Surge of 3-D films set for U.S. theaters by 2009

By Gina Keating

LOS ANGELES (Reuters) - A 3-D technology developed to help NASA astronauts practice making repairs in space is set to revolutionize the way people watch movies by 2009, when a wave of live-action 3-D movies hit theaters.

Just 18 months ago, "Chicken Little," the first modern 3D movie, touched off a sensation among studio executives and theater chain owners who say the crisp, digital images of the new 3-D will drive profits in the next decade.

The slate of 3-D films set for 2009 is led by "Titanic" director James Cameron's "Avatar." The technology has the backing of Walt Disney Co. (DIS.N), which set up a 3-D studio with "Polar Express" director Robert Zemeckis this year, and DreamWorks Animation SKG Inc. DWA.N, which pledged to release all its films in 3-D in 2009.

Nearly every large movie studio and many smaller ones have at least one or two 3-D titles in production, though most release dates have not been announced.

Digital 3-D, pioneered by a Beverly Hills company called Real D, still requires moviegoers to wear geeky glasses, but the left- and right-eye images are calibrated so finely that most viewers experience no headache or eyestrain.

"None of the 3-D systems in the past allowed you to immerse yourself in the frame," said Walden Media Chief Executive Cary Granat, whose "Journey 3D" will be the first live-action digital 3-D feature film release in 2008. "This is really the next step of film-going," he told Reuters.

Granat expects more than half of Walden's film slate to be released in 3-D within a decade.

The November 2005 debut of Disney's "Chicken Little" in Real D, in about 80 U.S. theaters, racked up per-screen box office averages two to three times that of the two-dimensional version.