Does Ridley Scott want to convert his upcoming epic, Robin Hood, to 3D? Well, according to TheWrap, he does. They say they’ve heard from sources close to the project that, “Director Ridley Scott is breathing down the neck of executives at Universal to get them to approve making a 3D version of his new $200 million epic, Robin Hood.”
They also add that, “One knowledgeable executive told me that it would cost only an additional $7 to $8 million to create a 3D version of Robin Hood.” That is quite possibly true, but what it doesn’t take into account is the time it takes to do that. Other films that have decided to go this route have had to put their releases back by six months or more to accomodate the conversion time, and it’s unlikely the studio is going to want to hang around and miss a lucrative summer release date, expecially with historical action an untested market for 3D. It’s also true that while Scott has said he’s a fan on 3D, he’s only talked about the sort of stereovision filming James Cameron used on Avatar, not the kind where you do it all after you’ve shot it (which is getting better but doesn’t quite offer the same results).
To be honest the most likely reason it will happen is that with 3D fever gripping Hollywood, the studios may have started worrying that their tentpole releases will lose out in the box office race if they don’t it. We’ll have to wait and see whether Scott’s movie does go three-dimensional, although I’m not sure I like the idea of Russell Crowe coming out of the screen at me, especially if he’s holding a telephone.
The same report in TheWrap also mentions that Terminator 2 is being lined up for a 3D conversion, but as yet there’s no official word on that either.