ClashOfTheTitans
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Clash of the Titans sequel will be another 2D-to-3D conversion, and Inception too?
After a poor response to the first Clash of the Titans movie and its substandard 3D effects, courtesy of a rushed conversion process, you'd think they would never try that again, and you'd be wrong. Director Jonathan Liebesman, fresh off of Battle:LA is helming sequel Wrath of the Titans and says was talked into doing the conversion process again (but shooting with that in mind, Piranha 3D-style) on this flick by a series of demos including, Christopher Nolan's Inception. This is notable both because no 3D re-release has been announced for the visually engrossing flick, but also because Nolan himself has suggested 3D would be a bad choice due to the dimming effect of the glasses. Warner Bros. could only manage to tell Cinematical "At this time, the plans for Inception 3D cannot be confirmed," leaving the possibility of a return alongside Star Wars, Titanic and others to twist in the wind for now.
Warner has six Blu-ray 3D discs headed to retail November 16, Sony brings along Open Season
We're not sure if they were just waiting for the PlayStation 3's Blu-ray 3D update to be officially announced, but Warner Bros. has finally responded to our pleas and mentioned a few Blu-ray 3D discs that are headed for retail without any exclusive bundling holding them back. Home Media Magazine reports that among them, Cats & Dogs: The Revenge of Kitty Galore will be a day-and-date release along with the standard DVD and Blu-ray editions, while the other five are Clash of the Titans, The Polar Express, IMAX Deep Sea 3D, IMAX Under the Sea 3D and IMAX Space Station 3D, all sporting $44.95 MSRPs. According to SVP Dorinda Marticorena, this push "is just the beginning" and timed to capitalize on an increase in sales of Blu-ray 3D hardware during the holidays. No doubt, as Sony Pictures has also apparently dated the release of Open Season in 3D for November 16 as well, the same day A Christmas Carol arrives -- 3D early adopters mark your calendars appropriately.
James Cameron, Piranha 3D actor Eli Roth speak up in support of 3D conversions
After Clash of the Titans and Avatar: The Last Airbender, we're leery of any movies rocking the converted-to-3D tag, but a few directors (not coincidentally, ones with 3D productions in the making they'd likely appreciate us buying tickets to see) claim the process itself isn't the problem. Among other comments (including discussing the upcoming return of Avatar to theaters exclusively in 3D, sequels and a new 3D flick on the way from Guillermo del Toro) with MarketSaw, our friend Jimmy C said "[Titans] showed a fundamental lack of knowledge about stereo space, in addition to the shoddy work that comes from rushing." Of course, we'll have to wait to see what the converted version of Titanic looks like, currently undergoing a process taking between 8-12 months. Eli Roth is in Piranha 3D, which debuts next weekend and is also a film that was filmed in 2D and converted in post, but he claims it's different from M Knight's flick because they planned ahead: "You can shoot digital 3-D and it looks great, or you can shoot film and convert and it looks great - but only if you planned to do it that way from the start...With Piranha 3D, the very title of the film is Piranha 3D," he continues. "It was written that way and photographed to be converted. This means that when you're setting up a shot, next to the camera is a technical adviser from the 3D company who tells you exactly what light won't work for the 3D, how far the subject has to be from the lens if you want it to look good when it pops out of the camera, etc...It's not easy and it's not instant and when it's a last minute rushed decision we can see it immediately. But to associate Piranha 3D, a film which spent years planning this, months shooting it with the technicians on set checking the convertibility of every shot, and so far 8 months working on the conversion, is not fair." Check Bloody-Disgusting for the rest of his comments, and listen to Cameron in his own words on MarketSaw -- we'll see how audiences and critics react over the coming weeks and months.
