DreamWorks gets into 3-D
Monsters Versus Aliens will be first movie rendered
Press release: DreamWorks is going 3-D with its animated flicks starting in 2009. The first film to get the stereoscopic 3-D treatment will be Monsters Versus Aliens.
In a press release sent around today, DreamWorks Animation announced that it's going into stereoscopic 3-D.
"What the $^#% does this mean?" you ask. Basically, instead of making movies the regular way and switching it up to 3-D for IMAX and other 3-D theatres (a la last summer's Superman Returns), DreamWorks plans to build their 3-D animated flicks from the ground up.
“I believe that this is the greatest opportunity for movies and for the theatrical exhibition business that has come along in 30 years,” said Jeffrey Katzenberg, DreamWorks Animation CEO. “Advancements in sound have dramatically improved the auditory experience, but there hasn’t been a corresponding breakthrough in the way we see movies until now. Stereoscopic 3D technology gives us a real opportunity to significantly enhance the theater experience.”
The studio is trying to take advantage of the growing number of 3-D screens in movie theatres. DreamWorks estimates that, by 2009, there will be several thousand 3-D screens worldwide.
Jason Clark (executive producer on Amblin/Sony's Monster House) and DreamWorks' R&D head Jim Mainard are spearheading the switch to 3-D.
The first flick to get the stereoscopic 3-D treatment will be DreamWorks' 2009 release, Monsters Versus Aliens (current working title). The film is about a group of monsters who band together to save the planet when aliens invade Earth.
P.S. - The image to the top right is concept art for Monsters Versus Aliens.
