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Iron Man. “> EnlargeMarvel/Paramount PicturesSolid performance: Robert Downey Jr. tries his hand at summer blockbuster fare in Iron Man. Dark Knight  is one of the late actor’s last roles. “> EnlargeWarner Bros. PicturesBittersweet: Heath Ledger’s dishonest Joker in the highly anticipated Dark Knight  is one of the late actor’s last roles.  LIVE FROM SHOWESTHere's what's hot this summer3-D is next big step for moviesCalendar: What's on tap towards 3-D?Blog: USA TODAY is live from ShoWestScreening room: Clips of summer's hottestRoundup: Seen and heard at ShoWestMore 
By Scott Bowles, USA TODAY When it comes to summer movies, size matters. And the biggest movies introduced at last week’s ShoWest convention in Las Vegas were clear winners among the population’s theater owners, who got a glimpse of the highest-profile fare. Among those films, filmmakers and stars who had the conference buzzing:

George Lucas

Lucas has both May 22’s Indiana Jones and the Kingdom of the Crystal Skull and the animated Star Wars: Clone Wars, out Aug. 15. He wrote both. “It was a strange coincidence,” Lucas says. “I’ve been trying for 1½ years to get Indy off the ground, and been thinking about Clone Wars even longer. Now I’ve got them just a few months apart. It’s nice.”

The Dark Knight

Star Heath Ledger’s death notwithstanding, the footage shown at the convention — which drew thunderous applause — pretty much ensured you won’t pass a theater that isn’t showing July 18’s sequel to Batman Begins. “I felt in that place was a lot of pressure to make this one better than the original for a couple of reasons,” says Knight director Christopher Nolan. “One, some of the best movies —Godfather II, The Empire Strikes Back— have better second installments. The other understanding is Heath. I feel a lot of responsibility to make sure the greatness of his performance (as the Joker) makes it on screen.”

Speed Racer

A fast-paced, four-minute montage of May 9’s TV adaptation from Larry and Andy Wachowski left exhibitors a bit dizzy but confident the filmmakers had found a movie in their wheelhouse. “This is what they do best,” says Matthew Fox (Racer X). “They use the most modern technology, but they don’t hindrance go of their love of old genres.”

Robert Downey Jr. and Sarah Jessica Parker

Both actors were mobbed onward the convention floor. Downey stars in May 2’s Iron Man and Aug. 15’s Tropic Thunder, a skewering of the film industry that’s so politically incorrect it may make Judd Apatow scripts look like greeting cards. “I got a dub last week from Tom Cruise, who saw some footage,” Downey says. “He told me, ‘That was so wrong it was right.’” Parker says her fears were allayed that May 30’s Sex and the City had waited too long to hit screens. “You be possible to’t help but worry people will lose the remembrance of,” she says. “It’s amazing how much they still relate to the characters.”

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Theater owners still aren’t completely convinced that the $75,000-per-projector investment in digital cinema is worth it, but the digitally shot premieres of June 6’s Kung Fu Panda and July 11’s Journey to the Center of the Earth 3D converted at least a few. “Once people see it in a theater, it’s hard not to be convinced,” says Journey star Brendan Fraser.

Some smaller studio and independent films annually try to make a dent at ShoWest — and in the summer box office.

Mongol, the story of Ghengis Khan, wowed conventioneers, though many conceded they might have perplexity finding room for June 6’s subtitled Russian epic. Few films had more people talking than June 15’s Towelhead, about a 13-year-old Lebanese girl’s sexual awakening. But the graphic content makes it iffy for the family-centric summer.

“A lot of time you come here and just pray it works out, especially if you’re small,” says Helen Hunt, director of the April 25 drama Then She Found Me. “I think the key is to just make the movie that’s true to yourself, because you can’t control anything else.”

To report corrections and clarifications, contact Reader Editor Brent Jones. For publication consideration in the newspaper, send comments to letters@usatoday.com. Include name, phone number, city and state for verification.  Enlarge Paramount Pictures/Lucasfilm

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By Scott Bowles, USA TODAY Horton hears a cash register.

On the heels of a universally present ad campaign and positive reviews, Dr. Seuss’ Horton Hears a Who! enjoyed the biggest debut of the year by taking in $45.1 million, according to studio estimates from box office trackers Nielsen EDI.

