Man, what’s with all this Marvel Entertainment news prior to Comic-Con? Is Kevin Feige, Marvel’s president of production, stirring the pot or is he just working people before he reveals the ace he has hidden up his sleeve? So we’ve heard that Edward Norton is out as the Hulk for The Avengers movie and feelers are out for a replacement. Now comes word from Hero Complex, that Thor and Captain America: The First Avenger will be the first Marvel properties that will be going 3D. Agree or disagree, the directors of both movies weighed in on what it means for their prospective films.
But before that, take at look at this publicity still for Thor featuring Chris Hemsworth as Thor (left), Anthony Hopkins as Odin (centered), and Tom Hiddleston as Loki (right).
We would be remiss if we did not first acknowledge that neither Thor nor Captain America will be shot in 3D. While this is a buzzkill to most, fearing another Clash of the Titans debacle, Joe Johnston (Captain America) admits that the test done for the film to shoot in 3D was “a nightmare.”
“It’s another draft of the story that can reveal itself in a different way. I had a healthy degree of skepticism up front,” Branagh explains. “I’ve become somebody extremely excited about working with possibilities of doing it this way.”
Branagh goes on to say, “Is it led by story? Can this offer a different type of experience and exploit what we have in the story? It absolutely can…we travel very long distances in the movie and the opportunity to export and exploit the journey of the hero is really offered up as a great potential enhancement here.”
Kevin Feige pledges that “an unprecedented amount of time” will be devoted to the conversion process. He also says the films will benefit from the fact that the 3D choice was made early on “with passion and planning” and not in post-production.
Why not just admit that James Cameron is the only one who knows how to shoot in 3D properly? After a long sabbatical, where he counted his earnings from Titanic and dreamed of elongated blue aliens, he made the first film that fully realized the potential of three-dimensional entertainment. Granted he invested millions into realizing that dream, but he made it possible.
“In being able to think in 3D from the start — and having every bit of our special effects rendered in true 3D — we have the opportunity to do it right,” Feige says. “When you’re working with a director like Ken Branagh or Joe Johnston, they’re not going to settle for less than perfect image.”
Hopefully, this holds to be true. But neither director has had nearly the production budget to make a film like they have with Thor and Captain America.
Personally, the 3D thing is too played out. Unless the project was originally intended to be shot in 3D at the start of pre-production then I could care less. Conversion from a 2D image to 3D isn’t the answer. Even if Thor was throwing lightning bolts straight at the audience, I don’t think it worthy of the extra surcharge. Now I may eat those words this time next year, but this 3D overload is too much.
For the whole story about Marvel and 3D, visit the Los Angeles Times blog, Hero Complex.
