Jeffrey Katzenberg is a man on a mission.
That's why the head of DreamWorks Animation flew up to Boston earlier this week to meet with exhibitors, film students and members of the media. With the hope that he'd then be able to win a few more converts over to his new world view. Which holds that the future of film lies in 3D.
Mind you, this is not -- to quote Katzenberg -- "your father's 3D" that we're talking about here. Waving a pair of the old red-and-blue anaglyph lenses about, Jeffrey talked about how the old version of 3D used to " ... give some people headaches, make others nauseous. And that's supposed to be good for business?"
Katzenberg certain hopes that this new version of 3D is good for business. For he's pretty much betting DreamWorks Animation's future on this new film format. Starting with the release of "Monsters Vs Aliens" in March of 2009, all of his studio's forthcoming releases will be produced in 3D.
And this is not going to be an inexpensive bet. According to what Jeffrey said at Monday's presentation, the 3D rendering process (i.e. once for the left eye, once for the right eye and once for the middle distance) will add approximately $15 million to the cost of producing each DreamWorks Animation feature. Which -- given that the average cost of a new DWA project already hovers around $150 million -- is a considerable chunk of change. Though DreamWorks Animation does hope to quickly recover these additional costs through the sale of higher priced tickets to these new premium presentations of its motion pictures.
Which may be a challenge. Given that -- as of this moment -- there are only 1500 screens in the country equipped to show movies in the InTru 3D format. Though -- when you fold in the 120 IMAX screens nationwide that can show 3D films as well as the thousand new 3D-equipped theaters that are expected to come on line in early 2009 -- that then bumps the number of screens that will be able to show "Monsters Vs Aliens" in 3D up to around 2500. Which is where Jeffrey says 35 - 40% of the revenue for this new DWA film (Thanks to that on-average $5 additional fee for this new premium viewing experience) will come from.
Photo by Nancy Stadler
Which is admittedly impressive. But wait. It gets better. Now jump ahead to 2010. When Katzenberg expects that there'll be 7500 screens in the country that will be capable of showing InTru 3D presentations. He anticipates that 80 - 85% of the audience for "Shrek 4" will to pay a higher ticket price in order to get that premium movie-going experience.
Okay. I know. Some of this sounds like pie in the sky. Especially given what's going on with the economy right now. But let's keep in mind that it's not just DreamWorks Animation that's getting serious about 3D's profit potential. Take -- for example -- the Mouse's Disney Digital 3D efforts. Which no longer just involve the studio's newer releases like "Bolt" but are now being expanded to incorporate older, more popular library titles like "Beauty and the Beast." Which is right now in the middle of being converted from 2D to 3D.
Of course, one of the other reasons that Disney & DreamWorks are so hot for 3D these days is that this new film format is virtually pirate proof. Which means that -- at least for the immediate future -- they no longer have to worry about people with camcorders stealing & then selling their intellectual property.
But that's only if people deem these new 3D films worth stealing. During his presentation on Monday, Katzenberg kept circling back to the idea that " ... all of this investment, all of this new technology won't make a bad movie good."
But the upside of that situation is ... Based on the 3D minutes of "Monsters Vs Aliens" I saw last week, InTru 3D can make a good film seem even better.
The production team of this new DWA feature have done a very clever thing. With the exception of two very brief homages to old style 3D (i.e. when things used to fly off the screen at the audience) at the very beginning and the very end of their movie, "Monsters Vs Aliens" uses this technology to draw moviegoers into this film. To create some real emotional depth.
Photo by Nancy Stadler
Which -- I know -- sounds kind of unlikely. Given that "Monsters Vs Aliens" starts off as a Mad Magazine-style spoof of 1950s-era sci-fi and monster movies. With the Earth being threatened with alien invasion and the only thing that can possibly stop this attack from outer space is the U.S. 's super-secret stash of ... Well ... monsters.
But do you remember how "Kung Fu Panda" took a totally ridiculous premise and then turned that into a genuinely entertaining motion picture with exciting action scenes and characters that you actually cared about? "Monsters Vs Aliens" does that too and then folds in 3D.
Case in point: There's a sequence in this motion picture where the monsters are doing battle with this mountain-sized probe that's laying waste to San Francisco. And as you might expect, the apex of the action comes right in the middle of Golden Gate Bridge. As Susan, the 49 & 1/2-foot tall woman finds herself trapped inbetween Insectasaurus, a 300-foot tall good guy, and the previously mentioned probe. And as Susan dodges the probe's killer claws while trying to rescue commuters that are trapped on the bridge ... "Monsters Vs Aliens" went from being this jokey parody to this genuinely engaging action-adventure that was filled with -- dare I say it? "Incredibles" -like laughs and thrills. Which was then made all the more exciting by this new 3D element.
You know what else I found intriguing about this footage? That DreamWorks Animation didn't go the theme park route. That "Monsters Vs Aliens" 3D elements weren't gratuitous. But -- rather -- they were all story-driven and added to this film in order to help create excitement & emotional depth. To help draw movie-goers into this motion picture.
So will InTru 3D really be able to do everything that Jeffrey Katzenberg says it will? Will this next generation of 3D film-making technology actually be the biggest thing to hit Hollywood since sound came in in the 1920s and color came in in the 1930s? To be honest, I don't know.
But what I Do know is ... Given "Monsters Vs Aliens" 's obvious affection for the films of the 1950s that inspired this new DreamWorks Animation release, this is one baby boomer who knows where he'll be in late March of 2009. Which is seated in some dark theater wearing polarized glasses, hoping that the rest of "Monsters Vs Aliens" is just as good as the 30 minutes of InTru 3D clips I saw earlier this week.
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