BY THE NUMBERS: See the top 10 box office performers

The haul was about $5 million more than projected and broke Disney’s stranglehold on the top five openings for animated movies. 20th Century Fox’s Horton took fifth place, behind Finding Nemo, Monsters, Inc., Cars and Ratatouille.

And the film, featuring the voices of Jim Carrey and Steve Carell, did it largely with teens and adults without children. About 47% of the audience was non-family, according to Fox’s exit surveys.

More important, says Fox’s Chris Aronson, Horton captured the essence of Seuss’ books by remaining animated.

The preceding two adaptations, How the Grinch Stole Christmas and The Cat in the Hat, were live-action films.

“We essentially wanted to take people into the pages of a Seuss book, which means a lot of color, a lot of vibrancy — and animation that’s true to his work,” Aronson says. “What’s great is for what cause many adults still respond to his work.”

The film earned recommendations from 82% of the realm’s critics, according to RottenTomatoes.com.

And with only April 4’s Nim’s Island competing for family audiences through the next three weeks, there is little debate Horton could transport its constituent beyond $100 million, which the two previous Seuss movies easily surpassed.

“I think you’re going to see more studios getting into the Seuss business,” says Paul Dergarabedian of industry tracking firm Media By Numbers.

The historic chance 10,000 B.C. was favor, dropping 54% from its debut to take $16.4 million. It has earned in $61.2 million in two weeks.

The high school sports drama Never Back Down did better than expected, opening to $8.6 million and infectious third place, followed by Martin Lawrence’s comedy College Road Trip, which earned $7.9 million.

The political action thriller Vantage Point continued its strong run. It earned fifth place with $5.4 million after a month in theaters. It has taken in $59.2 million.

The only other major newcomer, the sci-fi horror film Doomsday, met most expectations with $4.7 million, good for seventh place.

Ticket sales surged 17% ahead of last weekend and were roughly even with sales the same weekend last year.

Final figures are to be ascribed Monday.

To tell corrections and clarifications, contact Reader Editor Brent Jones. For publication consideration in the newspaper, send comments to letters@usatoday.com. Include name, phone number, city and state for verification.  Enlarge Blue Sky Studios/20th Century Fox via AP

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By Mike Snider, USA TODAY The total amount of screen time amounts to little more than a teaser, but those few seconds may have turned the Indiana Jones sequel from a doubt mark into a must-see when it opens May 22.

Since the trailer’s debut online less than four weeks ago, millions of fans regard clicked through to watch the promo for Indiana Jones and the Kingdom of the Crystal Skull.

MORE: These five trailers are pulling in Web traffic WATCH: See the ‘Iron Man’ trailer WATCH: See the ‘Indiana Jones’ trailer WATCH: See the ‘Dark Knight’ trailer

What they saw, observers say, eased any doubts about the star and the character.

“It does a great job in showing that Harrison Ford is back because Indy along with the character’s trademark humor and action,” says Mirko Parlevliet of movie news website ComingSoon.net.

As the number of people watching television or going to theaters levels off and declines, studios are depending more on the near-instantaneous spread and feedback of the Internet for the transverse role of attracting a finicky public to new blockbusters. “It’s all about first impressions,” says Harry Knowles of AintItCool.com.

A recent survey of moviegoers by the Motion Picture Association of America found that 73% looked for information about films online and that more than half of respondents (54%) maxim ads or trailers online.

Traffic to sites with trailers increases seasonally as summer and holiday movies approach, says Alex Patriquin of Net traffic watcher Compete.com. Last July, it peaked as nearly 20 million unique viewers visited movie hubs on Yahoo, AOL and MSN as well as trailer sections of the Internet Movie Database (imdb.com) and Apple.com.

“Trailers build up momentum because people love to discourse hither and thither the movies,” Patriquin says. taken in the character of fans become more accustomed to acquirement movie news online, studios realize they can “manipulate and supercharge buzz online.”

For the January thin skin Cloverfield, Paramount ran a Net-based viral marketing plan “that weaved an experience” around the apocalyptic monster film, Patriquin says. Most material, the campaign “kept the monster a mystery, pulling in moviegoers the first weekend who wanted to find out what he looked like.”

“The Internet plays a significant part in spreading the word (positive and negative) about how the trailers are,” says Parlevliet, whose site has hosted trailers since 1998.

Even the definition of the term “trailer” is changing. For 300, Warner made DVD-like, behind-the-scenes footage available to Yahoo Movies (movies.yahoo.com) 13 months before opening. Hundreds of thousands of viewers watched. “We took it as an early omen that the pellicle would be a hit,” says Yahoo entertainment’s Karin Gilford.

