Not good news. Alan Horn announced at Show West that 3D would be the standard for all future franchise pictures from Warner in the near future. Why is this bad news? Well, as a paying customer, I will always have the choice on whether or not to indulge in the 3D gimmick or simply watch a given picture in 2D. But as a critic, I know full well that these films are going to be offered to the press only in their 3D formats. Alice In Wonderland was genuinely marred by the format, and I'm considering waiting to see Clash of the Titans until its opening weekend so that I might view it in its intended 2D format. Alas, Alan Horn confirmed that some of these films will be shot in 3D while some will be converted after the fact. The difference between the 3D effects in Avatar and Alice in Wonderland are obvious. The former looks like a film that was always intended to be viewed in 3D while the latter looks like the gimmick that it is. And the early word on the Clash of the Titans 3D conversion is not promising in the least. Warner Bros has been the shining light amongst major studios for the last decade. They've hired genuine talent, thrown piles of money into their movies, and pretty much left the film-making to the filmmakers. It would be a damn shame if they ended up sabotaging their most promising new franchises (Martin Campbell's Green Lantern, for example) in order to cash in on a fad. If the conversion process on Clash of the Titans becomes the standard, I'll have to make choices about what to see early and what to wait on in order to see it in the 2D that it was likely intended.
Scott Mendelson
