It’s been rumored for some time, and it’s obviously a natural, but now it’s official that the first Jurassic Park movie will be converted to 3D.
Universal has just confirmed that the 3D retooling of Jurassic Park will be hitting theaters on July 19, 2013, twenty years after Steven Spielberg’s initial blockbuster release.
As Deadline reports, Jurassic Park has made $915 million world-wide, an enormous take even by today’s standards, but as Mike Fleming speculates, a 3D reissue could push the film over to the make billion plus mark.
As you may recall, Jurassic Park was a major groundbreaker for special effects, blowing open the door wide for the CGI revolution, and it should be a trip to see what it will all look like in 3D. Although I haven’t watched the franchise in years, I’m willing to bet the first Jurassic still holds up, and should do well with today’s audiences.
Last year, Spielberg’s producing partner Kathleen Kennedy told Collider they were approached by Universal to do a 3D conversion, but the question was whether Spielberg could pencil it into his always hectic schedule. Kennedy said, “I’m not a huge proponent of post-conversion, but I think if the filmmakers gets intricately involved in the post-conversion – I think it can be really, really good and I think Jurassic Park is a perfect example of a movie that could work really, really well as a 3D picture.”
Kennedy also added, “I also think it’s tricky because unless you framed the movie with [3D] in mind, not all those shots – it’s not necessarily going to translate, and so that’s what you’ve gotta have the DP and you’ve gotta have the director frame-by-frame involved in the process of that conversion.” So you can bet good money that Spielberg will be very hands on with this for sure.
Now of course the question that’s certainly on many people’s minds: Will any of the Hunger Games movies be in 3D? Director Gary Ross says no, although it’s actually not a bad idea (Interestingly enough, Gary’s father, Arthur Ross, was one of the writers on Creature From the Black Lagoon, one of the best 3D movies in the history of the medium).
Ross told MTV he won’t do 3D for the next movie, Catching Fire, “I don’t think it’s appropriate for this film. I think that if we shoot this movie in 3D, we become the Capitol; we start making spectacle out of something that I don’t think is really appropriate here. I mean, I love 3D, I really do and I think it’s a wonderful tool, I just don’t think it’s the right tool for this.”
