spoken really loudly.”

Popularity: 1% [?]

Posted in Digital 3D
Tagged as Hollywood Reporter, Jeffrey Katzenberg

No Comments

UPDATED: 3D Without Glasses Is Possible In the Blink Of An Eye

Posted by J. Sperling Reich | January 29, 2011 12:23 am

Over the past several years as Hollywood began churning out an increasing number of 3D films a single question has been on the minds of both exhibitors and moviegoers. When will it be possible to watch 3D movies without the need to wear glasses?

Whether they use polarized lenses, spectral filters or active shutters, theatre owners would like to do away with the glasses that have become an operational burden and overhead expense. Theatre patrons have mixed feelings about the spectacles, complaining about comfort and low light levels.

But 3D glasses may be a thing of the past according to Francois Vogel. His video demonstration of a new technology that enables 3D content to be viewed without glasses has been a huge hit on YouTube, generating over 4.4 million views since it appeared on the site January 14th. Jonathan Post has developed two diodes that, when placed on one’s temples, stimulates the eyes to blink 120 times per second, alternating between the left and right eye. This mimics the method used by 3D active shutter glasses.

Popularity: 4% [?]

Posted in Digital 3D, Technology
Tagged as Jonathan Post, YouTube

4 Comments

RealD Gets Bigger With XLW and Regal

Posted by J. Sperling Reich | January 27, 2011 5:16 pm

RealD is showing signs that they have no intention of slowing the pace of their growth in the cinema marketplace. Already the leading worldwide provider of 3D technology for motion picture exhibitors, the company made two big announcements over the past week which will help push its share of the market even higher.

The first bit of news was about the XLW Cinema System, a new RealD product capable of projecting a 3D image on a screen up to 82 feet (25 meters) wide. Given that the XL Cinema System could already throw an image onto an 80 foot (24.4 meters) the big news here seems to be that the 1.0 throw ratio of the XLW.

Most throw ratios fall between 1.8 and 2.0, meaning if the screen is 40 feet wide, the distance between the projector and the screen has to be 72 to 80 feet. With a throw ratio of 1.0 and a maximum screen width of 82 feet, the XLW can project large images in a smaller space. It’s not hard to see why RealD developed the technology. With the popularity (not to mention increased revenue) of Imax screenings, many major theatre chains have begun to retrofit traditional auditoriums into branded “large screen” venues. Regal has RPX, AMC has ETX and Marcus Theatres has UltraScreen, to name just a few.

The XLW system will allow exhibitors to install much wider screens in stadium seat auditoriums which generally have shorter throws.

Popularity: 3% [?]

Posted in Digital 3D, Large Format
Tagged as Amy Miles, Real D, Regal Cinemas, XLW Cinema System

No Comments

Designer Brands Give 3D Glasses A Makeover

Posted by J. Sperling Reich | November 30, 2010 10:39 pm

Oakley's Limited Edition Tron 3D Gascan Glasses

Sometime last month I tagged a couple of blog posts about designer 3D glasses intending to write about them in the near future. After a Los Angeles Times story covered the subject yesterday, I figured it was about time to aggregate all the information into a post here.

More than a year after RealD announced that they would be teaming up with manufacturers to certify 3D glasses from name brand designers, the first models began hitting the market in October. Making waves first was Oakley, which announced they had created a pair of 3D specs with a proprietary technology named HDO-3D. The company claims their “premium glasses are engineered for unrivaled 3D performance, superior visual clarity and signature Oakley comfort”.

In a smart marketing move, Oakley is teaming up with Disney on the studio upcoming “Tron: Legacy” release by offering a special collectible limited edition “Tron” version of their Gascan 3D glasses which look as if they were take straight out of the sci-fi flick. A regular pair of Oakley 3D glasses will set you back USD $120, while the “Tron: Legacy” model goes for USD $150.

Gucci also began selling a pair of upscale 3D glasses last month for $225 and Marchon Eyewear has licensed their glasses to both Calvin Klein and Nautica who will sell pairs for between USD $95 and USD $150. Meanwhile, Australian based Look3D has been offering stylish RealD certified glasses since late last year.

Popularity: 3% [?]

Posted in Digital 3D
Tagged as "Tron: Legacy", Dolby, Gucci, Look3D, Marchon3D, MasterImage, Oakley, Panavision, Real D, Technicolor 3D Solution, Xpand

2 Comments

Warner Bros. Scraps 3D For Next “Harry Potter”

Posted by J. Sperling Reich | October 9, 2010 8:27 am

Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows 7.jpg After being heavily criticized for the poor 3D conversion on “Clash of the Titans” earlier this year, it seems Warner Bros. is being more cautious about making the same mistake on future blockbusters. The Los Angeles Times reported on Friday that the studio has scrapped plans to convert the next “Harry Potter” film into 3D.

“Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows – Part 1” will still be released on November 19th, but will not have a 3D version as previously planned. The studio released the following statement explaining the decision:

“Despite everyone’s best efforts, we were unable to convert the film in its entirety and meet the highest standards of quality. We do not want to disappoint fans who have long-anticipated the conclusion of this extraordinary journey.”

After the success of James Cameron’s 3D opus “Avatar” Warner Bros. raced to convert “Clash of the Titans” in under eight weeks. Maybe the studio has learned its lesson when it comes to performing such work under tight time constraints. I’m not certain when or if the “Harry Potter” conversion began, but the film opens in just over a month.

Popularity: unranked [?]

