NASA Boosted 3-D Movies Coming to a Theater Near You

(New York, NY) NASA-Boosted 3-D movies coming to a theater near you!

Maybe you thought they'd never get here. However, it looks like NASA will be the catalyst spark, if you will, for bringing 3-D movies to the movie-going public.

And not the ones your grandparents and parents sat through yesteryear. You know the ones if you were a part of that era, or know anything about those movies which half of everyone there argued with the other half that, "if I can see it you should be able to see it too." Or the other comment floating around just as much as those funky-colored glasses did at the time, "Maybe it's my glasses. I think it's the glasses, they don't work for me. I see something, but I don't know."

A 3-D technology developed to help NASA astronauts practice making repairs in space is set to revolutionize the way people watch movies by 2009, when a wave of live-action 3-D movies hit theaters. (Reuters) And by all accounts the 3-D studio industry is ready for it. So this time around, there won't be too much of a need for those complaints of eye-strain and headaches as well, like the last couple of times the 3-D show rolled onto the American scene.

These 3-D movies, unlike how unwatchable 3-D movies were in the past, are as real as it's ever been. The past couple of failed attempts that this thing called "3-D" tried to make its way into the landscape of American culture can be archived away into historical oblivion, now. Not that they weren't nearly there already.

While in very recent years a number of studios have and professionals have been steadily working the 3-D angle, it is with the help of the same technology NASA used, that seems to swing the pendulum of favor toward the studio and theater industries. The 3-D wave in the movie industry has come up quicker, larger, and better than ever before in its attempts to become a part of the American landscape. The wave is growing so fast that nearly every large movie studio has at least a one, more than likely a couple, of 3-D titles in production.

Particularly noted 3-D projects include the live action film, "U23D." Being readied to be released this summer/fall 2007, it will be a 90 minute concert film of U2 based in their Vertigo tour in, you betcha, 3-D! This will be an evolution of U2's last foray into the 3-D arena. (IMDB)

Expect dozens of 3-D live action and animated films to land at a theater near you soon. Currently filming ,and one of the first to be presented to the mass public will be "Avatar." James Cameron, of directorial fame "Titanic," and executive producer for the recently controversial documentary, "Lost Tomb of Jesus," will be producing the film. (IMDB)

The movie's plot summary; "In the future, Jake, a paraplegic war veteran, is brought to another planet, Pandora, which is inhabited by the Na'vi, a humanoid race with their own language and culture. Those from Earth find themselves at odds with each other and the local culture," (Written by Giorgio). The movie is set to be released in 2009, and stars Sigourney Weaver and others. (IMDB)

The company with the pleasure of being the first to the 3-D movie punch in 2008 is Walden Media. In describing past 3-D systems to what is now available, a la NASA and trickle down institutions and companies, Walden Media Chief Executive Cary Granat said, "None of the 3-D systems in the past allowed you to immerse yourself in the frame. This is really the next step of film-going," he told Reuters.

Walden Media's "Journey 3D" will be the first live-action digital 3-D feature film release in 2008. Journey 3-D is written by Michael D. Weiss and Jenifer Flackett, directed by Eric Brevig, and stars Brendan Fraser. (IMDB)

Many smaller movie studios are on board, and Indie film-makers too. And while costs are expected to rise from the going rate of about $15 million dollars extra to make a movie 3-D, as 3-D technology evolves, and it becomes more and more in demand, expect the technology to do what every thing else does that makes it in to the market and becomes more and more plentiful, the costs scale broadens, and smaller, less financed projects are able to get off the ground because of now being able to afford it as well.

With the explosion of this new NASA technology-boost to 3-D, and that, no doubt the movie studios' and theater owners' new 3-D cash cow has come in from the pasture, it is only a matter of time till more and more Indie filmmakers themselves are much more involved in 3-D movie making. It looks like 3-D technology is well on its way to revolutionizing the film industry and the American culture.

Real D is the company that is leading the way in 3-D filming technology. The Real D 3-D system was invented by Lenny Lipton, an American inventor.

Real D has installed about 700 Real D projection systems and expects to have at least 5,000 screens installed in theaters by 2009, Real D Chairman and Chief Executive Michael Lewis said. (Reuters) As you can imagine, theater owners are moving at warp-speed to get up the Real D projection systems by converting out-dated screens to keep pace with updated digital technology.

The technique that Real D uses is similar to the traditional method of 3-D imaging using polarized glasses. The traditional method works by projecting two differently polarized images onto the same screen, which are then filtered by polarized glasses worn by the audience. This type of 3-D imaging requires two projectors. Real-D however uses a single projector that alternately projects the left-eye frame and right-eye frame, and appropriately polarizes these frames using a liquid-crystal screen placed in front of the projector lens. The polarized glasses make sure each eye sees only "its own" picture. The very high frame rate, which is 72fps per eye, makes sure the image looks continuous. In Real D Cinema, each frame is projected three times to reduce flicker, as the source video is usually 24fps. The result is a 3-D picture that seems to extend behind and in front of the screen itself. (Wikipedia)

Recently in Walt Disney World's Magic Kingdom 3-D theme park, the 3-D film "Philharmagic" was shown to audiences. (Studio 3D) Why am I bringing this particular film up? Don't be surprised if in the future many a 3-D films and subsequent theaters do what was done quite successfully during the running of that film in Disney World's venue.

What is it, what is it, you ask? The olfactory effect. During the 3-D film, an apple pie came flying out of the screen into the audience, and at that moment, the smell of apple pie waifed and lingered throughout the theater. If you want to have a successful olfactory effect test, they couldn't have started with a better one than the smell of apple pie. I guess the other one that is really popular with our noses, popcorn, has already been smelling up the theater long enough, ey.

Disney's "Nightmare Before Christmas" and "Meet the Robinsons" were recent major 3-D releases. Both did well. Industry professionals are encouraged that despite the higher ticket prices, avg. $2.50-4.00 more per ticket to see these 3-D movies, the buying public made that never-no-mind due to the groundswell of support the 3-D movies have been garnering, including Disney's release of "Chicken Little" in Real D in November 2005. (Washington Post)

If Nasa can 3-D the sun, I guess now would be as good as time as ever to 3-D America's theaters. This is sure to bring the needed boost the movie and theater industry has been desperately needed relative to bringing movie-goers back to the theaters.

Reuters

imdb.com

Real D

Wikipedia

studio3d.com

Washington Post