Oooooh! This is really goooood news . . . Beowulf Coming At You in 3D . . . the Neil Gaimon scribed piece will hit the screens in 3D and 2D on the same day and it’s going to be awesome and a half!
Robert Zemeckis’ CG adaptation of the epic Old English poem Beowulf is set to get a stereoscopic 3D release on Nov. 16, 2007, the same day it arrives in conventional theaters. According to The Hollywood Reporter, the feature film from Paramount Pictures and Warner Bros. Pictures will be digitally enhanced for projection in Real D cinemas and other large-format 3D venues. Written by an unknown sixth-century Anglo-Saxon scribe, Beowulf casts its title character as the one man who can defeat Grendel, a monster terrorizing a Danish kingdom, and his scaly, cave-dwelling mother. The classic tale has been adapted for the screen by fantasy author Neil Gaiman (MirrorMask, Coraline) and Silent Hill scribe Roger Avary, and will feature the voices of Angelina Jolie, Ray Winstone, Robin Wright Penn, Brendan Gleeson, Crispin Glover and Anthony Hopkins. Beowulf is employing the patented Performance Capture technology Sony Pictures Imageworks created for Zemeckis’ The Polar Express. The movements and facial expressions of the actors will be captured in computers and applied to computer-generated characters in fully digital environments. Zemeckis’ third 3D endeavor, Beowulf is slated to bow in more than 1,000 Real D theaters and other locations equipped for 3D projection, making it the widest day-and-date large-format 3D release to date. IMAX, which has sold a lot of tickets to the 3D version of The Polar Express, is a likely partner, though no deal has been announced.
The IMAX part of this story is rumor and not consistent with the current trends. It could go either way. It is doubtful it will go both ways though as IMAX and the new Digital D systems are in direct competition and have not been cooperating thus far so we either have IMAX or the digital systems but so far nothing in both (unfortunately, since we don’t have any of the newfangled digital systems here in Taiwan, that means we’ve been missing out on some really kick’n stereocinema).
