News Stories

3D Box Office Rebounds With Transformers 3

7.5.2011

[By Justin Slick, About.com Guide]

The Wrap reported early today that the global cumulative box office receipts for Transformers: Dark of the Moon are expected to surpass $400 million by the end of the July 4th holiday.  Despite a significant falloff in domestic ticket sales from Transformers: Revenge of the Fallen, overseas audiences came out in droves, making the latest robot flick the third largest worldwide opening in box office history.

That’s all well and good for Michael Bay and company, but read a little further and you get to the truly interesting numbers.  The Wrap reports that over 60% of Dark of the Moon’s domestic take came from 3D ticket sales, and overseas the share soared to over 70%.

The numbers are a welcome sight—earlier this summer Pirates of the Caribbean 4 opened with the lowest 3D percentage for a film since Avatar lit up the box office a year and a half ago with a staggering 80% 3D ticket share.  While Transformers still falls significantly short of the Avatar’sbenchmark, a 60% share should be enough to silence naysayers who’ve been sounding the death knell of the format in the months since Pirates’underwhelming box office opening.

While it’s too early to tell whether the 3D format will be able to break from its cyclical past (there have been consistent rises and falls ever since 3D emerged in the 1950s), I think these numbers do show that given the right movie, people are still interested in seeing 3D films.  There’s no doubt the market has suffered from over-saturation, but I think we’ll see a correction in the next year or two as studios realize that not every—single—film needs to be 3d.

Handled properly, 3D is absolutely exhilarating—How to Train Your Dragon was probably one of the best cinema experiences of my life because of its 3D effects.  But Priest 3D? Come on now.

See the original post here: http://3d.about.com/b/2011/07/05/3d-box-office-rebounds-with-transformers-3.htm

Samsung gobbles 61% of 3D TV market

7.5.2011

[Shane McGlaun, Slashgear]

The 3D TV market is hardly booming today with the sets not selling as well as TV makers had expected. This is due to a number of reasons including the lack of 3D content and the fact that the tech is more expensive than most consumers are willing to pay today. That will change and 3D TV will become more and more common as the tech matures and gets cheaper and better.

The market may not be as strong as TV makers had hoped, but Samsung has over 60% of what market for the sets there is. Samsung claims that its unit and dollar share for the 3D TV market in the May 22 to June 18 period was 61%. That percentage includes both LED and Plasma 3D TVs. NPD has Samsung at 50% of the unit and dollar market share for April to May 2011.

One of the things that will help Samsung continue to grow its market share is that its 3D glasses had a significant price cut in May to $49.99. That is still $200 more for a family of four to get 3D glasses, but much cheaper than some other 3D glasses, that can cost $100 or more.

See the original post here; http://www.slashgear.com/samsung-gobbles-61-of-3d-tv-market-04162941/

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Specification for Naming VFX Image Sequences Released

ETC’s VFX Working Group has published a specification for best practices naming image sequences such as plates and comps. File naming is an essential tool for organizing the multitude of frames that are inputs and outputs from the VFX process. Prior to the publication of this specification, each organization had its own naming scheme, requiring custom processes for each partner, which often resulted in confusion and miscommunication.

The new ETC@USC specification focuses primarily on sequences of individual images. The initial use case was VFX plates, typically delivered as OpenEXR or DPX files. However, the team soon realized that the same naming conventions can apply to virtually any image sequence. Consequently, the specification was written to handle a wide array of assets and use cases.

To ensure all requirements are represented, the working group included over 2 dozen participants representing studios, VFX houses, tool creators, creatives and others.  The ETC@USC also worked closely with MovieLabs to ensure that the specification could be integrated as part of their 2030 Vision.

A key design criteria for this specification is compatibility with existing practices.  Chair of the VFX working group, Horst Sarubin of Universal Pictures, said: “Our studio is committed to being at the forefront of designing best industry practices to modernize and simplify workflows, and we believe this white paper succeeded in building a new foundation for tools to transfer files in the most efficient manner.”

This specification is compatible with other initiatives such as the Visual Effects Society (VES) Transfer Specifications. “We wanted to make it as seamless as possible for everyone to adopt this specification,” said working group co-chair and ETC@USC’s Erik Weaver. “To ensure all perspectives were represented we created a team of industry experts familiar with the handling of these materials and collaborated with a number of industry groups.”

“Collaboration between MovieLabs and important industry groups like the ETC is critical to implementing the 2030 Vision,” said Craig Seidel, SVP of MovieLabs. “This specification is a key step in defining the foundations for better software-defined workflows. We look forward to continued partnership with the ETC on implementing other critical elements of the 2030 Vision.”

The specification is available online for anyone to use.

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