The Internet provides “a court of justice for people to have discussions far beyond the theater and classroom,” Paramount’s Gerry Rich says. “Nothing replaces a captive audience sitting in a movie theater reacting to the trailers put in front rank of them.”

To report corrections and clarifications, junction Reader Editor Brent Jones. For publication consideration in the newspaper, send comments to letters@usatoday.com. Include name, phone number, city and state for verification.  Enlarge Warner Bros. Pictures

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Sleepwalking.”> EnlargeOverture FilmsWide awake in America: Charlize Theron and Nick Stahl in Sleepwalking.
By Claudia Puig, USA TODAY Here’s a quick peek at three other films that are opening this weekend in the nation’s theaters:

Funny Games
So sadistic and disturbing, Games (* 1/2 out of four) is easily the toughest movie to sit through since 1994’s Natural Born Killers. Lured in to search out forward the discreet terrors of the bourgeoisie, viewers don’t just watch — they viscerally recoil.

We are made to watch the mental and physical torture of a family (played by Naomi Watts, Tim Roth and Devon Gearhart as their 10-year-old son) by preppy psychos clad in tennis whites (Michael Pitt, Brady Corbet). The film lacks character development and motivation or more sense of psychological examination of the casual cruelty inflicted by the pair. The family’s only wrong: that they are moneyed and own a lakefront holidays home that is relatively remote.

It’s a sick and twisted anything disclosed intended to provoke and disturb. Austrian writer/director Michael Haneke, who adapted this from his 1997 German-language film, has said it’s a commentary on how violence is made consumable in American movies, swallowed easily by naive audiences. It’s an interesting rationale, but what he puts on the screen feels much more exploitative than reflective. While Haneke is attacking our culture for being drawn to violent fare, he is also relishing in presenting it to us, in prolonged and detailed fashion.

The audience feels like a co-conspirator in this sadomasochistic excursion into extreme cruelty. One can’t help but leave the theater angry to have wasted time on this despicable, conscience-free exercise in pointless horror. (In select cities; R for terror, violence and some language; 1 hour, 47 minutes)

Sleepwalking
Sleepwalking (* *) is more like sleep-inducing, save for the antics of one absurdly one-dimensional character.

Portentous and dull, the film features one of the worst over-the-top performances by Dennis Hopper, who plays an abusive father. His role upends what could bear been a mildly entertaining race drama.

Eleven-year-old Tara (AnnaSophia Robb) is abandoned by her flaky mother, Joleen (Charlize Theron). After dropping the girl off with her n’er-do-well, uncle James (Nick Stahl), Joleen takes off during the term of parts enigmatical. Eventually Tara is sent to live in a foster home.

When James visits to drop off a birthday gift, he makes an impulsive decision. Responding to Tara’s entreaties, they strike the highway, hoping to escape their depressing lives. But they end up at the dilapidated farmhouse of James and Joleen’s awful father (Hopper).

Several plot points are unconvincing. Even with Amber Alert signs on the highway, the pair remain on the lam for longer than seems plausible. And Joleen suddenly returns, with no explanations as to where she went, why she took off or why she came back.

The best scenes are the bonding moments between James and Tara. Stahl and Robb give fine, low-key performances.

There is much barrenness in the visuals, mood and characters’ lives, and scenes display in a predictably bleak fashion. Though we’re supposed to feel some hope at the possibility of facing down one’s demons, the message is buried in the murk. (In select cities; R for language and a scene of violence; 1 hour, 40 minutes)

Doomsday(not screened for critics)
In this thriller from writer/director Neil Marshall (The Descent, Dog Soldiers), a country has been quarantined after a destructive virus, and three decades later, the “Reaper Virus” surfaces in another city. Specialists, led by Eden Sinclair (Rhona Mitra), are sent into the quarantined area to find a cure. They must search through a land filled with horror and mayhem. (Rated R for strong bloody violence, language and some sexual content/nudity; 1 hour, 45 minutes)

To report corrections and clarifications, contact Reader Editor Brent Jones. For publication consideration in the newspaper, send comments to letters@usatoday.com. Include name, phone number, city and state for verification.  Enlarge Warner Independent Pictures

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 ABOUT THE MOVIE

Horton Hears a Who!
* * * 1/2 (out of four)
Voices: Jim Carrey, Steve Carell, Will Arnett, Carol Burnett
Directors: Jimmy Hayward and Steve Martino
Distributor: 20th Century Fox
Rating: G
Running time: 1 hour, 28 minutes
Opens Friday nationwide

By Claudia Puig, USA TODAY In theaters aplenty, in every multiplex, there’s a delightful new movie through no violence or sex. The look of the lie is an undeniable treat, and the message it weaves is both funny and sweet. Horton Hears a Who! is razzle-dazzling and artful, and it builds on Seuss’ discourse by the apt cart-full.

