Collider.com sat down with WALL•E
producers Jim Morris and Lindsey Collins to talk about the DVD and future Pixar projects. The WALL•E details are being saved for November, but some interesting information was disclosed on the Toy Story franchise.
As most of us know, Toy Story and Toy Story 2 will be re-released in stereoscopic 3D on October 2nd, 2009, and on February 12th, 2010, respectively. What many of you may have been asking is, will Pixar be adding in anything to Toy Story and its sequel for the theatrical re-release, Jim Morris says, "Not a thing. We’re not changing a thing in the movies." He does add that the film will look even more stunning because it is being re-rendered to today’s standards and will be released exclusively in 3D to get audiences ready for Toy Story 3. Speaking of TS3, it will have a standard and 3D release, but for those of you who were hoping to see these films on an IMAX screen unfortunately Morris had this to say, "Well, we’ve always talked about doing IMAX stuff and never had it come quite to fruition. We haven’t found the right thing."
Be sure to read the full article (including an interesting interview) and look forward to Collider’s report on their visit to the Emeryville campus and the WALL•E DVD/Blu-ray news.
Last modified: September 29, 2008
Wow, re-rendered? So that means they’ll be adding certain filters and such to improve the look? I know I’m getting the jargon all wrong, LOL.
I know since it’s not being re-done from the ground up, that it may not meet the graphical standards that Wall-E and Ratatouille set, but will it look relatively close? Or will it just be little things here and there?
I’m pretty sure that they re-rendered TS and TS2 for the DVD release as well…
Could be wrong, but I remember something like that.
They actually have re-render them in order to show them in 3D. The nature of 3D requires CGI to essentially be rendered twice for each frame of film (one for each “eye”). Each “scene” is in the computer, but before it can be displayed in it’s full glory, the scene must have a virtual camera in it from which the rendering engine generates the final film frame you see. For 3D, there must be two cameras in slightly different locations (to mimic how our eyes see), so they must go back and add in this second camera, make sure the distance between them is correct, make sure the focal point is correct (to avoid having too much of the imagery on screen “popping” out of the screen), etc. Once they position the two cameras correctly, then they render each of those cameras separately for a total of two different images for each eye.
The films will likely look better, as the rendering engines are better today than they used to be. Lighting is more realistic, bump mapping may be more accurate, that sort of thing. It probably won’t be anything you’ll notice, however. Since they won’t be upgrading the models or textures, there shouldn’t be any significant change to the look of the films.
In addition to the re-rendering, they will have to go through and make sure the scenes, special effects, and other elements are “3D safe”. There may be certain things in the scene that don’t properly render to the two “cameras” in each scene. They may have to adjust a few things in some scenes to get them to “play” right in 3D.
I am looking forward to seeing TS 1 and 2 in 3D sooooooo much. It’s going to be an amazing experience. Pixar films were just MADE for 3D. I hope and PRAY that they eventually decide to re-release all of the Pixar library in 3D. That would be a personal dream come true.
If you have your doubts about the difference 3D will make, please, please, please trust me and go see Toy Story 1 in 3D when they re-release it. It’s only a few dollars more than a regular movie, and most theaters have a “cheap” showing on weekdays or earlier in the day. Do yourself a favor and experience the new Digital 3D system in theaters now. It goes way beyond any 3D films you may have seen in the past or in theme park attractions. Toy Story 1+2 are going to gain a whole new life in 3D, I promise!
“The WALL•E details are being saved for November”
Eh? What details are left? XD