3-D accelerates as 'Up' opens Cannes

http://www.hollywoodreporter.com/hr/content_display/news/e3i322daa247a5902fce358eb4bf73e8a7f

 

Film's exposure at the fest could give 3-D an international push

 

By Gregg Kilday

May 12, 2009, 10:34 AM ET

CANNES -- As "Up" lifts off at the Palais des Festivals on Wednesday as the opening film of the 62nd Festival de Cannes -- and as the black-tie audience of cinema cognoscenti don their polarized lenses -- 3-D film will finally achieve what it has long sought: respect.

Even though digital 3-D movies no longer require those old analog glasses -- those infamous red/blue or red/green cardboard specs -- it's had a harder time shedding the image of '50s kitsch that has surrounded efforts to introduce dimensionality into the moviegoing experience.

But by choosing Pixar's latest movie, a lighter-than-air confection about a crabby old man who hitches his home to thousands of helium balloons and sails away in search of adventure, the granddaddy of film festivals is lending its imprimatur to the newest technological incarnation of 3-D.

"We are happy to have 3-D open Cannes as it is one of cinema's upcoming adventures," the festival's Thierry Fremaux proclaimed in unveiling the choice.

While the festival berth certainly confers prestige on 3-D film, even more importantly it could help accelerate what has been a painfully slow rollout around the world, just at that moment when such companies as DreamWorks Animation and Disney and A-list directors such as James Cameron and Robert Zemeckis are betting on 3-D as the cinema of the future.

The earliest 3-D film experiments may date back to the late 19th century, but over the years only a handful of auteurs ever tried to master the medium. Back in the '30s, Louis Lumiere remade his groundbreaking 1895 short film "L'Arrivee du Train" in 3-D. Canadian animator Norman McLaren turned out a couple of 3-D shorts in the early '50s. And no less a master than Alfred Hitchcock shot 1954's "Dial M for Murder" in 3-D, but with the '50s fad for 3-D already waning, it was widely released in 2-D.

For during the first flourishing of commercial 3-D cinema, the technique played more as a gimmick, intended to lure audiences, fascinated with their new televisions, back to theaters. Despite a few upscale exceptions like the musical "Kiss Me Kate," 3-D mostly attached itself to genre movies -- "House of Wax," "Creature From the Black Lagoon," "Cat-Women of the Moon" -- which only added to its downscale reputation.

It didn't help that an '80s 3-D revival was used largely to extend such aging franchises as "Jaws 3-D," "Friday the 13th Part 3" and "Amityville 3-D" via cheap thrills.

Four years ago, though, the new wave of 3-D began to gather momentum: In a sort of summit meeting of directing powerhouses, Cameron, Zemeckis, George Lucas, Robert Rodriguez and Randal Kleiser all gathered at the ShoWest convention in Las Vegas -- Peter Jackson was beamed in by satellite -- to proselytize for the new digital 3-D.

"It's not just the use of digital projection, which we all know is on the horizon," Jackson said. "But that the particular technology can be used to create three-dimensional movies that go far beyond the quality and the spectacle of anything we've ever seen before. Forget the old days of wearing the red and blue glasses and the eyestrain. All of that is behind us now. These new active glasses that you're wearing and seeing 3-D with are a breakthrough in technology."

Lucas promised to remaster his "Star Wars" movies for re-release in 3-D -- a promise on which he's yet to deliver. Zemeckis, who'd already released his 2004 film "The Polar Express" in IMAX 3-D, followed up with a 3-D version of 2007's "Beowulf" and will bring footage from his upcoming 3-D "A Christmas Carol" to the Croisette next week. Cameron, who is currently at work on the 3-D sci-fi extravaganza "Avatar," which Fox will release in December, flatly vowed, "I'm a man on a mission when it comes to 3-D. I will be making all of my films in 3-D in the future."

Even as the assembled directors viewed 3-D as a new, cutting-edge, filmmaking tool, U.S. studios saw the technology as a way to boost ticket prices and grosses. In 2007, DreamWorks Animation CEO Jeffrey Katzenberg said that, beginning with the March release of "Monsters vs. Aliens," DreamWorks would produce all its big-screen toons in 3-D. Disney and Pixar joined the bandwagon last year, announcing plans for eight new 3-D movies, including converted 3-D versions of "Toy Story" and "Toy Story 2."