ALIENS - KATZENBERG CALLS 3-D TRUCE

It's one thing for monsters to battle aliens; it's quite another for both of them to battle an avatar -- especially in 3-D, DreamWorks Animation chief Jeffrey Katzenberg suggested Wednesday. Speaking at the Goldman Sachs media conference in New York, Katzenberg said that his studio had decided to move the release of its 3-D feature Monsters vs. Aliens up two months to March 27, 2008, just ahead of the Easter holiday, from May 15 so that it would not have to compete against James Cameron's 3-D feature Avatar, which is scheduled to open on May 22. Even though by then 5,000 to 8,000 3-D screens will be available, Katzenberg noted, had Monsters stuck to its proposed May release, "I saw more and more problems splitting the market for 3-D right at the time when it will be becoming the most exciting thing in movie-going." In an interview with today's (Thursday) Los Angeles Times, Paramount distribution chief Rob Moore said that DreamWorks' decision was "less about fighting with somebody else than thinking about the long-term deployment of 3-D. ... The question was, how do we give exhibition a constant stream of product to make the investment in 3-D worthwhile?"

20/09/2007