3D movies fighting for scarce space on 3D screens

By Sarah Sluis

During the 3D Entertainment Summit, Henry Selick, director of Coraline, was frank about how the lack of 3D screens hurt his film. The picture made 85% of its revenue on 3D screens, managing to book 600 of 900 available screens, even though the movie released shortly after My Bloody Valentine 3D. It was then pulled out of many theatres three weeks later when Jonas Brothers: The 3D Concert Experience released. If there were a steady supply of 3D screens, the film could have done even better.

This year, the 3D screens, limited as they are, accounted for the overall increase in box-office revenue (fewer people went to the movies, but people paid more to see them in 3D). But there still aren't enough.

The big, ominous statistic is "average time of release on 3D screens." In 2008, the average time was 8.7 weeks. This year, it's down to 3.1. That's still feasible for many studios, since they do seven-eighths of their business in the first three weeks. But next year, it could sneak down to 1.8 weeks, severely cutting into the golden period.

Help, though delayed, in on its way. With Federal Reserve Chairman Ben Bernanke proclaiming that the recession is over, and more big banks able to open up their pocketbooks to lend money, theatres may finally receive the financing they need to install digital and 3D systems. Last Friday, JP Morgan announced that it was planning to lend $525 million over the next five years to the three largest circuits, which will help fund the transition. Thousands of screens should be converted.

For viewers, there's also a future in which films release exclusively in 3D, creating differences in pricing: imagine choosing between seeing a big animation or action blockbuster in 3D for $15, or a quieter 2D drama for $12. Will those three dollars be enough to sway people's choice of film? Or will they both be considered equally valuable for what they're offering? I think it's too soon to say exactly how viewers will respond, but it will be interesting when it gets to the point that almost everyone has seen a 3D movie. A few weeks ago, I overheard a conversation between a male and female moviegoer, roughly college age. The male was all about 3D, but the female was opposed to it, saying she would never see a 3D film because they were" gimmicky." Once a viewer like her is persuaded, I think 3D will have truly arrived.

Be sure to check Film Journal's Digital Cinema section for further updates on the transition to digital and 3D screens.

'Up' high at the box office

By Sarah Sluis

Up, Pixar's entry in the '09 summer box office, bested last year's Wall-E to gross $68.2 million, slightly more than the robot film's $63 million opening. While detractors feared the elderly main character would turn off younger viewers, 31% of seats were filled by kids 2-11, and it appears the old-young pairing piqued the interest of a wider range of viewers. Disney reported the film did well even in past-bedtime showings, which would usually have a significant drop-off.

While Up didn't use 3D for any gimmicky effects (like Monsters vs. Aliens), audiences overwhelmingly paid the extra $2 or so to see the film with glasses. Its 1,534 3D venues grossed $24,000 per screen, sell-out levels, and 2.2 times that of 2D screens. That meant that while only 40% of the screens were 3D, over half the gross came from these venues, another checkmark in favor of 3D's profitability.

The other debut of the week, Drag Me To Hell, earned $16.6 million, slightly over Terminator Salvation's second-week total of $16.1 million. The horror film played best on Friday, with slight drops on Saturday and Sunday. Because of the film's positive reviews, the studio hopes it won't disappear as fast as most horror titles, and will drum up business from strong word-of-mouth.

The 62% drop in Terminator Salvation may not be as bad for the franchise as it seems. Most films dropped at least 50% this week, since last week's Memorial Day holiday added business not just on Monday, but throughout the weekend. Wolverine dropped 69% in its second weekend (although the X-Men film had a stronger opening weekend), so the re-launch is merely a more middling entry among films with both costs and grosses above $100 million (at $90 million, Terminator will likely cross that mark this week).

Star Trek dropped two spots to number five, earning $12.8 million and crossing the $200 million mark, making it the most successful release among May tentpoles. At numbers nine and ten, Ghosts of Girlfriends Past and Obsessed earned $1.9 million and $665,000, respectively. After five and six weeks at the box office, the films have quietly earned $50 and $67 million, sure signs of profitability for the relatively low-budget films.

On the specialty front, The Brothers Bloom expanded and almost cracked the top ten, coming in with $652,000 at is 148 locations. Departures made $8,000 per screen at its nine locations, and inspiring documentary Pressure Cooker, which follows low-income students trying to win scholarships, guided by a tough culinary instructor, also made $8,000 per screen at its single location.

Next weekend, Up will be joined by light-hearted fare across the board. Night-of-abandon comedy The Hangover will battle with prehistoric comedy-adventure Land of the Lost. A smaller-scale release of romantic comedy My Life in Ruins, which stars Nia Vardalos of My Big Fat Greek Wedding fame, will round out Friday's offerings.

Behind the scenes with Selick on 'Coraline'

By Sarah Sluis

Coraline releases this Friday, and, its creepiness level is right up there with director Henry Selick's 1993 movie The Nightmare Before Christmas, a film I found a little too disturbing and unsettling when I saw it on the upper side of grade school (to be fair, I was much more fright-averse than average). For an adult, however, Selick's tone conjures up just the right amount of heebie-jeebies. In the age of computer animation, it's astonishing to see the meticulous, detail-oriented work that goes into such a production--of note, it's the first stop-motion film to be filmed in 3D. Our Maria Garcia interviewed director Selick here about the filmmaking process, and our Executive Editor Kevin Lally reviewed the final product here, and both stories are worth checking out.

In Garcia's interview, Selick touches upon that stop-motion, Chucky-like quality of puppets:

"the puppets 'make the creepy

things in the story more charming' and 'add creepiness to the

charming stuff'"

In Coraline, puppets not only depict the action, but have a sort of role in the film itself. Coraline's Other Mother and Other Father have buttons for eyes, giving them unchanging, penetrating expressions. Over at Wired, they have a slide show of the production process. Pink cherry blossoms, for example, are hand-painted pieces of popcorn--that took eight hundred hours to paint. Grass is painted fake hair, facial expressions (which number 25,000) come from 350 types of eyebrows and 700 types of mouths, and steam is cotton that defies gravity through hair spray.

After the jump, more photos from the Coraline production.

The popcorn-decorated trees

Piano wire mustache

Creating Coraline

Cotton held up with hairspray