That's deep, DreamWorks Animation
Ever since Disney's
Disney had last year's top animated draw, with Cars. This year should belong to DreamWorks Animation, with Shrek the Third.
This places pressure on the major studios to push the envelope, and that's what DreamWorks Animation is doing. The studio announced this week that it would begin using stereoscopic 3-D technology in all of its films come 2009.
There will be a conventional version made available to mainstream theaters that don't have 3-D screening technology, but that may not be necessary before long. More chains keep committing to digital cinema, which has empowered companies like Thomson's Technicolor Digital Cinema subsidiary, as well as the pairing of AccessIT
Going digital means no costly film prints for the studios. Exhibitors like the ability to change content on the fly and the potential of more cost-effective digital ad campaigns between films.
We'll have to wait and see whether other studios follow DreamWorks Animation here. If it's a hit, and smaller studios aren't able to follow suit, the glut of computer animation may turn into an opportunity for the studios still around at the time.
It's a good move by DreamWorks Animation, even before we know how good the final product will actually look.
DreamWorks Animation, Time Warner, and Disney are all Motley Fool Stock Advisor newsletter recommendations.
Longtime Fool contributor Rick Munarriz is a sucker for quality animation. Yes, he owns shares of Disney and DreamWorks Animation. The Fool has a disclosure policy. Rick is also part of the Rule Breakers newsletter research team, seeking out tomorrow's ultimate growth stocks a day early.