James Cameron makes his case for higher frame rates

By Kevin Lally

Avatar director James Cameron was one of the biggest and most accessible stars of the CinemaCon convention in Las Vegas, appearing yesterday on a panel with George Lucas and Jeffrey Katzenberg and this morning providing a groundbreaking demo of the advantages of shooting a movie with a higher frame rate than the 24 frames per second that has been standard since the silent era.

To make his point, Cameron shot test sequences with his Titanic cinematographer Russell Carpenter on an elaborately dressed medieval set with actors in period costumes laughing it up at a banquet and engaged in a fierce swordfight. Each 3D sequence was shot at 24, 48 and 60 frames per second, and Cameron used a laser pointer to illustrate how panning the camera invariably produces strobing of people and objects at the traditional 24-frame speed. Both the 48 and 60-frame clips were markedly superior, eliminating strobing and bringing greater clarity to objects captured by the moving camera.

Cameron said he's "agnostic" about whether 48 or 60 fps should be adopted, but he reiterated his plans to shoot Avatar 2 at a higher frame rate.Lensing on that much-anticipated project, which he is still writing, is at least 18 months away, he revealed.

The tech-savvy director assured the crowd that the new generation of digital projectors is already capable of accommodating higher frame-rate content with a minor software upgrade, ane he also argued that increases in production rendering budgets could be kept to a reasonable level with "smart coding."

Most ominously, Cameron warned the cinema community that live 3D TV sports programming is already produced at 60 fps, so increasing the frame rate for theatrical features would ensure that movies are keeping up with the state of the art that high-end consumers can already get at home.

Cameron noted that director Peter Jackson has already performed 48 fps tests for his upcoming Hobbit film, and that George Lucas is also "gung ho" on the upgrade.

The demo was held at the Caesars Palace Colosseum theatre, using double stacked Christie DLP Cinema projectors, Doremi servers and RealD 3D. Cameron also generously offered to make his test footage available to any tech company or industry group interested in researching and/or developing higher-frame-rate technology.

We'll know in a few years whether or not this eye-opening day at CinemaCon was truly historic.

Lionsgate greenlights a trio of low-budget films

By Sarah Sluis

Most better-known low-budget films have traveled a common path: independent financing followed by a festival debut, where the movie is picked up by a specialty distributor like Fox Searchlight, Focus or the Weinstein Co. Now Lionsgate is actively pursuing the low-budget market, but not by increasing the number of films it acquires at festivals. Instead, Lionsgate is commissioning its own low-budget films in the comedy and horror genres, which it describes as "historically driven more by concept and execution than budget."

True, the three films kicking off the initiative will have budgets under $2 million, but they will enjoy the infrastructure and support of the studio system. What sets these films apart? Instead of aiming for the lowest common denominator (another dumb teen comedy), they have embraced edgy subjects that give them niche, not universal, appeal. I'm intrigued. Here's an outline of the first three films.

Rapturepalooza has been described as The Big Lebowski meets Zombieland, a quirky horror-comedy that takes place in the aftermath of a religious apocalypse. The cast and crew won't be unknowns; Craig Robinson (Pineapple Express, "The Office") stars, a commercial director will make his feature debut, and one of the producers worked on The Other Guys.

Gay Dude is one of those high school lose-our-virginity-before-graduation movies, but with a twist: One of the two guys making the pact confesses he's gay, complicating their goal, testing their friendship and exposing prejudices...in the context of humorous situations, naturally. The script by Alan Yang ("Parks and Recreation") made the Black List of best unproduced screenplays.

6 Miranda Drive is a horror film, plain and simple. Writer/director, Greg McLean helmed the successful Australian horror film Wolf Creek, loosely inspired by a local serial killer who preyed on backpackers. Miranda centers on a family who brings back an object from vacation that preys on their fears.

Of these three projects, Gay Dude feels the most risky, followed by the comedy-out-of-rapture Rapturepalooza. 6 Miranda Drive sounds conventional, but that doesn't mean it won't be good or groundbreaking like Saw and Paranormal Activity. Lionsgate has pledged to cast more minorities, continuing the studio's trend of serving urban markets (Lionsgate distributes the Tyler Perry movies, for example, and partnered with Pantelion films to serve the Hispanic market.)

I still have many questions about Lionsgate's plans? Will the studio give these movies wide releases, or targeted ones? Will it platform release some of them? If one of the films flops, will studio cut its losses and send it straight to DVD? I applaud Lionsgate for not only going low budget, but being independent-minded in their subject matter. Let's bring indie movies to the masses.

