All movies -- whether they be low-budget movies, animated films or high-budget live-action blockbusters -- will be made in 3-D within the next five to seven years, predicts Jeffrey Katzenberg, CEO, DreamWorks Animation.
Speaking during his keynote address on the first day of the inaugural 3DX: 3-D Film & Entertainment Technology Festival held in Singapore, he also said that 3-D represented the next major development in the history of filmmaking.
The 3DX Festival is hosted by the Media Development Authority of Singapore (MDA) with support from the Singapore Tourism Board and the Singapore Economic Development Board.
Numerous leading directors in Hollywood -- Robert Zemeckis, James Cameron, Steven Spielberg, George Lucas and Peter Jackson -- are all involved in 3-D projects, as "They all see 3-D as the next great frontier," Katzenberg said.
Business delegates and members of the international media saw new footage of DreamWorks' work-in-progress 3-D animated feature MONSTERS VS ALIENS, due out next year.
In a press conference after his address, Katzenberg was joined by MDA CEO Dr. Christopher Chia and other media execs Greg Foster, Chairman and President, Filmed Entertainment, IMAX Corporation and Mark Zoradi, President, Walt Disney Studios Motion Pictures Group.
Zoradi revealed Wednesday that his studio was working on 11 3-D movies over the next two years.
Delegates at the conference will, over the next few days, get a chance to watch 3-D movies and listen to media executives such as Dan Glickman, Chairman, Motion Picture Association of America; Jim Gianopulos, Chairman/CEO, Fox Filmed Ent.; Jon Landau, producer, AVATAR and TITANIC and Brendan Fraser, actor and co-executive producer, JOURNEY TO THE CENTER OF THE EARTH.
Also announced Wednesday was a S$10 million ($6.5M U.S.) development fund has been set aside to encourage the creation of 3-D content in Singapore.
"We would like to encourage and support the growth of the 3-D industry as part of our media sector," said Singapore's Minister for Information, Communication and the Arts, Lee Boon Yang. "We are embarking on a multi-pronged approach to help local media companies gain a presence in the 3D content market, build a cluster of 3-D professionals and develop more 3-D expertise in Singapore," he said.
MDA will work closely with broadcasters, content producers and innovative media companies who are enthusiastic about 3-D. Yang revealed that steps have already been made to advance Singapore's 3-D industry.
"We already have a partnership between the Singapore Film Commission and filmmaker, Brian Yuzna of Komodo Films, to produce a slate of three films, including Singapore's first stereoscopic 3-D digital feature, AMPHIBIOUS, with post-production by Singapore's Infinite Frameworks. Brett Leonard, who directed Denzel Washington in VIRTUOSITY as well as made T-REX in 3-D, will be helming the second film in this three-film slate."
In addition, Leonard will be setting up a state-of-the-art stereoscopic 3-D movie production facility in Singapore. This will be the first facility of its kind in the world to handle the entire creative process from pre- to post-production in 3-D. The Cimarron Group -- one of Hollywood's largest and most successful entertainment marketing agencies specializing in strategic, creative and production -- who supported 3DX with the creation of the festival's collaterals, will also be setting up an office in Singapore in December.
The inaugural 3DX Festival runs through November 23 in Singapore. For more information, visit www.3dxfestival.com.
