CLASH Of The Dimensions: TITANS Clip disappointing

Jim here. I wish I had better news for you - I really do. Being a 3D advocate is not easy at times and this is one of them.

I saw select scenes from CLASH OF THE TITANS and I was quite dismayed at what I saw. All in all it was about 8 minutes. Keep in mind that this presentation was made in front of theater owners - the ones who make the decision on how to promote movies at the local level.

We know that Warner Bros. decided to go with a rush job of converting the movie to 3D in post. Turns out, it seems it was a bad idea. While many theater goers may not notice the things that I notice, there were serious problems with what I saw.

1. Flat backgrounds: During several scenes when examining the far distance it was as if it were simply painted on a matte while other objects in the foreground popped. I shook my head every time I saw it.
2. Distortion / Blurriness: Quite often, especially in the action sequences (which was most of the clip) objects were very blurry and distorted. It was horrible. I have no other word for it.
3. Ghosting: Yes, there was a lot of ghosting in the scenes, some worse then others. There is no excuse for this for this type of screening. I will say that there is a possibility that the ghosting was due to the 3D projection being used. In this case, it was Dolby 3D.

So, bottomline - should you go see this movie? Yes. In 2D. Will it be better in 3D? My estimation at this time is no. I will be seeing it in both formats and I will let you know when I do. I found their attempt at 3D very distracting and this is EXACTLY what we do not want at this time. A lackadaisical attempt at a hurried 3D solution.

C'mon guys. You know better than this. What did you expect? I can see Warners being sucked into the demo reels of the conversion company which were probably pretty darn good. Even the test reels for TITANS was probably excellent. But a whole movie in that timeframe will have issues - at least at this time. Conversion is getting better every day.

Later in the Warner reel we saw how 3D should be done: LEGENDS OF THE GUARDIANS. I will have more on that later.

I am posting this from McCarran Airport in Vegas and I have to board in a few minutes so will be posting much later as I cross the country.

Here's hoping that somehow something was amiss with the screening here at ShoWest and the movie will come out smelling like roses. Somehow I don't think so. It's a shame because Warners has shown tremendous support to 3D this year and I love them for it. But it has to be done right.