Cameron, Lucas and Katzenberg champion digital at CinemaCon

By Kevin Lally

The power trio of James Cameron, George Lucas and Jeffrey Katzenberg were a major draw at the Wednesday luncheon at CinemaCon in Las Vegas, and no wonder, considering how many billions of box-office dollars they've generated for the theatre owners at this annual gathering. The purpose of their visit was to talk about the future of digital filmmaking, and the session--moderated by RealD chairman Michael Lewis--was a stimulating look at their priorities and processes.

Lucas compared the arrival of digital tools to the invention of oil paint that freed artists from the confines of indoor frescoes. Cameron noted that thanks to digital technology, "if we can imagine it, we can create it." DreamWorks Animation chief Katzenberg declared that digital "transformed the art of animation and reinvented what it means."

Lucas made a distinction between digital and 3D as groundbreakers. For him, the arrival of digital was as game-changing as the introduction of sound. 3D , he feels, is akin to color--an innovation that just makes a movie better. He praised Cameron's Avatar as a real eye-opener that showed him how persuasive and realistic a 3D environment can be.

Cameron and Lucas are both working on 3D conversions of Titanic and Star Wars, respectively, and each took pains to point out that their conversion projects are not taking any short cuts. Lucas has been working on the conversion of Star Wars for some seven years, and revealed that it's been a painstaking creative process. There's "no magic wand, no killer app" for 2D to 3D conversion, he contended, just a lot of highly intricate, shot-by-shot effort. Quickie conversions, Katzenberg argued, "devalue an amazing opportunity for all of us."

Cameron made news by announcing that the next two Avatar filmswill be shot at higher frame rates than the traditional 24 frames persecond,instead produced at 48 to 60 frames per second.As he explained, "3D shows you a window into reality. The higherframerate takes the glass out of the window." The director will demonstrate the visual potency of higher frame rates at a Thursday morning session at CinemaCon.

Cameron kept referring to 35mm film as a relic of the past, noting that the era is over when he fretted over prints of Titanic falling apart because they played in theatres for so many weeks. He also assured exhibitors who've embraced digital that their biggest investment is behind them and that future improvements will be much less costly by comparison.

All three film bigwigs were applauded for declaring that they make their movies for the big screen. "What you bring to the table is a great venue," Lucas told the audience of cinema executives, noting that while Hollywood's output also ends up on TV screens and iPhones, the social environment of the cinema is something that "will never go away."

The Wednesday program at CinemaCon also featured the annual Pioneer of the Year dinner benefitting the Will Rogers Pioneers, which assists film industry veterans who've fallen on hard times. Tim Allen was the R-rated host of the proceedings honoring former Disney Studios chairman Dick Cook. The evening was most notable for the consecutive appearances of onetime Disney colleagues turned bitter foes Michael Eisner and Jeffrey Katzenberg, plus former Disney chairman Joe Roth. In accepting his award, the universally admired Cook joked that after seeing these three on the same stage, he checked the Weather Channel on his smart-phone to see if hell had frozen over.

'Twilight' writer forms production company, sets up 'Earthseed'

By Sarah Sluis

How apropos. Just yesterday I was talking about the shift away from female-centered romantic comedies to female-centered action projects. Now Twilight scribe Melissa Rosenberg has announced she has formed a production company based on this central premise. Tall Girl Productions aims to create "great, strong roles for women, but in four-quadrant, high-concept movies," THR quotes Rosenberg. "Not movies for women in the traditional sense but more interesting, intriguing, complex roles�and kickass women, as well."

The announcement arrives in the wake of backlash to writer/director Zack Snyder's female-centered, male-oriented Sucker Punch. Variety even commented on the debate, explaining that the "lingerie-clad heroines in a fantasy setting" have led some to raise eyebrows, wondering "whether this amounts to schoolgirl fetishism masquerading as entertainment." Sucker Punch isn't the first time a female-led action movie has appealed primarily to men, but costumed heroines in particular have a pretty poor track record--need I mention Cat Woman, Elektra, and Tomb Raider?

Rosenberg's first project, Earthseed, will be an adaptation of a 1983 young adult novel. The sci-fi tale, which is set up at Paramount, centers on a group of kids who have been conceived artificially in an effort to eventually colonize a new planet. The teens are left to fend for themselves in order to "test" the method. Everything starts to go the way of Lord of the Flies, forcing the heroine to step in and lead the group. Rosenberg will write and produce. The author of the Earthseed has written two sequels, so the project has franchise potential.

Certainly the sci-fi genre/space film is overdue for a quality film. 2009's Moon achieved a rare feat, a low-budget sci-fi movie, and this year's Sundance pickup Another Year blends relationship drama with sci-fi. The biggest budget attempt, Gravity, which may come out in 2012, centers on the aftermath of a space accident and will be directed by none other than Alfonso Cuarn. The space film has been under-served recently, and these projects should fill that gap--with some exciting female roles included.