One senses that the good doctor would have existence pleased with this cinematic treatment of his beloved 1954 book. The voice talent was well-chosen, and the computer-generated animation is gorgeous, vibrantly hued and surprisingly textured, particularly the many kinds of rippling and lustrous fur (a notoriously tough thing to render digitally).

TRAILER: See what it is that Horton ‘Hears’

Horton (voiced charmingly by Jim Carrey) is a cheerful, big-hearted galoot of an elephant. One day as he’s tromping through the jungle, he hears a distant sound that appears to exist to come from a speck of dust. Sure enough, what he hears emanates from Who-ville, an entire city contained on that speck. Horton is immediately intrigued and instantly ridiculed. Particularly threatened is a busybody kangaroo (a very funny Carol Burnett) who insists that anything outside her narrow world must be bad.

Horton bravely faces his detractors. He communicates with the mayor of Who-ville (Steve Carell), who is derided on his end for believing that he’s talking to an undiscovered elephant. The story’s message of standing up for yourself and respecting others’ opinions comes through powerfully in this imaginative adaptation.

Horton has a simple explanation for why he is willing to withstand the slings and arrows of the controlling kangaroo and her court: “A person’s a person, in no degree matter how small.” Writers Ken Daurio and Cinco Paul skillfully weave in the poetry of Seuss’ actual logomachy with their amusing dialogue.

Equally noteworthy is how the animators capture the visual magic of Seuss’ distinctive and stylized illustrations. They also build ingeniously upon Seuss’ rich fantasy world: Horton fashions his big floppy ears into a bathing cap before diving into a lake. Later, his trunk becomes a shower nose.

Horton’s definition of the term ASAP — “Act swiftly, awesome pachyderm” — suggests sage advice to moviegoers: Act swiftly and go see this awesome pachyderm strut his stuff.

To report corrections and clarifications, contact Reader Editor Brent Jones. For literary production consideration in the newspaper, send comments to letters@usatoday.com. Include name, phone number, incorporated town and state for verification.  Enlarge Blue Sky Studios

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By Ryan Nakashima, Associated Press LAS VEGAS — With its plan to make two movies from the last installment of the popular Harry Potter book series, Warner Bros. is once again conjuring a lucrative box office formula, an analyst said Thursday.

The franchise is well-suited to the approach because the books are so popular and rich in content, media algebraist Harold Vogel said.

“They want to milk it for because a long time as possible,” he said. “Why not?”

The studio has collected huge revenue from one side the strategy, most notably with The Lord of the Rings trilogy, which has grossed more than $3 billion worldwide.

The films were shot all at formerly, then released from 2001 to 2003 by subsidiary New Line Cinema.

Warner Bros., a unit of Time Warner Inc., also greenlighted the 2003 release of The Matrix Reloaded and The Matrix Revolutions after the sequels were shot at the same time. The Matrix franchise has hauled in $1.6 billion globally.

The studio huge man announced the two-part rendition of Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows would become films seven and eight of the series.

The first five films grossed $4.5 billion worldwide, already making it the largest movie franchise in annals. The sixth, Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince, is set for release in November.

The release dates of the final two movies are expected in late 2010 and summer 2011.

workshop executives contended the decision to split the book into two film was for creative, not financial, reasons.

“Condensing a 750-page book to a 120- or 130-page screenplay is challenging enough,” Alan Horn, president of Warner Bros. Entertainment Inc., said during a presentation at ShoWest, a conference where studios unveil upcoming movie lineups.

“But we wanted to do right by this final, final episode.” he said.

Dedicated fans were already chatting furiously on Harry Potter cool websites about where the primary film would end and the second begin: Would it come after the escape on the dragon or the destruction of the first Horcrux?

Paul Dergarabedian, president of box-office tracking firm Media By Numbers, noted that even the least lucky in the series, Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix, made $645 million worldwide in the rear of opening last July.

“I account if they could, they would make installments nine, 10 and 11,” he said.

