lazypadawan's Holocron

You've got to read this amusing tale of a fan's experience at what he thought would be a quiet afternoon at the movies to see TPM 3D again:

http://phantommenaceholiday.tumblr.com/post/18226833885/theyre-burning-him-alive

I think I would have lost it with the funeral scene, heh heh.

The biggest concern I had before the film started was, “Is this going to give me a headache?”

The last 3D film I watched in its entirety was “Spacehunter: Adventures In The Forbidden Zone” in 1983. I haven’t seen any recent movie in 3D, not even “Avatar.” Given that I sometimes get headaches from watching movies in the theater, I was kind of worried.

After having a sushi lunch and figuring out with the theater the deal with tickets I bought for tomorrow on MovieTickets.com (in short, MovieTickets.com totally fluffed my order so I had to repurchase for tomorrow), I got my Darth Maul glasses (whee!) and headed off to the auditorium.

Unfortunately, my AMC theater did NOT have the Clone Wars Darth Maul trailer that’s now online nor did I get the free toy. Those were the only negative things I could say about TPM in 3D.

The film itself looks AMAZING. It was good enough just so I was able to notice details I hadn’t seen in a long time, but the 3D completely enhanced the film. This is not obtrusive, obnoxious 3D. Nor this is a cheap, quickie conversion. If you hadn’t known this film came out in 1999, you’d never know this was not natively shot in 3D. Sure, the battle scenes look great and the pod race is fabulous. We knew those would look good. We knew we’d get the fun of seeing fireballs, lasers, and shrapnel flying toward us, and they do. When that one guy goes flying into the cave wall during the pod race, you recoil a little.

But you know what really impressed me? How the holograms looked. They’re supposed to be three dimensional “in universe” so to speak, but could only look two dimensional on screen. Well, not anymore! Every cockpit scene looking out is amazing.

The thing with this conversion is that at times, it’s so non-intrusive you start to forget it’s a 3D movie…until something else catches your eye that makes you go, “Wow.”

It’s definitely going to be challenging to convert matte painted scenes done for the first set of Star Wars movies, but it will be incredible if they can pull it off. I can’t wait to experience the Hoth battle, the Death Star trench run, or the speeder bike chase in 3D. One thing became very clear to me while watching TPM 3D: Star Wars was born for 3D…it’s just taken 35 years for the technology to catch up.

This year's VW commercial? Cute (dogs can't lose with me) but I agree with Darth Vader...the little kid ad last year was better.

I was thrilled to see they did run an ad for TPM 3D. I was beginning to worry Fox would cheap out and not take advantage of 175 million pairs of eyeballs to promote the flick.

Here over at SWPAS:

http://starwarsprequelappreciationsociety.wordpress.com/2011/10/24/epic-fail-what-if-they-released-a-trailer-nobody-saw-it-commentary/

Repost from Star Wars Prequel Appreciation Society

Today, I went out on my lunch break to a nice 15-screen multiplex near where I work to catch the TPM trailer with “The Three Musketeers.” There was no way I was going to be able to see the whole movie, but I planned on hanging around for at least half of it. It was a mistake I’ll never make again. I sprung for the 3D showing because part of the reason why I wanted to see the trailer with this film is to get an idea of how the 3D looks. I go in, sit through about four or five trailers and that was it. No TPM. It ticked me off so much, I left right then.

Then I saw on TFN one guy who said he had to go to THREE theaters before he finally got to see the trailer. Another guy on Facebook said they didn’t show the trailer with his showing of “The Three Musketeers” either.

Not good.

Movie tickets in 2011 are expensive, especially when you see a 3D showing. $10.25 for a matinee is a steep price to pay for disappointment. My advice is to 1) check with the theater before you buy a ticket and 2) insist on a refund if they don’t show the trailer after you’ve been told they have it. The trailer might be shown with some of the big films between now and the end of the year but I don’t go to the movies very often and catching the trailer with anything is going to be very hit and miss. I’m worried that not many prints went out or that not many theaters want to show it.

Worse yet, there wasn’t really a big rollout on starwars.com. No reminders the trailer’s out, no online version (though obviously we’d rather see it in 3D), no nuthin’. Just another day. They’re more excited pimping books or Simon Pegg’s latest movie than what really butters the bread.

I’ve said it before…if they don’t put their hearts into this, then they shouldn’t bother. So far, on the first big day of promoting TPM’s re-release, I’m not impressed or encouraged. If Lucasfilm isn’t excited about this, why should anyone else be?

You'll have to go through a couple of paragraphs to find it in McPaper's story about Darth Maul on Clone Wars, but the big news is there:

http://www.usatoday.com/life/comics/story/2011-10-11/darth-maul-returns/50736578/1

Relive '98!

Okay, as you know I was disappointed to say the least that there was nothing scheduled at Comic Con to promote TPM's 3D re-release. I decided to get to the bottom of it at the convention by seeing if I could find somebody at the Lucasfilm pavilion who would know.

