How important is 3D to the entertainment industry or is it just another fad? It’s a question that up until the release of “Avatar” was asked at every trade show and industry conference. But if anyone is still questioning the future of 3D in Hollywood, Thursday’s announcement that Digital Domain has acquired In-Three should help them overcome their doubts.
Digital Domain is the visual effects giant originally founded in 1993 by Industrial Light and Magic veteran Scott Ross, filmmaker James Cameron special effects guru Stan Winston. The company was immediately successful in proving a worthy competitor to ILM, who dominated the special effects market at the time. It didn’t hurt that some of their projects went on to win numerous awards, including “Titanic” which earned an Academy Award for visual effects. Based in Venice, California, Digital Domain has worked on dozens of films not to mention countless commercials and music videos. They recently completed work on Disney’s “Tron:Legacy” due out in December.
In-Three, on the other hand, has focused its attention on developing a patented process for turning 2D versions of movies into high quality 3D films. Since 1999 the company has perfected a process they’ve dubbed Dimensionalization which allows filmmakers and content owners to efficiently convert 2D footage into stereoscopic images. Their most recent work can be seen in Tim Burton’s adaptation of “Alice In Wonderland”.
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“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.”
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