DreamWorks and Disney dazzle at CinemaCon

By Kevin Lally

Box office may be down for the first three months of 2011, but the first two days of the CinemaCon convention in Las Vegasmade a strong case that better, more lucrative times are just ahead for the movie business.

On Monday, Paramount showcased footage from five potential blockbusters (not even counting the third Transformers), and on Tuesday it was DreamWorks and Disney's turn to promote their upcoming releases. DreamWorks, whose live-action films will be going out through Disney and Touchstone, may have two Oscar contenders this year: War Horse and The Help. Steven Spielberg prepared a video to promote War Horse, the World War I tale of a farm boy and his conscripted horse, based on the popular novel by Michael Morpurgowhich also inspiredthe current London stage hit. The material is surefire family drama, and the footage glimpsed has all the rich production value one expects from Spielberg. Epic scope, period trappings and a tearjerking story of the bond between boy and animal certainly sound like a recipe for end-of-year honors.

The Help also looks like awards bait, with its uplifting narrative delving into the lives of black domestics in Mississippi in the early 60s. Second-time director Tate Taylor just happens to be best friends with Kathryn Stockett, the author of the novel that has become a long-running bestseller. He was there in Vegas with producer Chris Columbus and the four delightful lead actresses, Emma Stone, Viola Davis, Bryce Dallas Howard and the lesser-known Octavia Spencer, who all seemed genuinely proud of the movie and happy to be reunited in Vegas.

A predictably mischievous Colin Farrell appeared with director Craig Gillespie to promote their 3D remake of the 80s vampire-next-door chiller Fright Night, and the action set-piece they screened immediately raised expectations for this summer scarefest: Farrell is effectively creepy, and the havoc he wreaks on Anton Yelchin and Toni Collette is truly terrifying.

Night of the Museum director Shawn Levy teamed with his star, Hugh Jackman, to tout Real Steel, his futuristic tale of an underdog robot boxing contender which Levy called a combination of Rocky, Hoosiers and The Champ--not to mention the "emerging edge of visual effects" used in his latest effort. Levy promised a movie for audiences "from eight to eighty"--and no doubt some of those eight-year-olds will be clamoring for the robot action figures inevitably hitting stores later this year.

Later in the day, Disney previewed its non-DreamWorks product, including 26 minutes of scenes from Pixar's Cars 2, whoseinternational espionageplotline and urban Japanese backdrops are a 180-degree wheelie from the more pastoral pleasures of the original Cars.

Disney executive VP of distribution Dave Hollis also offered details on the next Pixar film, Brave, a Scottish adventure with the voices of Kelly Macdonald, Billy Connolly, Emma Thompson, Julie Walters and Craig Ferguson, and revealed that the sequel to Monsters, Inc. will actually be a prequel entitled Monsters University, showing how pals Mike and Sully first met in college.

Jason Segal and Amy Adams flew into Vegas to promote the new Muppets movie in which they co-star, hoping to bring the beloved TV and moviezanies to a new generation. The trailer looked refreshingly low-tech and innocent in these frenzied days of digital wonders. And for those still mourning the end of "Flight of the Conchords," the film is directed by "Conchords" vet James Bobin and features songs by "Conchords" star Bret McKenzie. And oh yes, Segal promised no frontal nudity in The Muppets--except for Kermit the Frog's.

A promotional "sizzle reel" for The Avengers did its job well, whetting the Vegas audience's appetite for the 2012 spectacle uniting Marvel comic heroes Iron Man, Captain America, Thor, The Hulk, Nick Fury, Black Widow and Hawkeye. And a beguiling sequence from this summer's 2D animated Winnie the Pooh convinced this writer that this kids' film will definitely offer plenty of charm for any adults in the audience.

Disney's big preview concluded with three sequences in 3D from the eagerly awaited Pirates of the Caribbean: On Stranger Tides, whose previous three outings have earned a staggering $2.6 billion. Producer Jerry Bruckheimer and new franchise director Rob Marshall introduced the clips, which were robust and entertaining enough to make a persuasive case that the series has gotten back to the basics that made the first film such an unexpected surprise.

Jennifer Garner to play a youthful 'Miss Marple'

By Sarah Sluis

Agatha Christie's most famous detective character, Miss Jane Marple, has come out of retirement. And in her next film, she'll be forty years younger. Jennifer Garner has signed on to play the amateur sleuth in a project being developed by Disney.

So far, reception hasn't been entirely positive. The comments by Deadline readers, for example, have been overwhelmingly negative, zeroing in on the fact that Miss Marple is supposed to be an old spinster, with pretty age-specific character traits. She was modeled, after all, on Christie's grandmother. Some commenters feel the younger audiences won't be familiar with Christie's books or her character, so attempting to appeal to their demographic will be a futile exercise. These are both valid critiques. I see a diamond in the rough, however. Christie's detective stories are compelling whodunits that hinge on seemingly insignificant details. They have a familiar tone and temperature. Perhaps that's what the acquisition is after.