Yesterday I went to the Star Wars Blu-Ray promo booth (more on that in my upcoming Official Comic Con 2011 Report) and while waiting in line, I noticed one of the guys working the line had "Lucasfilm" on his badge. I overheard him talk to another person working the line who'd just started at ILM and he said that was in PR. Ah! Perfect! So when he was free, I said very nicely, "Can I ask you a question?"

"Sure."

"Okay, you may not know the answer or you may not be able to give an answer. But, why aren't you guys promoting the 3D re-release at this con?"

Simply put, they thought it was a little soon for the TPM re-release and decided to focus first on the Blu-Ray release, since that's in September. "But stay tuned!"

Okay, fair enough. It is true many of the studios promote movies slated for release within the next year. For example, there was a lot of promotion for the Spider Man reboot and for "Ghost Rider 2: We Made Just Enough On The First One To Justify A Sequel," both scheduled for 2012. As another example, Marvel had its mammoth booth set up to promote "The Avengers," which I think comes out next year as well. But perhaps they figure a re-release wasn't going to generate the same amount of attention and an awful lot of those new movies are in 3D as well.

Who knows? With the Blu-Ray out in a couple of months, maybe there's a chance something's in the works for later cons like Dragoncon on Labor Day weekend or New York Comic Con in October.

Star Destroyer Flyover, ANH

Probably the greatest opening scene in the history of modern cinema, this will blow minds all over again rendered in glorious 3D.

Hyperspace, ANH

People will be gripping their chairs as the whole theater will be shot into hyperspace for the first time.

Death Star Trench Run, ANH

It'll feel like you're right there with Luke and Artoo. Bonus points for the Death Star 'splosion.

The Battle of Hoth, TESB

When I first saw TESB in 70mm back in 1980, the first-person snowspeeder shots made me queasy. I'd better take some Dramamine to see them again in 3D. The AT-ATs will look amazing coming toward the Rebel base.

Asteroid Chase, TESB

More asteroids coming right at ya!

Fly Thru Cloud City, TESB

The re-worked intro to the scene where you see Leia pacing around on Cloud City was a nice addition to TESB and it will be even better in 3D.

Speeder Bike Chase, ROTJ

Probably one of the scenes overall I'm looking forward to seeing in 3D the most. Especially with branches and stuff hanging in your face.

Death Star II Space Battle, ROTJ

This scene for my money still holds up very well for a film made almost 28 years ago and I think it will translate beautifully to 3D. Besides, who else is anxious to see a 3D Admiral Ackbar?

Endor Battle, ROTJ

The only thing that warms the cockles of my heart more than Jar Jar in 3D is seeing lots and lots of Ewoks in 3D pwning the Empire. Ha ha. Especially the part where the two logs swing and crush that AT-ST.

Since the big news was released a couple of days ago, a few sites have reported that the plan is to release one film a year. That means with TPM debuting in 2012, we’ll see AOTC in 2013, ROTS in 2014, ANH in 2015, TESB in 2016, and ROTJ in 2017. Then maybe we’ll have an Iron Fan marathon afterwards with all six in a row in 3D. The last one standing who hasn’t thrown up or gotten a migraine wins! Throw in the Clone Wars movie in 3D as a potential tie-breaker!

This is a departure from the Special Editions in 1997, with each existing SW film released about three weeks apart. It’s not practical to do that now because with six films, audiences will burn out pretty quickly. It’s like having too much at Thanksgiving dinner. Moreover, while there are enough digital venues that can show 3D and that number will grow, those screens will be at a premium for a while. There’s just no way a theater chain will want to tie up its IMAX screens or 3D digital screens for 18 weeks or more these days. One per year allows each film to get the proper promotion, a good number of screens, and enough time for fans to digest before the next one is unleashed. If they can keep audience interest with Star Wars going three years in between films, or for that matter, five years thus far with no films at all, a year should be no sweat. As long as they pick the right time to release the films (i.e. not Christmas and not summer) and as long as the 3D looks awesome, I don’t see how SW 3D won’t be successful.

Update: Lucasfilm has said they haven't figured out the release schedule yet...

However, the ball is in Lucasfilm’s court to make sure they crank up their promotional magic to 11. Since they’ve treated the prequel films like afterthoughts or crazy relatives locked up in some 19th century family’s attic, they have less than two years to turn that around. I’m also sure that you have seen the prequel haters and all-around Lucas bashers come crawling out of the woodwork, griping that 3D won’t make the movies suck any less or that evil Luca$ is ripping off the fans again. Reuters.com even posted a stupid article--no linkies from me--that focused entirely on the negative reactions to the news from "fans." Those douchebags will be there on opening day. You can bet on it. They can’t help themselves.

Interesting that they are going to put out the movies on Blu-Ray. I think they will help get folks jazzed for SW’s triumphant return to the theater, but why buy them if a few years later, you’ll have to buy the 3D Blu-Rays? Just a thought…