007 producers express no interest in 3D, the blockbuster movie norm
By Jake Coyle, Entertainment Writer
NEW YORK (AP) --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.”
Google Opens Its Defense In Antitrust Case Alleging Monopoly Over Online Ad Technology
Google opened its defense against allegations that it holds an illegal monopoly on online advertising technology Friday with witness testimony saying the industry is vastly more complex and competitive than portrayed by the federal government.
"The industry has been exceptionally fluid over the last 18 years," said Scott Sheffer, a vice president for global partnerships at Google, the company's first witness at its antitrust trial in federal court in Alexandria.
The Justice Department and a coalition of states contend that Google built and maintained an illegal monopoly over the technology that facilitates the buying and selling of online ads seen by consumers.
Google counters that the government's case improperly focuses on a narrow type of online ads — essentially the rectangular ones that appear on the top and on the right-hand side of a webpage. In its opening statement, Google's lawyers said the Supreme Court has warned judges against taking action when dealing with rapidly emerging technology like what Sheffer described because of the risk of error or unintended consequences.
Google says defining the market so narrowly ignores the competition it faces from social media companies, Amazon, streaming TV providers and others who offer advertisers the means to reach online consumers.
Justice Department lawyers called witnesses to testify for two weeks before resting their case Friday afternoon, detailing the ways that automated ad exchanges conduct auctions in a matter of milliseconds to determine which ads are placed in front of which consumers and how much they cost.
The department contends the auctions are finessed in subtle ways that benefit Google to the exclusion of would-be competitors and in ways that prevent... Read More