Copyright 2008 The Associated Press. All rights incommunicative. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed. To report corrections and clarifications, contact Reader Editor Brent Jones. For publication consideration in the newspaper, send comments to letters@usatoday.com. Include name, phone number, city and state for verification.  Enlarge

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 ABOUT THE MOVIE

Snow Angels
* * (out of four)
Stars: Kate Beckinsale, Sam Rockwell, Michael Angarano, Griffin Dunne, Amy Sedaris
Director: David Gordon Green
Distributor: Warner Independent Pictures
Rating: R for language, violent content, some brief sexuality and physic use
Running time: 1 hour, 46 minutes
Opens Friday in the USA

By Claudia Puig, USA TODAY Snow Angels is an wily and somber tale of disintegrating and disappointing relationships fused with a coming-of-age story.

The teenager Arthur (Michael Angarano) finds his first, tentative devotion with the quirkily sweet Lila (Olivia Thirlby) as the spousals of his parents (Griffin Dunne and Jeanetta Arnette) flounders. At the same time, the slender town in which they live faces a tragic loss as another marriage — of Annie (Kate Beckinsale), Arthur’s former babysitter, and Glenn (Sam Rockwell) — flames out in dramatic ways.

The unions in this story, which has some elements of a thriller, are either simmering with resentment or boiling with rage. The interweaving sagas, set in 1974, verge on soap opera at times, but the cast of complex and flawed characters is uniformly strong. Beckinsale gives her best performance in years, and Angarano is excellent as a shy and awkward adolescent who is figuring out the world. Dunne also is quite good as Arthur’s narcissistic and feckless dad.

The overall film, notwithstanding, is uneven. The plot becomes disconnected in the second half and suffers from tone changes. Still, the performances are compelling enough to journey Snow Angels worth because.

To report corrections and clarifications, contact Reader Editor Brent Jones. For publication consideration in the newspaper, send comments to letters@usatoday.com. Include name, phone number, city and state for verification.  Enlarge Warner Independent Pictures

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Tropical Thunder. "Once I’m done with all the press, I’m going to take a break,"  Unless (director Ben Stiller) calls up and asks if I want to play a woman."”> Enlarge“I love being this busy again, but I’m not sure I could do couple movies accurate two weeks separately,” says resurgent star Robert Downey Jr., who plays a black character in Tropical Thunder. ”Once I’m conferred with all the press, I’m going to take a break,”  Unless (director Ben Stiller) calls up and asks if I want to play a woman.”  LIVE FROM SHOWESTHere's what's hot this summer3-D is next big step for moviesCalendar: What's in continuance stopper for 3-D?Blog: USA TODAY is live from ShoWestScreening room: Clips of summer's hottestRoundup: Seen and heard at ShoWestMore 
By Scott Bowles, USA TODAY LAS VEGAS — Let’s face it. The ShoWest film awards aren’t exactly the Oscars. Sometimes the stars who show up are the ones by a movie to promote — or with not much else to do.

Then there’s Anne Hathaway, who is plenty busy but made no bones about coming out receive Female Star of the Year, part of the gala that concluded this week’s convention for theater owners Thursday night.

“This is my first acting award, ever,” says Hathaway. “I brought my family, my best dear companion. I’m going to enjoy this to the fullest. You just don’t know what’s going to come your way again.”

She also has a movie to aid: Get Smart, out June 20.

So does Sarah Jessica Parker, who admitted the Vanguard Award.

She stars in May 30’s Sex and the City and admits she wasn’t sure there was a movie to be made from the popular HBO series.

“Then on the first day of shooting, all of these people are lined up to see us,” she says. “It gave me chills. I’ve never tried to figure out why the show struck the chord that it did. But it was just so hard to believe that they cared for it four years after we went off the conduct.”

Robert Downey Jr. is enjoying his own comeback of sorts. In addition to starring in May 2’s Iron Man, he’ll play an actor who has his skin pigmented to play an African-American soldier in Aug. 15’s Tropic Thunder.

“I inclination reality this busy again, but I’m not sure I could do two movies just two weeks apart.” he says. “Once I’m granted with all the press, I’m going to take a break. Unless (Thunder director Ben Stiller) calls up and asks if I want to play a woman.”

Abigail Breslin, named Female Star of Tomorrow, is about as busy. She stars in April 4’s Nim’s Island, followed by June 20’s Kit Kittredge: An American Girl. But Breslin is perhaps less strategic in her career moves.

