The first wide release of an adult oriented movie in 3-D is seen as a test of audience interest at a time theater owners, studios and financiers have made a big bet on the new digital technology. Zemekis’s “Beowulf” expected to be No. 1 this weekend.

By Alex Ben Block

HOLLYWOOD, CA (Hollywood Today) – 11/16/2007 –. Robert Zemekis’s breakthrough computer generated movie “Beowulf” today becomes the first adult-oriented PG-13 release and the first non-family film to be released with 3-D presentation as well as the standard two-dimensional version. That’s why its performance and audience composition will be closely monitored in Hollywood, by theater owners and Wall Street, where millions have been raised to finance next generation of 3-D cinema.

“How ‘Beowulf’ does is a really key test case in terms of the future of 3-D,” says Paul Dergarabedian, whose L.A. based company Media By Numbers tracks box office and industry trends. “Remember loads of really influential filmmakers are behind the notion of 3-D, like James Cameron, Robert Rodriguez and of course, Robert Zemekis. It ushers in the next level of presentation.”

The movie industry, both studios and exhibitors, have made an expensive bet that fans will flock to 3-D movies over the next few years, providing new tools for filmmakers and hopefully, a way to ensure the future of exhibition by differentiating the theater experience from watching at home. Under a complex plan, thousands of theaters are throwing out film projectors and replacing them with digital video projection. That has made possible the addition of digital 3-D, which is being rolled out at a lightning pace and could be in place on as many as a third of U.S. movie screens by the end of this decade.

“It’s another way to distinguish the theater experience from the home theater experience,” says Dergarabedian. “If you can’t replicate it at home, you are going to have to go out and see it in a theater.”

This visually stunning new take on “Beowulf,” based on an epic poem dating back to the 8^th century, opens very wide in 3,153 theaters, according to Jim Tharp, President of Distribution for Paramount Pictures, who says that advance tracking indicates strong interest in the movie. Early reviews have also generally been positive; with web site Rotten Tomatoes estimating about 80 percent are favorable.

“Beowulf” is poised to become number one at the box office this weekend with a gross close to $30 million. Its release includes 742 locations where it will be presented in 3-D. Out of those 3-D locations, about 120 will be in Imax theaters (80 in the U.S. and 40 outside the U.S., using a film based presentation) with most of the remaining 622 locations playing a system developed by Real D, a privately held L.A. company that has deals to install digital 3-D systems in 19 of 20 of the top movie theater operators. Dolby Labs also has a 3-D system now in a smaller number of theaters.

“We’re very broad in reach now. We’re in the top 300 markets, so it is likely Real D will be available at a multiplex near where you live,” says Real D CEO Michael Lewis. “We needed to reach those kind of numbers to build a platform that made economic sense for the studios to spend the money to make these films.”

Every studio in Hollywood has or is developing 3-D movies, but many have been on a slow track as the moguls wait to see if this new 3-D is a gimmick that will burn out quickly or a major innovation that will have an impact on movie-going for years to come. National Geographic will release the concert documentary “U2 3D” next January. Also next year New Line Cinema will have a new 3-D version of the classic “Journey To The Center Of The Earth.”

Filmmaker James Cameron (“Titanic”) is a big booster of digital 3-D. He formed a partnership to develop a new generation of 3-D cameras (actually built by Sony) and plans to release the big budget film “Avatar” in 2009, the same year that “Monsters Vs. Aliens” is expected from DreamWorks Animation, which has declared plans to make all its future films in 3-D.

Cameron says that the film based 3-D of the 1950s was a gimmick because it was hard to keep the system in register, which led to a lot of eye strain and headaches for viewers. “The digital technology is much more sophisticated at the stage of display,” Cameron told me for an article that appeared in the DGA Quarterly Magazine. “The projectors are so much better, so much clearer, sharper, brighter, and the camera systems allow you to really be in complete control of the 3-D process.”

By 2010, there are expected to be ten to twenty big budget 3-D releases. “3D is not a gimmick or a trick; this is not your father’s 3D; digital 3D can create a sense of depth that pulls audiences into the story. It makes the whole experience more visceral, it heightens the feeling of the movie,” DreamWorks’s Jeffrey Katzenberg told exhibitors at ShoEast in Orlando last month.

Katzenberg estimated that 3-D will add about $15 million to the production cost of each DreamWorks animated movie but enthusiastically predicted it will be well worth it. “This is an ‘offensive play’ rather than a defensive one,” said Katzenberg, noting there is another side benefit to the industry: “It will help with piracy. 90% of all piracy comes from a camcorder aimed at the screen. You can’t ‘camcorder’ 3D movies.”

