Celebrating his 50th birthday, James Bond has been learning some new tricks — but 3-D isn’t one of them.
Producers of the spy franchise say they have no interest in a making a Bond film in 3-D. The upcoming “Skyfall” is the first Bond film to be released since “Avatar” made 3-D a common and often lucrative practice for blockbusters.
“3-D is fantastic for the right material, but we’re not sure Bond is the right way to go,” said “Skyfall” producer Barbara Broccoli in a recent interview. “With our movies, there’s a lot of challenges to 3-D, particularly when you’ve got a lot of action and a lot of quick cutting.”
Broccoli and her half-brother Michael G. Wilson have shepherded the last seven Bond films, preserving the franchise as a family business. “Skyfall,” which premieres next week in the U.K. and opens Nov. 9 in the U.S., follows 2008’s “Quantum of Solace” — released a year before James Cameron’s 3-D epic.
“It has to be right for our story,” said Broccoli. “Unless you can do something as well as (‘Avatar’), it’s probably not worth looking at.”
Wilson said there has been interest in converting some of the old Bond films into 3-D, which he called “more of a novelty.”
Shooting in 3-D, which requires larger cameras, can be cumbersome, and quick action shots can be awkward because viewers’ eyes don’t adjust rapidly enough. But 3-D, for which higher ticket prices are charged, can also bring in more box office.
Bond films, more classical in their 2-D, go for spectacle instead with IMAX. “Skyfall” will be released a day early, Nov. 8, in North America on IMAX screens.
Still, Broccoli left the door open for things to change. Daniel Craig is signed for at least two more Bond films, which will be the 24th and 25th in the franchise. Neither is currently being planned in 3-D.
“Who knows?” she said. “We’ll see if things change in the future.”
Apple and Google Face UK Investigation Into Mobile Browser Dominance
Apple and Google aren't giving consumers a genuine choice of mobile web browsers, a British watchdog said Friday in a report that recommends they face an investigation under new U.K. digital rules taking effect next year.
The Competition and Markets Authority took aim at Apple, saying the iPhone maker's tactics hold back innovation by stopping rivals from giving users new features like faster webpage loading. Apple does this by restricting progressive web apps, which don't need to be downloaded from an app store and aren't subject to app store commissions, the report said.
"This technology is not able to fully take off on iOS devices," the watchdog said in a provisional report on its investigation into mobile browsers that it opened after an initial study concluded that Apple and Google effectively have a chokehold on "mobile ecosystems."
The CMA's report also found that Apple and Google manipulate the choices given to mobile phone users to make their own browsers "the clearest or easiest option."
And it said that the a revenue-sharing deal between the two U.S. Big Tech companies "significantly reduces their financial incentives" to compete in mobile browsers on Apple's iOS operating system for iPhones.
Both companies said they will "engage constructively" with the CMA.
Apple said it disagreed with the findings and said it was concerned that the recommendations would undermine user privacy and security.
Google said the openness of its Android mobile operating system "has helped to expand choice, reduce prices and democratize access to smartphones and apps" and that it's "committed to open platforms that empower consumers."
It's the latest move by regulators on both sides of the Atlantic to crack down on the... Read More