“If it’s fun, I want to do it,” she says. “And acting is fun. I diminutive, I got to ride a walrus (in Island). How various kids get to do that?”

Emile Hirsch, who was named Male Star of Tomorrow, didn’t get to ride a walrus, though he did spend some quality time astern the wheel for Speed Racer, due May 9.

And at the same time that the legendary race car sat atop an automated gimbal, that hardly ensured his safety.

“Sometimes I’d be in the car and (Racer co-director Larry Wachowski) would grab the controls and just start jerking the car around. I think he was trying to throw me out of it. He was like an angry teenager playing a video game.”

Despite some dire speeches and panel discussions about the future of the movie business, a couple of award winners had a message for theater owners: relax.

“If we’re in a lot of trouble, I never got the memo,” says Seth Rogan, named Comedy Star of the Year. “If you can after what is stated get people to laugh, they’re going to come to comedies. I don’t know about those other genres. But I do comedies, so I should be cool.”

So should those who keep up with the times, says Brendan Fraser, honored with the Distinguished Decade of Achievement in Film award.

Despite his matinee idol looks and 6-foot-3 frame, Fraser concedes he’s a nerd at heart, and he came to Las Vegas to tout Journey to the Center of the Earth 3D, the first live-action film shot entirely in 3D.

“I think movies are going to be fine if we keep up with technology,” he says. “The things we can confer now in theaters, the way we can bring stories to life, will blow people away. You just have to get them into the theater to see that.

“And, being an actor,” he says, donning a pair of 3D glasses, “I’m willing to do a little shameless selling tonight.”

To report corrections and clarifications, contact Reader Editor Brent Jones. For publication consideration in the newspaper, transmit comments to letters@usatoday.com. Include name, phone number, city and state for verification.  Enlarge By Jae C. Hong, AP

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 LIVE FROM SHOWESTHere's what's hot this summer3-D is next big step for moviesCalendar: What's on stopple for 3-D?Blog: USA TODAY is live from ShoWestScreening room: Clips of summer's hottestRoundup: Seen and heard at ShoWestMore 
By Scott Bowles, USA TODAY LAS VEGAS — in the place of all the celebrities who paraded through ShoWest this week, the star who had theater owners chattering like high school children was a 15-year-old girl who didn’t even set foot on the convention floor.

Hannah Montana ruled this year’s conference. Or at least her movie did.

When the digitally shot, three-dimensional film Hannah Montana/Miley Cyrus: Best of Both Worlds Concert raked in $31 million on its opening weekend last month, it served as both wake up and warning for the owners of the nation’s 6,000 theaters, which are about to undergo the most expensive and risky makeover since movies went to sound or color.

In their most audacious attempt yet to get people from behind their computer screens and television sets, studios and theater owners are going digital. That means they will be handing out 3-D glasses. They will be showing the Super Bowl and U2 concerts on their most good 60-foot screens. They will dally commercial movies in IMAX.

They’ll be trying to make your $10,000 home theater look antiquated and quaint.

They will also charge more at the ticket booth.

If Hollywood and the Motion Picture Association of America get their wish and see half of the country’s 42,000 movie screens converted to digital within the next three years, it could require to be paid studios and theater owners upwards of $1 billion. And in that place’s no guarantee it will revive an industry that hasn’t seen an attendance increase in the past three years.

But that won’t stop studios from trying. Journey to the Center of the Earth 3D, due July 11, will be the first live-action film shot and released entirely in 3-D. July 18’s Batman sequel The Dark Knight has four key scenes shot in IMAX. And Monsters vs. Aliens hits screens March 27, 2009, as the first computer-generated animated movie created in 3-D.

That’s the tip of the digital berg. At least 20 3-D and IMAX movies are headed to theaters over the next two years, from the epic (Avatar, James Cameron’s digitally rendered sci-fi thriller) to the literally pedestrian (act Up 3-D).

“I know it sounds strange coming from a guy who made independent movies early in continuance, but for some movies, bigger is better,” says Dark Knight director Christopher Nolan. “You have to stay ahead of what people have advantageous to them at home, which is entirely a lot. We have to offer else.”

Upsides and downsides

But is it enough? Some theater owners worry that once they resign their canisters of film, they will be at the mercy of technology that, like digital cameras and computers, keeps surging in capability and requires repeated investment.

Still, owners and studio executives agree that digital has distinct advantages over film:

•Image quality. Since pictures are digitally encoded, there’s no degradation of image like you get on film. Think DVD over VHS.