To go with the added cost, there is a higher price for 3-D. Typically for “Beowulf” shown in Read D installed theaters it is expected to add about $2.50 to the price of a ticket. So far audiences have shown a willingness to pay extra to get 3-D. Over the past few years four or five movies have been released in 3-D as well as standard two-dimensional runs and the results have been spectacular. In the case of such family films as “Polar Express,” “Chicken Little” and “Meet The Robinsons,” ticket buyers opted by a margin of three to one for 3-D when it was available. That success has boosted the rapid mass conversion of theaters and given studios the confidence to green light 3-D movies.

“Real D has really been a big driver of digital cinema (conversions from film based media),” says Lewis. “It’s been the ‘killer ap.’”

Lewis said that Real D finances the cost of adding 3-D systems to recently installed digital projectors in theaters. “We do a revenue share with the exhibitors,” explains Lewis. “We put in the systems on big orders for a nominal upfront cost and then take a percentage of the ticket revenue. It’s a royalty. It’s a percentage of the upcharge on the ticket….Its been a very well received model.”

But now comes “Beowulf” aimed at an older crowd. It has 3-D images but it also has sex, violence and a rousing action adventure story. It comes with a hefty price tag estimated to be over $150 million (a cost split by Paramount, which distributed domestically and Warner Bros., which will release it in international markets). Paramount is also expected to spend $20 million to $30 million to market and distribute the movie.

The L.A. Times called it “an adult oriented cartoon,” and the Academy of Motion Picture Arts & Sciences (the Oscar folks) classify it as animated. However, this is not like what most people think of as a cartoon. The characters look much like the actors, including a nearly naked Angelina Jolie as the villainess. Even she was surprised how realistic it looked, and said in an interview that she had to call Brad Pitt at home to warn him. (see related HT story).

It also is a giant step beyond what Zemekis was able to do in “Polar Express,” where the characters seemed stiff and unreal. In “Beowulf” Zemekis has managed to give the characters not just realistic skin and settings, but also eyes that seem human. Some viewers at a preview screening had to be convinced they were not actually watching actors captured in live action.

“Its approaching photo-realism and its pretty exciting,” says Lewis. “The directors are learning how to tell stories in this new way. So over the next few years, you are going to see some pretty amazing things happen.”

Greg Foster, Chairman and President of Imax Filmed Entertainment, is a believer in 3-D as a way to attract audiences. He says advance ticket sales for the Imax 3-D presentation of “Beowulf” are virtually sold out for the entire opening weekend. “3-D is not a magic pill,” says Foster, “but if you’ve got a movie and it works, it can take it from a single to a home run.”

He cites the example of “Polar Express.” While it did well in theaters, it has done amazingly well in Imax 3-D, which has added about $65 million in ticket sales playing in only about 100 Imax theaters.

For “Beowulf” Foster believes it will bring out the teen and young adult audience who are crucial to the success of a PG-13 rated movie. Foster cites the example of his own three teen sons, who tend to prefer to watch movies at home on a 70 inch screen, or play video games, or go online. Unlike their parent’s generation, movie going is not an automatic habit. “It’s difficult to get them motivated, to get them to a movie theater,” says Foster. “We’ve focused on that because you can’t replicate the Imax experience, particularly the 3-D experience, anywhere but in an Imax theater….That’s why this will be a giant success for us.”

Imax currently uses a 40-year-old film based system to convert movies for their giant screen presentation. Imax plans to convert its theaters projection to digital in the middle of 2008. However, Imax is not rolling out new venues at the pace of Real D. “We don’t want to be on every street corner,” says Foster. “Imax is a premium experience. Its very good for specific movies….I would not want to see ‘My Dinner With Andre’ in Imax. That’s not what it is about.”

That warning was echoed by others. Not every movie lends itself to the process or cost of 3-D presentation. Intimate dramas, for instance, are fine presented in 2-D. However, there are even exceptions to that. Cameron says that after “Avatar,” he plans to make a lower budget love story in 3-D, not because it will enhance the plot, but because the story is about deep sea divers, and the images under water will be spectacular presented in 3-D.

Lewis notes that “Superman,” “Harry Potter” and other films have done some portions in 3-D but in most cases, it was done after the pictures had already been shot in 2-D. He calls “Beowulf” the first adult oriented feature created in 3-D from scratch. “It’s more about making it real and as lifelike as possible and less of a gimmick,” says Lewis. “ Every major director now has a 3-D project they are focusing on, along with the studios. There is a lot of product coming. In 2009, there will be ten major tent pole movies (in 3-D). So I think the switch has been flipped. It’s moving pretty quickly. It’s a big deal right now. A lot of people have said it’s as big as the arrival of color and sound, because the technology has finally gotten good enough.”

“