SlashFilm: Could a Lack of 3D Screens Be the Only Roadblock to AVATAR’S Continued Success?

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You may have heard about Avatar. James Cameron’s 3D juggernaut has reportedly topped $2b globally as of this weekend, and seems poised to dominate the box office for weeks to come. 3D showings are sold out days in advance in major cities, and there’s every reason to believe that the film has at least another month’s worth of box-office fuel in the tank.

But there are only so many 3D screens to go around. So what happens when Disney releases the 3D Alice in Wonderland on March 5? Which movie gets that very limited number of 3D screens?

The New York Times reports on the possible bottleneck faced by Fox and Disney. With at least 70% of Avatar’s revenue coming from 3D exhibition, Fox doesn’t want to lose a screen. But the IMAX chain has already promised most of its 179 domestic and 82 foreign 3D screens to Disney for Alice in Wonderland. If Alice doesn’t perform, Fox could get some of those back in a hurry. But if the interest in 3D ignited by Avatar turns into big money for Alice, will March 5 be the end of the line for Cameron’s film?

This situation is going to crop up again soon, as Dreamworks releases How to Train Your Dragon in 3D on March 26, with Warner Bros. and the 3D conversion of Clash of the Titans hot on that movie’s heels on April 2. What irony that studios, chasing extra revenue from 3D, could be hamstrung by competitors racing for the same brass ring? Within months we’re likely to see theater chains installing more 3D screens to accommodate the increased flow of 3D product (that word ‘product’ seeming so appropriate in this case) but how long will that take?

We’ve seen these 3D bottlenecks before. Early in 2009 Coraline was bumped from 3D screens by The Jonas Brothers. But when their movie failed to do any big business, those same 3D screens were taken back by Coraline a couple weeks later. As studios rush 3D productions out the door there will be less and less opportunity for a film to reclaim screens. Within the next year there’s always going to be a new 3D release waiting in the wings every few weeks.

via www.slashfilm.com

Bio

In 1999 I was the founder and CEO of Fragments of a Hologram Rose Inc., pioneering live video on the Internet, as well as the creator, producer, and director of the "Here and Now" webcast, the first ever live, uncut broadcast of real life to the Internet, full motion video and audio, 24/7.

I am now the CEO of the production company Academy Leader / Tears in Rain Inc., and am a writer and director of film. My work has been featured in print, online, and on radio and television throughout the world. I live in New York City.

(And yes, Gore Vidal is my uncle--though certainly our choice of writing subjects differs widely: he's the historical novelist, I'm the blockbuster sci-fi screenwriter.) Those who'd like to write can contact me at the e-mail link above.

Current

Writing Outside the Home
Thank God, I say, that spring has finally arrived here in NYC, and I can now wake up at a reasonably early hour without it being dark out at the same time. More daylight hours equals more writing hours for this working writer--an interesting switch for me to be sure, considering, not long ago, I tended to write from the early evening on into the wee hours of the night, falling into bed shortly thereafter...

I've recently joined The Writers Room on Broadway and 8th--a perfect 20 min walk from my place in Tribeca if the weather's nice, or an easy 2 subway stops on the R or the 6 if it isn't. A big open loft on the top floor of a beautiful old building, the WR has already proven to be a Godsend in just the few weeks I've been working here: before, I'd dread waking up in the morning, knowing that, after I showered up and downed my coffee, my commute was all of several feet to my workspace. Like: there it was, right there, there was no escaping it, and it would never, ever leave...

There's something about writing a few feet from where you eat, live, and sleep that can, over time, be subtly soul crushing, as if you're never off the clock, never truly free from it. (Many might argue that this is just the curse of being a writer: like having so many homework assignments that are never really finished, with more being added to the pile all the time...) But I'm finding now that a big part of this mindset was in fact simply because I had no separation between my writing life and "everything else"--now that I have some place to go every day, some excuse to get out of the house, I'm finding more and more that writing CAN be something to look forward to, provided it takes place at a different location altogether, you pre-schedule a set number of hours that you'll be working at said location each and every day, and when you leave, you're done. That's it. Anything else writing-wise that comes to mind for the rest of the day, it gets bumped to the next.

Professional athletes don't work out at home, they join a gym--and I'm now of the mind that writers should adopt the same attitude. As a result of my joining and commuting to the WR each day, I'm now enjoying perhaps the most disciplined writing schedule I've ever had: several unbroken hours a day, 7 days a week. Of course, being single and sober certainly helps--a year ago my evenings and weekends would've been obligated to a girlfriend, or to my drinking buddies, or what have you--now it's just the work and nothing else. (As Nietzsche put it: "Give my art and a little bread, I need nothing more.") Still, one has to live a little bit (even us writers!)--here's thinking I'll be getting back into reading the Tarot, learning rock guitar, and finally getting my motorcycle license, all in the months to come. More soon... (Spring 2011)

Now Working On

Videopolis
A down-on-his-luck video journalist accidently shoots a sadistic murder, then finds himself on the run in near-future New York City. Neo-noir cyberpunk thriller: "Blade Runner" meets "Chinatown". Winner QUARTERFINALIST in the Nicholl and SECOND PLACE OVERALL in Script magazine's "Open Door" script competition. A top writer at Dreamworks referred to it as "The best script we've read so far this year."

Champion
The inspiring true story of Paralympic athlete Joe Perez. Diagnosed with Cerebral Palsy at 6 months of age, Joe spends his entire life at the grueling task of simply learning to use his body. Overcoming every obstacle along the way, Joe repeatedly does the impossible: becoming the first person with CP to ever learn how to swim, the first to ever run a marathon, and ultimately, going on to become one of the world’s great powerlifting champions. “Rocky” meets “My Left Foot”.

The Godgame
Six strangers summoned to the home of an eccentric billionaire who, lying on his deathbed, has one thing to bestow upon each of them before he goes. Classic Hitchcockian tragedy in one room and in real-time, think: story by Agatha Christie, adapted for the screen by Ingmar Bergman, directed by Alfred Hitchcock. Now my writerly and feature directorial debut, with fundraising in progress and shooting expected to commence soon.

I am Lost in Oceans of Light
The director of a world-famous live 24/7 glamour-opera falls in love with his star actress, yet can't reveal his feelings lest he jeopardize his masterpiece. Postmodern retelling of the classic Greek myth "Orpheus and Eurydice", told from the POV of Hades, God of the Underworld. Winner SEMIFINALIST in Creative Screenwriting magazine's "AAA" script competition. Originally slated to be my directorial debut, at a $2M budget "Oceans of Light" has since been pushed back to my second feature, with "The Godgame", at $200K, to be completed first.

Star Maker
A young orphan with seemingly magical abilities searches for his biological family in the far future. Epic fantasy space opera: "Star Wars"--as Stanley Kubrick would have done it. More on this one soon.

As always, those in the industry and/or who know me and would like to request material, simply use the contact e-mail above.