The movie directed by Burton and featuring the voices of Catherine O’Hara, Martin Short and Winona Ryder, will be the first black-and-white Hollywood feature and first stop-motion animated movie to be presented in IMAX.
“IMAX has a long-standing relationship with Tim Burton, whose unique artistic vision and brilliant storytelling has captured the imagination of audiences around the world,” said Greg Foster, Chairman and President of IMAX Filmed Entertainment.

After unexpectedly losing his beloved dog Sparky, young Victor harnesses the power of science to bring his best friend back to life—with just a few minor adjustments. He tries to hide his home-sewn creation, but Sparky gets out, sparking strong reactions from Victor’s fellow students, teachers and the entire town.

– By Scott Hettrick

Meanwhile, Paramount Pictures and RealD are combining to offer a sneak preview of “Titanic” 3D on Tuesday, April 3 at select theaters in the U.S.,  a day before it opens publicly on Wednesday, April 4 in RealD and IMAX, as well as 2D.

Most showings are at 6:30 p.m. and include, while supplies last, a Sneak Preview Pack that includes:

• One ticket to the movie sneak preview
• A collectors edition pair of Titanic RealD 3D glasses
• A limited-edition Titanic movie art lithograph

A limited number of tickets are available on first-come, first-served basis at theaters and through this web site:  www.TitanicMovie.com/FanSneakPreview.

James Cameron has digitally re-mastered the movie in 3D, to be re-released to coincide with the 100th anniversary of the Titanic setting sail on April 10, 1912. “Titanic” is one of only three films to have received a record 11 Academy Awards, including Best Picture and Best Director.

– By Scott Hettrick

Martin Scorsese made a point to mention Bob Richardson’s cinematography, “particularly in 3D” in accepting his Best Director of a Motion Picture award for “Hugo.”
Steven Spielberg accepted the award for Best Animated Feature for his first 3D motion-capture film “The Adventures of Tintin.”

In TV, Showtime’s “Homeland” won for the Best TV Series Drama, and Kelsey Grammer was named Best Actor for the new Starz series “Boss.”

– By Scott Hettrick 

A 38% jump in Blu-ray household penetration push Blu-ray compatible devices into 40 million U.S. homes by the end of the year.

Helping spark Blu-ray sales were the continued growth of HDTV sales, another 27 million sold in 2011, expanding penetration to more than 74.5 million U.S. households.

Also contributing to Blu-ray sales, the number of 3D Blu-ray releases tripled to 45 (65 overall in market now), with unit sales increasing more than six times in the same period.

The five top-selling titles of 2011 sold more than 2 million copies each. The top-selling Blu-ray titles in 2011, according to Nielsen VideoScan First Alert:

1. Harry Potter – Deathly Hallows, Part 1
2. Harry Potter – Deathly Hallows, Part 2 (available in 3D)
3. Tangled (available in 3D)
4. Cars 2 (available in 3D)
5. Transformers – Dark of Moon
6. Bridesmaids
7. Rio
8. The Help
9. Lion King (available in 3D)
10. Hangover Part 2

Total consumer spending on home filmed entertainment in 2011 was down more than 2% to $18 billion, including digital and electronic downloads and video-on-demand services, but it rose nearly one percent in the second half of the year and 5% in the third quarter alone — the first quarterly increase since 2008.

– By Scott Hettrick

Among examples of Panasonic’s new 3D products:

• Panasonic and NBC Sports Group will partner to make the London 2012 Olympic Games available in 3D to all cable, satellite and telco systems, the first time that the Olympic Games will be distributed in the U.S. in 3D. More than 200 hours of 3D broadcasts will be produced by Olympic Broadcasting Services and shown on next-day delay, including the Opening and Closing Ceremonies, gymnastics, diving and swimming.
• Sixteen of the manufacturer’s 17 plasma TVs for 2012 feature the 3D technology.
• Five of the 14 LED/LCD HDTVs provide 3D capability.
• Four of the six Blu-ray Disc players in the 2012 line are Full HD 3D.
• Panasonic Hollywood Laboratory (PHL) authors and masters many 3D Blu-ray Discs.
• Panasonic’s AG-3DA1, the industry’s first fully integrated 3D camcorder recording to SD Memory cards, was used aboard the historic, final mission of the NASA Space Shuttle voyage and is routinely used in sports and other 3D television production.
• A full line of 3D capable consumers and LUMIX digital cameras are available, and their images can then be easily shown on a Smart VIERA 3D HDTV.
• Panasonic’s first Full HD 3D home theater projector, the PT-AE7000U.
• Panasonic formally establishes its 3D Innovation Center this week, located in Hollywood at PHL, to engage with the entertainment and broadcast communities to enhance 3D production technologies and work flow and to foster collaboration with industry partners to develop new applications for 3D technologies.

“Panasonic is in the unique position of being involved in all areas of 3D, from production to what you see in your living room. We are 100% committed to the technology and confident in the knowledge that 3D TV is actually of to a faster start than the implementation of HDTV. For example there are multiple full time 3D channels available on cable and satellite, not to mention the large and varied content on 3D Blu-ray Discs. Also, the continuing popularity and number of theatrical releases can only bode well for the in-home acceptance,” said Eisuke Tsuyzaki, Panasonic Corporation of North America Chief Technology Officer. “

Regarding Panasonic’s commitment to bring the Olympics to home viewers in 3D, Panasonic North America Chairman & CEO Joseph M. Taylor said, “Full HD 3D is ideal for capturing the true spectacle of Olympic competition and the pageantry of Olympic ceremonies, and we are excited to… deliver to home viewers an unprecedented 3D Olympic experience that will make them feel as though they are right there with the world’s finest athletes as they compete.”

