Rethinking moviemaking: animation and visual effects studios discover creative possibilities in three dimensions.(Sterescospy)

[ILLUSTRATION OMITTED]

Could we be about to witness a revolution in filmmaking as profound as the introduction of sound and color? Proponents of stereoscopic 3D films think so, and it looks like they might be right.

In 2005 when Disney created stereo 3D version of its first CG feature Chicken Little, the stereo 3D version played in only 84 theaters equipped with the new, digital projector-based RealD systems, which use disposable, polarized glasses. The following year, stereo 3D versions of Sony's Monster House and Disney's The Nightmare Before Christmas landed in 200 RealD theaters. By November 2007, when Paramount Pictures released Beowulf in stereo 3D, the number of RealD theaters had grown to 900. Now, the chickens and the eggs--that is, the theaters and the content--are quickly moving into place for a major revolution.

Digital projection is the key to stereo 3D's theatrical success. The stereo 3D systems, such as those from RealD, that sit in front of the digital projectors control the dual images (left eye, right eye) with split-second accuracy. This has helped eliminate the headache-producing misalignments of left-eye/right-eye flames that can result when two sprocket-based projectors put images on screen (see "Supersized," January 2007).

However, the slow adoption of digital projectors by movie theaters has slowed the adoption of stereo 3D. That's about to change. On October 1, a consortium of Hollywood Studios--including Disney, Paramount Pictures, Universal Pictures, Twentieth Century Fox, and Lions Gate--announced their pledge of $1 billion-plus to upgrade 20,000 North American movie theaters to digital projector systems.

"Digital conversion is the major cost," says Joe Daley of MarketSaw.blogspot.com, a Web site focused on 3D movies. "Once that's done, it's a relatively minor cost for a theater to move to 3D."

The digital projection installation project will unspool during the next three years, but already 1300 theaters show 3D films, with RealD, the leader in this field, boasting of deals in place for future installations that would bring its total in 5000 theaters. Further increasing the potential number of theaters is Dolby, which entered the picture in 2007. Dolby's stereo 3D systems, which don't require special screens but need reusable polarized glasses, have now landed in 150 US theaters and an additional 350 around the world. And, just last month, Sony announced a 3D adapter for its 4K-resolution movie-theater projectors that it plans to ship in March 2009.