Blu-ray releases on July 27th 2010
Love it or hate it the top title this week is the modern remake of Clash of the Titans. And if you are worried about more fake 3D, don't, this Blu-ray Discs has lots of features, but one of them isn't 3D. But even if this one isn't for you there are still a few others worth a look like Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon, or maybe enjoy the extended cut of Rambo, with an extra 15 minutes of .50 action. If none of that appeals to you, then maybe you'd like Fanboys? Clash of the Titans (2010) (Warner) Batman: Under the Red Hood (Warner) Battlestar Galactica: Season 3 (Universal) Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon (Sony) Johnny Handsome (Lionsgate) Lock Up (Lionsgate) Repo Men (Universal) Accidents Happen (Image) Steve Byrne: The Byrne Identity (Image) Operation: Endgame (Anchor Bay) Don't Look Up (E1) Fanboys (Weinstein) G.I. Joe: The Movie (Shout! Factory) Home (Kino Video) Ip Man (Well Go USA) Ip Man (Collector's Edition) (Well Go USA) Life After People: The Complete Season 2 (A&E) The Missing Lynx (Phase 4 Films) The Prowler (Blue Underground) Puppet Master: Axis of Evil (Full Moon) The Secret of the Grain (Criterion Collection) SGU: Stargate Universe, Season 1.5 (MGM) Stephen Fry in America (BFS)
Clash of the Titans Blu-ray 3D dated in Japan, packed in with Aquos 3DTVs
Ok, we're not sure that Clash of the Titans is the kind of 3D experience we'd want someone to have on their first time -- in case you've forgotten, a weak movie and a poor 2D to 3D conversion added up to a weak reception in reviews when the movie was in theaters -- but Sharp apparently thinks differently. It's promoting the movie alongside the 3D editions of its Quattron LCD HDTVs and, assuming our understanding of machine translated Japanese is correct, will be tossing in a copy gratis with purchases. At least in Japan, the 2D version of the blu-ray will be released august 25, with the 3D & 2D combo pack arriving October 6, if you've just got to have your Sam Worthington fix before Avatar is rereleased in November.
What it takes to properly convert a 2D movie to 3D
3DTVs are useless without content and while to some sports is the killer app for 3D, others prefer movies. When it comes to new movies, there's Avatar and then there's everything else -- most movies are converted to 3D instead of using 3D cameras. The company In-Three originally formed with the intent of converting classics like Star Wars to 3D -- yes Lucas says he wants to do all six -- but with all the money 3D movies are making in theaters today, In-Three is spending their time working with producers on new movies like Alice in Wonderland. Anyone who saw both Alice and Clash of the Titans will tell you that all dimensionalization isn't created equal. While most didn't realize Alice wasn't actually shot in 3D, reviews of Clash were titled like "the first film to actually be made worse by being in 3D." While the dimensionalization of Alice took four to six months, Clash was done in eight to ten weeks -- as well as being converted by different companies. We can't blame 'em for trying though, as In-Three tells 3DCineCast blog it uses four to six hundred people while wearing 3D glasses 50 to 75 percent of the day, and costs about 80 to 100 thousand dollars per minute to do dimensionalization properly. Which is just crazy as well as makes us wonder how that's cheaper than just using 3D cameras. The good part about doing it in post processing though is it gives the creators more artistic control as the dimensionalization is done by hand, frame by frame. Of course the concern is that people will see movies like Clash of the Titans in 3D and write off the dimensionalization process all together, or worse 3D entirely.
Shuttle outfits X50 V2 and J series desktops with Clash of the Titans regalia
Are you a fan of epic, multidimensional cinema extravaganzas? Well, Shuttle wants to help you show off your fandom with these here limited edition Clash of the Titans tie-in machines. The new J series entertainment SFF PCs will come with the most appealing package, which includes the colorful front faceplate above, while the Pine Trail-packing X50 V2 will be preloaded with wallpapers and imagery from the forthcoming flick. We like to mock such blatantly commercial efforts, but if you really are into your Greek mythology and want a small computer that can fit Core i7 CPUs and dual-GPU setups (SX58J3), why not? Best of all, you can even win one of these, so after you've read the PR after the break, hit the source link to find out how.
God of War's Jaffe inspired by Britney vs. Christina
Sure you knew that God of War was inspired by Clash of the Titans and Raiders of the Lost Ark, but did you know that Christina Aguilera influenced its development as well?In an interview conducted by Lorne Lanning for a session at GDC last week, David Jaffe revealed that thinking of (the workplace tension between him and) his lead programmer during a Christina Aguilera song about Britney Spears helped him get the game to work.So identifying with the arguably lesser end of the Christina-Britney rivalry helped Kratos make it out of development hell? Sounds like a surefire way to create a hit game! We also take it then that the song in question wasn't "Genie in a Bottle," 'cause that would've made for one interesting unlockable costume for our marked man. Cameo in the sequel, perhaps?[Britney 'n' Christina pic found via an old BBC MTV VMA story found here]See also: David Jaffe, blogger extraordinaire, WRU?!? God of War 2 GDC video leaked online Budget power from the Gods, under the hood
