popular thinking

DON'T BE DECEIVED BY THE BOX OFFICE

Hollywood really hopes you'll keep going out to the movies, and the studios and everyone involved in the industry expects new technology and special-effects to be the reason you do...

Cinemas hope to ‘Kong’-quer DVDs with monster effects (Boston Herald)
King Kong is a movie that begs to be seen on the big screen.
Which is exactly what Hollywood hopes will ultimately revive the industry after a lackluster year that has seen box-office grosses slump from beginning to end by 7 percent from last year’s record receipts.
The industry literally is banking on special-effects blockbusters such as “Kong” to give audiences a reason to go to the movies rather than waiting to see it at home on DVD.
“We always feel the cinemas need to stay one step ahead of the home,” said Tim Partridge, senior vice president and general manager of Dolby Laboratories’ professional division. “That’s what happened in the 1970s when we introduced surround sound into the theaters.”
Home systems caught up a decade later and leapt ahead more recently with digital home-entertainment centers.
“It seems it’s time again for the cinema to make that step ahead and provide what the audience could never experience at home,” Partridge said.
Warner Bros. has a bona-fide repeat hit on its hands with the re-release of The Polar Express. The 3-D animated film again is earning about $1 million each weekend in only 66 IMAX locations, including the New England Aquarium and Jordan’s Furniture in Reading and Natick.
Enhancing 3-D effects with digital pictures and sound also boosted Disney/Buena Vista’s release last month of Chicken Little.
The film earned $127 million through Dec. 14. But the average grosses were 2.5 times larger in the 81 locations equipped with Dolby Digital Cinema and 3-D effects than in 2-D cinemas.
Locally, Loews Boston Common and the Showcase Cinemas in Randolph and Revere have Dolby Digital Cinema.
Industrial Light & Magic’s Joel Aron oversaw the conversion process on Chicken Little from 2-D into a new 3-D projection technology called Real D, which uses a shutter to shift images from the left to the right eye at 144 frames per second. Viewers must wear unique polarized glasses.
“It’s smoother, you can get the screen a lot brighter and the effect is that much better,” Aron said.
Though turning the “Star Wars” franchise into 3-D is still years off, Aron said ILM is “desperately looking forward to doing more” work with Real D.
Two 2006 films, Monster House (July 21) and Meet the Robinsons (December), will get the Real D treatment.