Guillermo Del Toro has been working on this Pacific Rim film for quite a while and has many of us pondering the visual porn that he will unleash across the globe when giant mech units take on giant monsters that rise from the sea. It’s a pure anime-ish spectacle come to cinematic life. I’m pretty sure the IMAX aspect has been a lock for a long time leaving us picking our favorite spot in the line for our nearby 70mm theaters but then came recent word that the film was getting post converted to 3D. Many dismissed this fact but there was a pretty vocal group of individuals who regularly protest 3D films like an old torch and pitchfork routine who were disappointed by the decision. Does this mean that those 70mm screens will now offer the 3D option alone? What gives? Will it at least be worth the audiences extra expense of using those glasses?
These are valid concerns and weighed heavy on Guillermo Del Toro’s decision to make the switch and it all boiled down to the one thing that can change any decision: Money.
“What happened was, in the weeks and months following (San Diego) Comic-Con, what I asked from the studio was to agree to four points that I wanted to do. The more the ILM shots arrived, the more I realized that there were only a few shots that would miniaturize. I asked the studio, number one, that we would not hyper-stereo-lize the thing. That we would not force 3D on the beauty shots. That we would keep the giant dimensions. They agreed.”
“Normally a conversion takes a few weeks. I asked to start it immediately so we could take the full 40 weeks to do the conversion. As an example, Titanic took about 50 weeks to convert. The final thing that I asked that they agreed to, which was amazing, was that I asked them to give me an extra budget, which is considerable, to actually have ILM composite the shots that are CG native 3D. We’re not giving elements. ILM is giving the composite in 3D from the get-go. That’s a huge, huge element. Now I’m going to be involved in supervising it. What can I tell you? I changed my mind.”
Money changes minds. That green is kryptonite even to Guillermo. Personally I love watching a nice IMAX movie and have found SOME enjoyment from watching a few films in 3D but not every film really takes advantage of the format to really make it appreciable and I’m a believer that large robots fighting large alien monster thingies will work. Maybe. We’ll see…
Via: First Showing
