Attack of the 3-D movies

Jeffrey Katzenberg is not one for understatement. "We're about to step onto the next great revolution in the history of cinema," he says.

The longtime movie executive and DreamWorks co-founder was in Seattle earlier this winter to talk about the studio's 3-D animated feature "Monsters vs. Aliens" (opening next Friday), as well as DreamWorks Animation's recent decision to produce all of its films in stereoscopic 3-D.

Using new technology from Intel and Hewlett Packard as well as its in-house animation tools, the studio is trumpeting its use of InTru 3D as a pioneering step forward.

"The D in 3-D is not just physical dimensionality, but emotional dimensionality," said Katzenberg, who's become one of the industry's most vocal cheerleaders for the new technology. "It creates a better and more immersive experience."

In the past, 3-D movies were generally shot in the standard way, then post-produced in 3-D (like colorization, Katzenberg said). They had to be shown on two side-by-side projectors, with bulky glasses contributing to a sometimes queasy experience.

"I can't think of a business that could actually be successful that made its customers throw up," quipped Katzenberg.

"Monsters vs. Aliens," by comparison, was shot entirely in 3-D. It will show in standard theaters in 2-D as well as those newly equipped for 3-D (to be viewed through lightweight glasses). Though Katzenberg said in December that he hoped to have 2,500 screens ready to exhibit the film in 3-D this month, the conversion has been slower than planned. This past week, Variety reported that the current 3-D screen count nationwide is about 1,500. (Among the Seattle-area theaters where "Monsters vs. Aliens" will show in 3-D are the Regal Meridian, Pacific Science Center Boeing IMAX Theater and AMC Southcenter.)

All upcoming DreamWorks Animation films will be developed in 3-D, and Katzenberg hopes that the number of theaters equipped to show it will continue to build. By the time of "Shrek Goes Fourth," scheduled for summer 2010, he projects that 80 to 85 percent of the release will be in theaters equipped for 3-D. By contrast, last summer's "Journey to the Center of the Earth," released by Warner Bros., had 30 percent of its release in 3-D theaters. (Those theaters made up more than half of the film's box-office grosses, Variety reports.)

"Monsters vs. Aliens" appears as part of a 3-D wave, just behind the recent release of the stop-motion animated film "Coraline" (which had roughly 40 percent of its release on 3-D screens), the live-action horror film "My Bloody Valentine 3D," and concert films featuring Hannah Montana and the Jonas Brothers. DreamWorks Animation is also at work on "How to Train Your Dragon" (based on Cassandra Cowell's children's book), "Shrek Goes Fourth," and a "Kung Fu Panda" sequel.

Prominent upcoming 3-D offerings from other studios include James Cameron's "Avatar" (shot in both live action and performance-capture animation) and Robert Zemeckis' "A Christmas Carol," both arriving in late 2009. Steven Spielberg and Peter Jackson have announced that they will direct the first two installments of the franchise "The Adventures of Tintin," to be filmed in 3-D motion capture. The first film, "Secret of the Unicorn," is set for release in 2011.

Making 3-D movies is expensive, as is converting theaters to show them, and so 3-D releases cost more to see: There's up to an additional $5 charge per ticket for the new technology. Plastic 3-D glasses, now in wide use and very light and comfortable (made by Real D, also a leader in projection technology), may be kept and reused, but there's no reduced charge if you bring your own.

"Monsters vs. Aliens," whose title is reminiscent of the schlocky 3-D B-movies of a half-century ago, features a number of remarkably fluid 3-D sequences, particularly one in which a group of monsters (working under the auspices of the U.S. government) save the Golden Gate Bridge from destruction by alien forces. But Katzenberg, who hopes that the new 3-D wave will get people out of their living rooms and back into movie theaters, says that story remains the primary concern in DreamWorks' filmmaking, not technology.

"3-D won't make a bad movie good," he said. "But it can make a great movie incredible."

Moira Macdonald: 206-464-2725 or mmacdonald@seattletimes.com