Among the International CES Innovations 2012 Design and Engineering Awards collected by Panasonic this week:

• Video Displays category honoree: TC-P55VT50, 55-inch class Full HD 3D Plasma HDTV, which converts 2D-to-3D
• Video Components category Best of Innovation winner and Honoree in the Eco-Design and Sustainable Technologies category: Panasonic DMP-BDT320 3D Blu-ray Disc player, half the size of previous models.

Twentieth Century Fox Home Entertainment‘s “Rio” was named Blu-ray 3D Title of the Year in the DEG Creative Excellence Awards for 2011.
Other winners included Theatrical Title of the Year “Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows: Part 2″ from Warner Bros. Home Entertainment Group; and a tie for Classic Title of the Year: “Ben Hur: Ultimate Collector’s Edition” from Warner, and “Star Wars: The Complete Saga” from Fox.
Warner’s AC/DC: Let There Be Rock was named Music Title of the Year.
The judging panel for Blu-ray titles, nominated by the motion picture studio and music company members of the DEG, consisted of reviewers and industry reporters from trade, entertainment and daily consumer news organizations. In addition to overall sound and picture quality, all titles were considered for those features that best demonstrate the value-added nature of the format.

Other awards announced during the DEG”s 15th annual reception:

Pioneer’s Elite Music Tap System (X-SMC4-BK) won the DEG Emiel N. Petrone Digital Innovation Award for Best Digital Media Product.
Sony Electronics‘ VPL-VW1000ES Projector was the recipient of the DEG Emiel N. Petrone Digital Innovation Award for Most Innovative Home Enterainment Product.

– By Scott Hettrick

Most of “Hugo” was shot using 3D camera rigs but for the those three sequences, the Legend3D team, which recently colorized and converted the iconic four-minute sequence of the classic Harold Lloyd silent film “Safety First,” first prepared the source material in 2D, using restorative techniques to stabilize and accentuate the image quality while still retaining the vintage “look.” This material was then converted to 3D to match the overall depth of Scorsese’s native photography.

Rob Legato, visual effects supervisor on “Hugo” previously worked with Legend 3D on “The Aviator.” “Their 2D-to-3D conversion not only exceeded our very high expectations, but their fast turnaround and innate creative attention to detail produced take-one finals every time.”

“Applying VFX and conversion work to some of the first ‘visual effects’ scenes in the history of cinema … this was intrinsically fun,” said  Jared Sandrew, VFX supervisor at Legend3D. “The footage is inherently playful, which made it really come to life when introducing another dimension.”

– By Scott Hettrick

Relativity Media’s “Immortals” 3D stayed strong in 7th place, growing its three-week domestic total to nearly $69 mil., while an eighth place finish for Paramount/DreamWorks’ “Puss in Boots,” also in 3D and IMAX, grew five-week grosses to $135 mil.

There are three more 3D movies coming in December, beginning with the Chipmunks “Chipwrecked” on Dec. 16, followed by Steven Spielberg’s “The Adventures of Tinin” on Dec. 21 and “The Darkest Hour” on Dec. 23.

– By Scott Hettrick

The announcement comes on the heels of an $80 million run over the past three weekends in U.S. theaters for the 3D version of “The Lion King,” which caught the entire industry off-guard and is now expected to spark a resurgence in the viability of 3D in general and especially for classic makeovers such as the previously announced 2012 3D re-releases of “Star Wars: The Phantom Menace” and “Titanic.”
The Blu-ray 3D version of “The Lion King” hits stores this week.

Ironically, after a disappointing performance in late 2009 of a double-bill of 3D conversions of “Toy Story” and “Toy Story 2″ in advance of the premiere of “Toy Story 3 in 3D,” Disney’s planned theatrical re-release of a 3D version of “Beauty and the Beast” in early 2010 and was delayed a couple times and is now going straight to Blu-ray 3D this week (and it looks every bit as good, if not better than “The Lion King”). “Beauty” had a brief theatrical showing exclusively at the El Capitan Theater in Hollywood last month as a promotion for the Blu-ray 3D release.
Now the 1991 movie that has grossed $380.4 million worldwide and was the first animated film ever nominated for an Academy Award for Best Picture will be released theatrically after all on January 13, 2012.
(Disney also announced today that all three “Toy Story” movies will be released on Blu-ray 3D for the first time Nov. 1.)

Next up for theaters will be “Finding Nemo” in 3D on September 14, 2012. The 2003 Oscar winner for Best Animated Feature was the second highest-grossing film of that year with $867.6 million worldwide.

The studio will try again to use a 3D version of one of its films to promote the sequel when it releases a 3D version of “Monsters, Inc.” January 18, 2013, prior to the debut of “Monsters University” (actually, a prequel) in 3D on June 21, 2013. The original grossed $526.9 million worldwide.

A 3D version of “The Little Mermaid,” which won two Academy Awards and has grossed $228.9 million worldwide will premiere that fall on Sept. 13, 2013.

“Great stories and great characters are timeless, and at Disney we’re fortunate to have a treasure trove of both,” said Alan Bergman, President, The Walt Disney Studios. “We’re thrilled to give audiences of all ages the chance to experience these beloved tales in an exciting new way with 3D – and in the case of younger generations, for the first time on the big screen.”

– By Scott Hettrick