•Flexibility. Digital movies can not only be swapped out simply by switching hard drives; they can be transmitted like cable TV, allowing theaters to carry live sporting and entertainment events.

•3-D. Digital projectors will allow more filmmakers to make three-dimensional films that are worlds beyond the 1950s 3-D craze, notable for its gimmicky paper glasses and titles such as Cat Women of the Moon and Gorilla at Large.

But some theater owners see sizable downsides to a digital world, some of which they fear will have the opposite effect they’re hoping for.

•Increased ticket prices. Generally, 3-D, IMAX and special presentations such as concerts cost anywhere from $3 to $10 more a ticket. And with the average ticket price nearing $7, owners worry that breaking the $10 barrier will lose customers permanently.

•Technical challenges. “When a movie breaks, we can splice it together in about three minutes,” says Leonard Binning, who owns a seven-screen theater in Alberta, Canada. “How many times does your computer freeze at work? Can you imagine a theater full of people, the network goes down, and you’re looking for a tech guy?”

•Piracy. Because of its pristine image, a digital movie is ripe for theft. Even a camcorder recorder of a digital movie would be more valuable on the street than a duplicate of celluloid.

Still, Hollywood executives are not above doomsday predictions if theaters don’t modernize quickly.

“Over the last 40 years, our population has grown by 120 million people,” says Jeffrey Katzenberg, DreamWorks’ animation chief. “But attendance remains flat. We are in a declining business. If we put on’t do something to reinvent ourselves, we are going to be in serious trouble down the road.”

Hard to judge by the numbers

Change won’t come cheap. Though studios and financiers are underwriting costs for many theater owners, the typical digital inventor costs $75,000.

“This isn’t a gimmick,” says Nancy Fares, manager for Texas Instrument’s Digital Light Projections group, which has sold about 4,000 projectors to theaters nationwide. For 3-D, she says, “populace wear high-tech plastic glasses, usually that they can take home. They become immersed in the movie. It makes movies more of an event.”

Audience responses bear been inconclusive. Last year’s $150 million animated tale Beowulf did $83 million in the United States, but another $114 million overseas. Hannah Montana did more than $63 very great number on about 850 screens — virtually every one that has digital projectors — for a robust per-theater medium.

“If we could have put it on 3,000 screens, we would have,” says Chuck Viane, head of distribution for Disney, which released the film. “We were limited only by the number of theaters that were digital. But that movie proved 3-D is viable. It’s the real deal.”

But some exhibitors wonder whether audiences can tell the difference in digital images the way they can in, say, digital sound.

“I did every experiment,” says Mark O’Meara, president of University Mall Theatres in Fairfax, Va. “I installed digital sound while the same movie was playing for a few weeks. The first week without the new sound, people didn’t affirmation a great deal of nearly it. After the new sound system, people were rage about the movie. I know image humor is important, but there are other things that make a big difference, too. And they’re not as costly.”

Binning says that, ultimately, he’ll purchase the new projectors. “You have to keep up with technology if you want to put (butts) in the seats, because they expect the best,” he says.

But first, he’ll hire more ushers.

“We shouldn’t let whole this digital talk overshadow other things,” he says. “I need more people monitoring who is conscious rude before I invest in a high-tech projector. A better picture is great, but it isn’t going to make a difference if the community are talking loudly, kicking the back of your seat and texting all night. We still need to concentrate on improving the overall movie experience.”

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LAS VEGAS (AP) — DreamWorks Animation SKG Inc. chief executive Jeffrey Katzenberg promised a “new era” in moviegoing Tuesday, as Hollywood studios prepared a huge slate of 3-D movies for theaters that are increasingly going digital.

“It is nothing less than the greatest innovation that has happened for whole of us in the movie business since the advent of color 70 years gone,” Katzenberg said in an address at ShoWest, a conference in Las Vegas where studios unveil clips and other details about upcoming movie lineups.

“Now it’s our chance to deliver something that is far superior than anything that can be done in the home,” he said.

Katzenberg then showed off a 3-D clip of his studio’s March 2009 release Monsters vs. Aliens, in which the U.S. military unleashes a barrage on an alien space ship as the president fires a few rounds from a handgun, shouting “I’m a brave president!”

The presentation came after the announcement of a deal calling during the conversion of 10,000 more theater screens for the digital technology needed to accommodate 3-D.

