Technicolor’s announcement of its 3-D for film technology has caused the other two developers of similar technology to come out of the woodwork. Lenny Lipton, former CTO of RealD, has been discussing his process, which is a twist, a 90˚ twist in fact, of the over/under technique used by Technicolor. Also out shopping its wares is Trioscopics, John Lowry’s 3-D company, employing an upgraded version of anaglyph colorization. Technicolor is discussing a rental model, details not yet available to this author. A rental-per-movie model is clever and has merit, as it gets around the confusion factor over which technology the exhibitor should purchase. But can’t comment further until I see the numbers.
For those who still doubt that 3-D is here to stay, it’s time to put on the 3-D glasses. The Blu Ray Disc Association announced its intent this month to complete its 3-D spec by the end of this year. Presumably, the goal is to have products out for the 2010 year-end holiday season. The desire to add momentum to Blu-ray adoption will push some studios to further build up their 3-D catalogs. Talk of converting old blockbusters to 3-D has been around since 2005, when George Lucas announced his intent to convert the Star Wars series. While no one is holding their breath for George to take action, James Cameron appears to be getting close to committing to the re-release of Titanic in 3-D. Disney will re-release in theatres in October the first two “Toy Story” movies, converted to 3-D. With the Blu-ray format moving forward, don’t be surprised to see 3-D conversions of old blockbusters that go direct to disc and bypass the theatre. Consumers may not rush out to upgrade their systems, but new sales will likely steer towards 3-D sets. With a foot now in the consumer market, the trend for making movies in 3-D will continue.