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Box Office: A make or break week for 3D begins today

6.24.2011

[posted by Roger Moore, Orlando Sentinel]

“Cars 2″ opens on thousands of 3D screens across America today. This Pixar picture isn’t rolling in great reviews the way previous Pixar titles did, but audience interest is high. If it disappoints, it would be a very serious blow to the embattled 3D movie format.

It is opening on some 7,000 screens, 2,500 of them 3D, as Brandon Gray at Box Office Mojo notes.

As the box office guru says of 3D animation, “it’s not that big a deal anymore.” Opening weekend numbers for 3D toons have been sliding since “Megamind.” “Cars” has both Pixar and the established title working in its favor. His $65 million prediction is our benchmark. If, like “Green Lantern,” this one falls far short of that it’s Katy bar the door time.

Pixar, Variety says, is already low-balling what they expect from the film. $50 million or so.

Pixar is the cinematic equivalent of Toyota. Everybody cut them a lot of slack for a very long time. The reviews are reflecting a sudden realization on the part of some folks that they have their shortcomings, and a movie that will easily click over into the black thanks to its toys tie- in has driven this franchise all along. Long as it is, it is kid-friendlier and funnier and more action packed than the first one, and I’m not the only one saying so,  so we will see.

Next Wednesday, “Transformer 3″ opens on 2000 3D screens. It, too, will face fans who have to make a choice — to spend the extra few bucks, or not?

With the 3D under-performance of movies going from a blip to a trend to an all-out “What happened?” this spring and summer, this strikes me as the week where the future of the format is decided. Theaters have already invested in the infrastructure, so it’s not like it will go away. Studios, however, may choose to forget how much they nagged theaters to convert screens and back away from the format for most movies. And when it comes to how they treat the theaters, studios can be bloody ruthless.

“Bad Teacher” is at a few thousand theaters itself this weekend. In a summer over-saturated with R-rated comedies,the guru figures $19 million would be a nice mark for Cameron Diaz and Justin Timberlake to hit. I think there’s more buzz for it than that, but we’ll see.

See the original post here: http://blogs.orlandosentinel.com/entertainment_movies_blog/2011/06/box-office-a-make-or-break-week-for-3d-begins-today.html

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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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