DreamWorks Animation SKG has pacted with IMAX Corp. to release its first three stereoscopic 3D animated features worldwide in IMAX 3D. Monsters vs. Aliens will lead the charge in March of 2009, followed by How to Train Your Dragon in November of 2009 and Shrek Goes Forth in May of 2010. Kung Fu Panda will be released in IMAX theaters in the standard 2D format this June.
The agreement marks IMAX’s first multiple 3D picture deal with a Hollywood studio. DreamWorks’ titles are expected to be among the first presented with IMAX’s new digital 3D projection system, which is scheduled for launch in June. Paramount Pictures will also release the films in other theaters equipped for digital 3D projection as 2D prints make the rounds as well.
‘3D cinema has an opportunity to revolutionize the way people experience movies,’ says DreamWorks Animation CEO Jeffrey Katzenberg. ‘We believe the immersive quality of IMAX will provide our audiences with a unique way to experience our films and we are delighted to include IMAX as a key part of our 3D strategy.’
‘DreamWorks Animation envisions 3D as the future of CGI animation, and we are excited to help them implement their approach to delivering outstanding content in the years ahead,’ add IMAX co-chairmen and co-CEOs Richard L. Gelfond and Bradley J. Wechsler.
Disney’s Chicken Little, Sony Animation’s Open Season and a number of other animated features have been converted for stereoscopic 3-D presentation, but DreamWorks plans to create all of its big-screen toons in 3-D from the ground up. The first such film, Monsters vs. Aliens, promises to reinvent the classic atomic-age monster movie genre with an irreverent, modern-day action-comedy directed by Conrad Vernon (Shrek 2) and Rob Letterman (Shark Tale). The movie will rampage in theaters on March 27, 2009.
