In the wake of the blockbuster “Avatar," Hollywood's obsession with 3-D has hit a roadblock.
Paramount Pictures is using high-pressure tactics against theaters to book DreamWorks Animation's upcoming big-budget 3-D film, “How to Train Your Dragon" onto scarce 3-D screens around the country, according to industry executives. “Dragon," opening March 26, will be going head to head against the swords-and- sandal 3-D picture “Clash of the Titans," from Warner Bros., which opens a week later, and Disney's 3-D “Alice in Wonderland," still drawing audiences and expected to remain in theaters for several more weeks.
Paramount Pictures is telling theaters that if they don't show the upcoming DreamWorks-produced “Dragon," on a 3-D screen, then it will withhold from the theater a 2-D version of the movie to play instead, according to four theater industry executives, who asked not to be identified for fear of reprisal. Many multiplexes only have a single 3-D screen, so not having a conventional version of the highly anticipated DreamWorks family film to play on their other screens would severely affect ticket sales.
“The message is: If you have one 3-D screen available and you don't play ["Dragon"], they're not going to give you the version in 2-D," one California theater operator said. “It's an underhanded threat."
Studios are also engaged in the mogul equivalent of hand-to-hand combat over scarce 3-D screens.