Posted in Digital 3D
Tagged as Anne Thompson, Clash of the titans, Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows, Warner Bros

1 Comment

Panavision Officially Enters 3D Market

Posted by J. Sperling Reich | June 17, 2010 1:45 pm

Panavision continues to modify its 3D glasses

Earlier this week Panavision took their first public steps into the 3D motion picture exhibition market by announcing a new system that will work with all projectors, film or digital, and all screens, white or silver. While we had already reported that Panavision was working on such a solution, this was their first official statement about the product. The company, primarily known for high end motion picture camera systems, will demonstrate the system next week at Cine Expo in Amsterdam on a screen 56 feet wide (17 meters).

Last Tuesday Panavision invited the press to their offices in Woodland Hills to see the 3D system in action. We were greeted by John Galt, Panavision’s Senior Vice President of Advanced Digital Imaging, Eric Rodli, Senior Vice President of Panavision and Bill Bevins, President and CEO of Panavision. They explained all the technical specifications about the system as well as some of the business details pertaining to its marketing.

First let’s quickly review some of tech bullets all of which are the same as they were back in March when we first saw a demo:

The system uses spectral comb filtering, not polarization, to separate the visible light spectrum into ten band of even and odd wavelengths of light. One set of bands is presented to the left eye, the other set to the right eye.

Dichroic passive glasses allow the viewer to view distinct images in each eye. Though the image reaching each eye is actually different, the viewer’s brain puts the images together providing the sensation of seeing a full color spectrum.

No ghost busting, color correction or image processing is required.

Film-based 3D uses an over/under method. Each frame of film contains two images, stacked on top of one another, two perforations high. The system will use the same film prints made for Technicolor’s 3D system. A specially designed split lens mounted on the front of the projector combines the images on screen.

Digital 3D being shown on a DLP projector employs a split filter wheel placed before the integrator and in front of the lamp house that rotates at 4320 RPM to provide 144 flashes per second. For Sony’s SXRD projectors a specially designed split lens will be used to separate two stacked images from the 4K chip.

The system will work with any digital projector on the market today.

Panavision worked with Omega Optical to develop the product.

Popularity: 17% [?]

Posted in Digital 3D, Equipment Vendors
Tagged as Bill Bevins, Dolby, Eric Rodli, John Galt, Omega Optical, Panavision

2 Comments

Will “Clash” Unleash A Titanic Backlash Against 3D?

Posted by J. Sperling Reich | April 1, 2010 9:31 am

“Release the Kraken,” Liam Neeson’s Zeus commands in the WB’s “Clash of the Titans” re-make, but Hollywood should be more concerned that the film itself might release a backlash against the 3D format. There are several indicators that point to a perfect storm brewing against what has come to be regarded as the cinema industry’s digital savior.

Amongst Hollywood filmmakers there has been unusually vociferous attacks against Warner Bros.’ decision to go for a rushed eight-week conversion of “Clash of the Titans” to 3D. The conversion is a true test for Prime Focus whose technology is unproven on such large scale projects. Fresh off the global success of “Avatar” James Cameron weighed in against “slapdash conversion” in a recent BBC article that re-hashed Mike Fleming’s more in-depth Deadline article, where Cameron said that after the success of his award-winning epic:

“Now, you’ve got people quickly converting movies from 2D to 3D, which is not what we did. They’re expecting the same result, when in fact they will probably work against the adoption of 3D because they’ll be putting out an inferior product.”

Micheal Bay threw more fuel on the fire in a Deadline post and even appeared to take a direct swipe at Prime Focus, an Indian based post-production company that has been doing the bulk of the work on “Clash of the Titans’” conversion from 2D-to-3D :

“I’m used to having the A-team working on my films, and I’m going to hand it over to the D-team, have it shipped to India and hope for the best? This conversion process is always going to be inferior to shooting in real 3D. Studios might be willing to sacrifice the look and use the gimmick to make $3 more a ticket, but I’m not. “Avatar” took four years. You can’t just sh*t out a 3D movie. I’m saying, the jury is still out.”

Popularity: 49% [?]

Posted in Analysis, Digital 3D
Tagged as 3D Conversion, Anne Thompson, Avatar, Clash of the titans, Hollywood Reporter, In-Three, James Cameron, Jeffrey Katzenberg, Kirk Honeycutt, Michael Bay, Prime Focus, Roger Ebert, Ticket Prices

2 Comments

Panavision Heads Into Theatres With Hybrid 3D System

Posted by J. Sperling Reich | March 14, 2010 5:53 pm

When one thinks of Panavision, what immediately comes to mind is all of the motion picture camera systems they have manufactured since the mid-1950s, ubiquitous on the sets of countless hit movies and television shows. The thought of 3D, be it digital or on 35mm, is probably the last thing any industry professional would ever associate with Panavision. Well, that’s all about to change and I’ll explain why.

On Friday of last week, the European Digital Cinema Forum (EDCF) was kind enough to let me tag along on their annual pre-ShoWest industry tour through Los Angeles. When we arrived at Panavision I was a little baffled why a group of exhibitors and digital cinema manufacturers would want to visit a company better known for what happens on a movie set rather than a movie theatre. After a quick tour of their Woodland Hills, California facility, the group was ushered into a screening room and it became immediately obvious why were there.

We were greeted by John Galt, Panavision’s Senior Vice President of Advanced Digital Imaging, who gave us a very brief PowerPoint presentation on a project he’d been working on since the middle of 2008. Turns out while the media was busy hounding Panavision with stories about how labor strikes and production slowdowns had adversely affected the company, they have quietly been working on a 3D system for both film and digital projection. That would explain the reusable 3D glasses we were handed.

Popularity: 54% [?]

Posted in Digital 3D
Tagged as Barco, Christie, Deluxe, Dolby, EDCF, John Galt, NEC, Omega Optical, Panavision, Sony, Technicolor

3 Comments