The spread of new 3-D movie technology to theaters around the world has been slower than expected, but its prospects remain strong because it offers a better visual experience, DreamWorks Animation SKG Inc. Chief Executive Jeffrey Katzenberg said Tuesday.
Promoting the new DreamWorks 3-D animated movie “Monsters vs. Aliens,” Katzenberg told The Associated Press in an interview that it takes about $100,000 to upgrade traditional theaters with new digital projectors and 3-D equipment.
“It’s harder to get financing right now,” he said, referring to the global financial downturn.
Katzenberg said there are about 2,000 3-D capable theaters in the U.S. and another 1,500 outside America, with about 200 in mainland China, several hundred in the United Kingdom and another 100 in France.
He said he expects those numbers to “multiply several times” in the next year or two because the new technology is significantly better than the previous generation of 3-D, saying they compare like “a horse and buggy” and a “Ferrari.”
In the meantime, “Monsters vs. Aliens,” which opens in the U.S. on Friday, will be released worldwide in both 2-D and 3-D formats, with about 15 to 20 percent of theaters releasing the movie in 3-D.
Katzenberg said the typical DreamWorks animated movie costs about $150 million to make and a 3-D movie adds another $15 million to the budget.
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