While the idea of making Miss Marple younger is questionable, I'm 100% behind Jennifer Garner. She's incredibly likeable as a movie star and leading lady who made her name in "Alias" as a powerful spy (the show was produced by a then up-and-coming J.J. Abrams). She's at home in the mystery/suspense genre.

Garner, however, has company. Katherine Heigl will star as Stephanie Plum in Lionsgate's One for the Money, the first in a series of popular (and contemporary) detective novels by Janet Evanovich. Lionsgate recently moved the film from a prime release spot over Fourth of July weekend to an ominous "2011 TBD" release date, often a sign that the studio has lost confidence in the project. The revival of the Miss Marple series, then, fits into a larger development trend of studios recasting female stars away from "light" roles in romantic comedies in favor of "light" action comedies--like Heigl following up 27 Dresses with Killers and now One for the Money.

Aging down Miss Marple is a bit of a stretch, but Disney knows brands. I don't need to see Garner as Miss Marple, but I would like to see her in a detective role. Maybe that's all that matters.

Paramount promotes strong summer lineup at CinemaCon

By Kevin Lally

The National Association of Theatre Owners' new CinemaCon convention debuted on Monday atCaesars Palace in Las Vegas, a step up from the old ShoWest home base of the Bally's and Paris Hotels. Caesars is a more spacious and spread-out location, offering the decided advantage of a larger theatre that can accommodate the show's estimated 6,000 attendees rather than dividing them between the two smaller performance spaces at Bally's and Paris. Delegates were still getting a feel for the expanded headquarters on the first day, but they seemed comforted by the roominess of the immense Octavius Ballroom that was the site of the opening night party hosted by Christie, Deluxe and Imax Corp.

The international market was the focus of opening-day programming, reviving an old ShoWest tradition. And no wonder: As Warner Bros. International Cinemas president Millard Ochs pointed out, foreign box office is now double that of the domestic market. He also predicted that China alone will surpass North American box office within ten years, noting that three new theatre complexes are opening every week in China.

Paramount Pictures International president Andrew Crippscited the rise of China from the lower depths of movie territories to the top ten, and India's ascension from number six overseas territory to number three in the past decade. A seminar later in the day pinpointed four "looming box office giants": Brazil, Russia, India and China. Hollywood product may still dominate the international box office, but North America is now just another territory when the final numbers are tallied.

Cripps also mentioned the increasingly frequent casting of non-American actors in American studio productions as a reflection of this reality, and cited the surprising fact that 10 of the top 20 international box-office titles of 2010 were directed by non-Americans.

Opening night was given over to Paramount Pictures and a generous preview of their slate for summer and beyond. J.J. Abrams showed two key scenes fromhis upcoming nostalgic thriller Super 8,a repeat of the exclusive New York presentation Sarah Sluis reported onfor Screener last week. We'll second her opinion that thislooks like a very potent coming-of-age tale blended with sci-fi horror, expertly directed by thegifted Abrams, who is fastbecoming the heir apparent to his producer on thisproject, Steven Spielberg.

Marvel Comics' Kevin Feige was on hand topresent sequences from his two summer movies, Captain America and Thor, and both looked exceptionally promising with truly top-notch production values. The big surprise was Thor, which I had dismissed as a potential camp-fest. But the script appears to find real humor and pathos in Thor's plight as a supernatural god suddenly forced to cope with mere mortals here on Earth. How curious, though, that Natalie Portman's first post-Oscar screen appearances would be in this comic-book movie and the frivolous Your Highness.

It's also curious that Paramount's summer lineup would include not one but two startling examples of male pulchitrude at its most buff extreme in the form ofCaptain America Chris Evans and Chris Hemsworth as Thor. Could this be the new secret to a studio green light?

Anything but buff, Jack Black made a surprise appearance to promote DreamWorks's Kung Fu Panda 2, singing "My Heart Will Go On" in tribute to Caesars' Colosseum theatre, which normally is the home to Vegas' Celine Dion show. Black also insisted on showing off his kung fu moves, complete with back rolls, and emerged comically winded--for the next four minutes.

The action sequences in Kung Fu Panda are virtuosic, but the heartiest audience response to Jeffrey Katzenberg's DreamWorks Animation preview was to the Shrek spinoff Puss in Boots. The conceit of the diminutive feline as ahaughty swashbuckler got big laughs at CinemaCon, and the cat-lover demographic alone assures success for Antonio Banderas' 3D adventure.