Ang Lee's 'Life of Pi'

Uncut 3D Scenes From Life of Pi to Screen in Front of Prometheus & Upcoming 20th Century Fox's Movies

LOS ANGELES — The 3-D filmmaking in Ang Lee’s forthcoming “Life of Pi” is so remarkable in the eyes of 20th Century Fox that the studio has decided a typical trailer just won’t do.

“Life of Pi,” based on Yann Martel’s 2001 novel about a teenager adrift in a lifeboat with a Bengal tiger, will not arrive in theaters until late November. But starting Friday, Fox plans to unspool a few minutes from the film — uncut, in one continuous scene — and show it before “Prometheus,” a space adventure.

Fox plans to pair another segment of “Life of Pi” with its next release, “Abraham Lincoln: Vampire Hunter,” which arrives on June 22. Although plans are still being worked out, the studio hopes to bundle a third “Life of Pi” scene with “Ice Age: Continental Drift,” due from Fox on July 13.

The experiment underscores the ways in which studios, increasingly loading films with advanced 3-D effects to keep theater seats full, are bumping up against marketing constraints. How will people know that “Life of Pi” features “Avatar”-caliber 3-D imagery — as Fox thinks it does — if all they see are commercials for the film on TV? Moreover, most people now watch movie trailers online or on mobile devices, screens that are hardly conducive to conveying cinematic grandeur.

“This film is special and different, and so we didn’t want to give people the same-old, same-old,” said Tom Rothman, co-chairman of Fox Filmed Entertainment, a division of News Corporation. (Fox will also release a standard trailer closer to the movie’s arrival in theaters.)

Since Fox wants to showcase the 3-D imagery in “Life of Pi,” the studio will include the segments only during the 3-D screenings of “Prometheus,” “Vampire Hunter” and “Ice Age,” Mr. Rothman said.

The extended “Life of Pi” scenes that Fox plans to show focus on the dramatic sinking of a cargo ship loaded with zoo animals and a moment when the boy and tiger encounter a school of flying fish.

Fox had good luck with a similar sneak-peek effort with “Avatar” in 2009. Five months ahead of that film’s release, Fox showed about 15 minutes from the film at Imax theaters. Mr. Rothman said the idea to do something similar with “Life of Pi,” starring a young Indian actor named Suraj Sharma, came from theater owners who saw scenes from the film at an industry convention in April.

“Exhibitors drove the idea,” Mr. Rothman said. “They said, ‘You want to convey the idea that this movie is very specifically a cinematic experience? Just show people what you just showed us.’ ”

http://mediadecoder.blogs.nytimes.com/2012/06/03/fox-plans-special-trailers-to-let-films-3-d-effects-shine/?ref=media
 
That sounds like a cool idea.
 
Interesting marketing strategy. The producers know that the NPR crowd and film studies nerds will already flock to see this movie; I bet the trailer that runs with Prometheus will focus on the adventure aspects of the book, and try to portray this as a fantastical adventure story to get the geek audience there as well.
 
I saw the trailer for this, pretty interesting but the 3D annoyed me which shocks me because this was shot in 3D.
 
This was great footage they showed. Very strange but cool too.
 
I saw the trailer for this, pretty interesting but the 3D annoyed me which shocks me because this was shot in 3D.
I've always been in the camp of logic saying that the average movie goer cannot tell the difference between a 3D movie shot in 3D versus a good post conversion. Sure, 2 years ago, post converted 3D was pretty bad, but now, it's become hard to tell the difference as the post conversion technology is constantly getting better.

So, that's why I get mad when people say they only watch movies shot in 3D--when in some cases, it doesn't matter if it is or not.

What makes or break a 3D movie is HOW the 3D is used and HOW it is shot. Not if it was post converted or not.

rant over
 
That is true, I have seen Post converted 3D films that actually looked really good and doesn't hurt your eyes. Though with this I don't know if it was the angles they shot this but my eyes were crossed seeing all the flying fishes and some other moments from that 3 min scene.
 
Based on the quality of the trailer and the source material, I think this moving is going to be a huge freaking deal. :up:
 
I saw the trailer when i watched prometheus in 3D. Didn't like tthe 3D in this at all. Whole time i had trouble focusing. It just didn't work for me. Also I heard a few "wtf was that?" after the trailer.
 
Man, I am dying to see some footage of this movie but that brief footage will do for now. Also, love the gorgeously designed website.
 
http://www.slashfilm.com/life-pi-clip-online-banners-show-gorgeous-imagery/

Life-of-Pi-banner-1.jpg


Life-of-Pi-banner-2.jpg


Life-of-Pi-banner-3.jpg


Life-of-Pi-banner-4.jpg


[YT]mU0Q8OeNvxw[/YT]
 
It looks absolutely amazing. It certainly looks like Lee has done the novel justice, at least the visual tone of it.

Also, not to nitpick but can we change the title of this thread? It was reported last week that Maguire won't appear in the film.
 
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Wait, thats not Tobey Maguire on the boat? :o
 
I wonder if the journalist character is being dropped altogether then. Too bad, I thought it was pretty cool that "Yann Martel" would be a character in the movie of his most famous novel.
 
Reminds me of Jackson's Lovely Bones by that it relies on the CG for the aesthetics since it's all quite fantastical, I haven't read the book so I don't know if that's the purpose and with that said this is Ang Lee and he hasn't let me down so far.
 

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