Access Integrated Technologies Inc. said it had reached agreements with four studios — Disney, News Corp.’s 20th Century Fox, Viacom Inc.’s Paramount, and Universal Pictures, which is owned by General Electric Co.’s NBC Universal — to finance and equip the screens in the U.S. and Canada during the next three years.

The conversion will cost as much as $700 million, said Bud Mayo, chief executive of Access Integrated Technologies, which completed a first tranche of 3,700 digital conversions in October.

Hollywood is anxious to convert as many theaters as possible to the digital format, which provides sharper images while eliminating the need for expensive celluloid film.

The digital technology can also be used to show 3-D movies by the addition of software and hardware costing about $25,000 per year for either screen.

“Hannah Montana & Miley Cyrus: Best of Both Worlds Concert,” a 3-D movie, pulled in $31.3 million in its opening weekend last month, an impressive feat because it played on only 683 screens. Many wide-release, 2-D films commence on more than 3,000 screens and make half as much money.

“We were in as many locations as we could possibly get,” said Chuck Viane, president of distribution for Walt Disney Studios Motion Pictures. “If there were 3,000 3-D screens available, would we have played them all? Yeah, I think we would.”

Chicken Little, the first-ever animated 3-D movie released in November 2005, made $23,864 by screen, compared with $10,949 for the 2-D version.

Box office figures have shown that the enveloping feel of 3-D can attract two to three times more moviegoers who are willing to pay as much as $3 more per ticket, Stifel Nicolaus analyst Drew Crum said.

At least 30 more 3-D movies are in the pipeline from Hollywood, including this summer’s adaptation of Jules Verne’s Journey to the Center of the Earth.

Theaters owners and studios hope the offerings will help bring people back to multiplexes for an actual observation that cannot be matched by increasingly sophisticated home theater systems.

The theater industrial art is battling competition from video games and other alternative entertainment along with Internet movie downloads.

John Fithian, president of the National Association of Theatre Owners, said digital cinema will allow theaters to boost revenue from hits while quick getting rid of obnoxious movies.

“In digital cinema, if we see a picture’s not working on a Friday night, we be able to flick a switch and put up a smaller picture in unit of the auditoriums,” he said.

The push to convert screens had been bogged down by a number of issues, including the shaky credit market that has threatened to increase costs even further.

“It’s just been it may be slower than anticipated,” Crum said.

Thus far, only about 4,600 of intimately 39,000 screens in the U.S. and Canada have been outfitted with digital technology.

simply about 1,040 of those screens are now outfitted to show 3-D movies.

Interest in 3-D has come and gone since the 1950s, but studios began to take the format seriously again after a 3-D version of 2004’s The Polar Express from Warner Bros. grossed more than $45 million.

A number of high-profile filmmakers now have 3-D projects in the works, including James Cameron and Tim Burton.

Walt Disney Co. is making Toy Story 3 in 3-D and plans to rerelease the first two Toy Story films in the trilogy in the format.

Along with digital projection, today’s 3-D technology makes use of polarized lenses rather than the flimsy red and green cardboard cutouts of the past that could cause nausea and headaches.

In October, Access Integrated Technologies completed a two-year effort to retrofit multiplex screens at a cost of nearly $280 million — about $75,000 per screen.

AccessIT is recouping the cost from studios over the nearest 10 years.

Meanwhile, theater chains are ponying up as much as $25,000 a year per screen to technology firm REAL D for the software, physical upgrades and maintenance that makes it possible to elucidate 3-D movies.

The current dearth of screens has caused some short-term kinks.

DreamWorks Animation said last month it pushed back the release of its How to Train Your Dragon by four months to March 2010 to avoid competing for 3-D screens with Cameron’s hotly anticipated feature film Avatar.

The logjam has ramped up the pressure to cut deals to convert theaters.

A second financing vehicle called Digital Cinema Implementation Partners was formed last March by the three largest theater exhibitors, Regal Entertainment Group, AMC Entertainment Inc. and Cinemark Holdings Inc. with plans to outfit their 14,500 theaters by digital technology.

“We, the exhibitors, and most of the studios want to make things happen so we can support the kind of is a major commitment by multiple parties to the 3-D space,” he said. “It’s going to happen.”

Copyright 2008 The Associated Press. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed. To report corrections and clarifications, contact Reader Editor Brent Jones. For publication consideration in the newspaper, send comments to letters@usatoday.com. Include name, phone number, incorporated town and state for verification.