The year is 2026. The days of every big Hollywood blockbuster being released in 3D are over and, frankly, good riddance. In almost every single case in the past, when you saw a new movie in 3D, it felt like a cash grab, didn’t add anything at all, and soured most of us on the experience as a whole. But there are filmmakers out there who still believe in the process and know how to use it to their advantage. Filmmakers like Guillermo del Toro.
Later this year, del Toro is re-releasing his iconic film Pan’s Labyrinth in theaters to celebrate its 20th anniversary. It’ll be available in several premium formats, including 3D, and while our natural reaction might be to avoid it at all costs, at San Diego Comic-Con, del Toro explained why his conversion is different from the rest.
“I think we can make it so that it is expressively powerful,” del Toro said. “So the real world is a little flatter, and the fantasy world has a huge depth. So thematically it will add to the movie. I was honestly not expecting how it was going to affect me seeing it. It’s incredible.”
Del Toro explained that he and distributor Cineverse are personally paying for the conversion, so, of course, there’s “absolutely no goddamn AI.”
“It is much more expensive [to convert it to 3D without AI],” del Toro said. “I don’t care. The thing is, what we’re protecting is the beauty and the redeeming power of art. It’s not about who gets the job; it’s about protecting our lineage of art. If we cut a generation of people from learning their craft, you cut the rest of the history of that medium away from them, you know? So we have about 1,000 people rotoing the movie. You know, when you convert to 3D, here’s the two ways you can do it: quick, or you can do it good. I chose good.”
That means that with the re-release not coming for a few more months, the conversion process is still in the works. “When I talked to Jim Cameron about conversion, he said, ‘If you take less than 300 days, I’ll kill you,’” del Toro said. “Because you have to put in the time. You’ve got to do every element by hand. A human makes a decision. A human makes the decision of depth. We are [also] redoing some sound elements. We are remixing it in Atmos. And we are doing a new color pass, which I’ve seen some tests [of, and] the tools are much better than when we did the first pass. So I’ll tell you one thing. You haven’t seen it. When you see it in 3D, it’s extraordinary.”
Well, damn. I think Guillermo del Toro just convinced me to see Pan’s Labyrinth in 3D. It’s coming on October 9, and here’s the trailer.
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