November 18, 2007
The oldest written saga in the English language is coming to the big screen with the help of cutting-edge theatrical exhibition technology.
On Nov. 16, Paramount Pictures’ Beowulf will be the first film to be released simultaneously in IMAX 3D, REAL D 3D, Dolby 3D Digital Cinema and on 2D digital cinema screens, as well as in conventional 35mm theaters. Directed by Robert Zemeckis and starring Ray Winstone in the title role, along with Anthony Hopkins and Angelina Jolie, Beowulf uses digitally enhanced live-action motion capture to present the epic tale of Beowulf, who saves his land by defeating the monster Grendel, only to face the vengeance of its even more terrifying mother.
Another Look
3D has been an intriguing presentation technology ever since British film pioneer William Friese-Greene patented a stereoscopic projection process in the late 1890s. But after a century of inconsistent interest in what was considered a passing fad, it was IMAX’s November 2004 release of The Polar Express as an animated 3D feature that sparked Hollywood’s modern infatuation with 3D. When the 3D version of Polar Express—which screened in fewer than 100 IMAX 3D theaters—earned 14 times as much per screen as the 2D release took in on more than 3,550 flat screens, studios began to acknowledge a new attraction that would bring audiences out of their home theater playrooms and back into the local Cineplex.
To date, the $65 million gross earned by The Polar Express tops all other modern 3D box office totals combined, including Disney’s 2005 Chicken Little and 2007 Meet the Robinsons. But it whetted Hollywood’s appetite. On March 12, 2007, DreamWorks Animation announced that beginning with the summer 2009 release of Monsters vs. Aliens, all of their theatrical features will be released in 3D.
Since DreamWorks Animation features are released through Paramount, the president of distribution for Paramount’s Motion Picture Group, Jim Tharp, says the studio is very excited about the potential of Beowulf being a harbinger of the future.
“It’s an absolutely stunning film,” Tharp says. “Our goal is to release the film in about 700 3D theaters, along with another 2,000 in 2D. We want to release the film in as many quality 3D theaters as possible.”
Although final numbers cannot be determined until Paramount’s first exhibitor screenings, early estimates include at least 90 IMAX screens in the United States, 800-900 REAL D screens and about 50-70 theaters showing Dolby 3D Digital Cinema.
IMAX 3D will be the only analog presentation format of Beowulf in which the audience will wear passive offset-polarized glasses to view the images from dual reels of 70mm wide, 15-perforation film. The company used its proprietary IMAX 3D DMR (digital remastering) technology to digitally “dimensionalize” the original Beowulf master into the IMAX 3D format.
“Because of the unique geometry of our theaters, that means Beowulf in IMAX 3D will be experienced right at the bridge of your nose,” explains Greg Foster, chairman and president of IMAX Filmed Entertainment. “Since the IMAX 3D DMR process lets us change the perceived camera angles, in certain sequences we have enhanced the 3D view to better take advantage of the IMAX 3D presentation. People looking at an IMAX 3D film are constantly grabbing, ducking and having an ‘I am in the middle of it’ experience.”
A Whole New Audience
Foster believes Beowulf will bring a whole new audience into IMAX theaters.
“In the old days when we were known for family-oriented large-format documentaries, people would fall in love with IMAX as kids and then rediscover it when they became parents,” Foster says. “But with the creation of DMR technology and the emphasis on 3D, we have actively been bringing that 15-to-30-year-old demographic back into the fold. In addition to the popularity of Polar Express, the adult content of this year’s 300 in IMAX 3D has shown more mature audiences this could give them an experience that could not be replicated at home. Beowulf will cater to that crowd.”
The global leader in digital 3D presentations is REAL D, with stereoscopic imaging systems backed by 30 years of scientific development deployed in more than 23 countries. The REAL D approach to 3D movie presentations can be installed in any Digital Cinema Initiative (DCI)-compliant digital cinema projector that uses Texas Instruments’ DLP light engine by employing a “passive circular-polarized” system. The single projector runs at 144 frames per second, presenting 72fps for each eye, with an electro-optical liquid crystal modulator called the “ZScreen” sequentially separating alternate frames into left- and right-eye images shined onto a silver-surfaced screen. By wearing passive circular-polarized glasses, the audience perceives the 3D illusion without the ghosting otherwise induced by even a slight tilt of the head.
“Using the circular-polarized process initially resulted in expensive 3D glasses,” notes Joshua Greer, president and co-founder of REAL D, “but our research has brought the cost down to less than $1, which can let the exhibitor give them away as souvenirs. Combined with REAL D’s easily installed modification of a DCI-compliant projector, that means any theater with a silver screen can exhibit 3D films. With more theaters adopting silver screens, this will let our process present Beowulf in more theaters than any other digital 3D technology.”
The newcomer on the 3D scene is Dolby 3D Digital Cinema, a technology offering from Dolby Laboratories introduced last March at
ShoWest 2007. The unique approach of Dolby 3D Digital Cinema comes from technology developed by Infitec, a division of Daimler AG in Germany that uses color interference technology to separate left- and right-eye images on a conventional white screen.
“We take the RGB spectrum and split the red into two sections [left and right], then do the same with the blue and the green portions,” explains Jeff McNall, cinema products manager for Dolby Laboratories. “When working in tandem with a special filter wheel running at a 144Hz switching interval, which can be installed in any DCI digital cinema projector, the left and right lenses on the viewers’ glasses cancel out either eye. That way we split the light before it gets to the DLP’s Digital Micromirror Device [DMD] imaging block, so the audience receives a stereoscopic 3D perception without risking the addition of artifacts induced by manipulating the pixels themselves.”
All of these systems will be used to present Paramount’s Beowulf in 3D, with the hope of introducing a wider audience to the 3D experience. IMAX has already announced the introduction of a digital projector for their own system early next year. Overall, 3D exhibitors hope to have more than 5,000 digital 3D cinemas installed by the time James Cameron’s highly anticipated big-budget all-3D sci-fi production Avatar is released in the summer of 2009.
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