BOULDER — A nondescript, two-story building on the outskirts of this college town serves as the research-and-development hub for 3-D technology that movie studios bank on to showcase their big-budget films, such as the eagerly awaited “Avatar.”
The technology is featured on 3,000 movie screens in 2,000 theaters across the country, including 35 in Colorado, and is being refined for use in television sets by dozens of scientists at RealD in Boulder.
A 3-D TV is on display at the company’s office here, exhibiting eye-popping sports action. Commercial sets could hit stores by the end 2010, say RealD executives.
But at the same time, there are lingering questions about whether the technology can become a staple in theaters, RealD’s bread and butter.
“3-D has come and gone before,” said Brandon Gray, president of Box Office Mojo, an online movie publication. “The question is, can it transcend being simply a gimmick?”
As it stands now, Gray said, 3-D is “probably more novelty than it is enduring movie-going experience.”
Nonetheless, recent box-office figures indicate it is making a substantial impact on the film industry. 3-D showings accounted for 56 percent of ticket sales for Pixar’s summer hit “Up” during its opening weekend. About a dozen films will be released in 3-D over the next year.
“Avatar” to set record
James Cameron’s “Avatar,” a sci-fi adventure flick, launches Friday with the highest number of 3-D screens ever — roughly 5,000 worldwide.
“It’s the definitive work in 3-D from a visual standpoint,” said Michael Lewis, RealD’s chief executive.
Based in Beverly Hills, Calif., and founded in 2003, RealD is the leading provider of 3-D technology for theater chains such as AMC and Regal Entertainment Group. Key components of the technology — which includes adapters that attach to the front of digital projectors in theaters — come from ColorLink, a Boulder-based company that RealD acquired in 2007.
Privately held RealD employs about 60 in Boulder, its largest concentration.
Old-form 3-D technology involves displaying different colors into each eye to create depth, and requires viewers to wear red and blue glasses.
RealD’s technology projects an entire image into one eye and darkness into the other, and alternates the two at a high rate — 144 times a second. Viewers wear dark-tinted glasses that decode the image each eye is supposed to see.
“You don’t see the flickering effect, it’s happening so fast,” said Gary Sharp, RealD’s chief technical officer. “It looks like a continuous image, but they’re from two perspectives, just like in the real world.”
The result is a better 3-D image and less stress on the eyes, he said.
“That’s why we think, even though it’s come and gone a couple times over the years in the cinema, it’s here to stay now because there’s no longer this tradeoff,” Sharp said.
Computer background
A San Diego native, Sharp founded ColorLink in 1995 after studying electrical and computer engineering at the University of Colorado at Boulder. The company received a $2 million grant in 1996 from the National Institute of Standards and Technology and raised $5 million in funding in 2000, led by chipmaking giant Intel.
ColorLink initially focused on providing 2D television components to electronics firms such as Sony and JVC. The company shifted gears to 3-D work after getting acquired in 2007, though its technology was featured in RealD’s 3-D system even prior to the deal.
RealD has a lot riding on the success of 3-D cinema. The company makes about 50 cents for every 3-D ticket sold at theaters that use its technology.
The first film released in RealD format was “Chicken Little” in 2005, which opened with 84 3-D screens domestically.
“That was the dawn of this new 3-D age,” Lewis said. “We’ve had 25 films that have come out in RealD in the last four years.”
RealD executives believe 3-D is the next big thing for televisions, comparing it to the recent transition from regular to high-definition TVs.
“You start off with black and white, then you went to color, then you went to HD,” said Jill Thomassian, RealD’s chief operating officer. “What you’re seeing on TV becomes more and more like what you see when you walk around the world.”
Shane Sturgeon, publisher of HDTV Magazine, said the 3-D TVs that have been exhibited thus far at trade shows have been unimpressive. “It seems like it’s just not quite as smooth as it could be yet,” he said.
Many of the 3-D TV systems that are being developed require viewers to wear battery- powered, active glasses, which can be more stressful on the eyes. In theaters, viewers wear passive glasses because the 3-D work is done at the projector and screen.
Andy Vuong: 303-954-1209 or avuong@denverpost.com
