It seems that not only upcoming movies are going to be 3D, but now previous titles are now going to get the stereoscopic make-over.  The Hollywood Reporter says that Stereo Pictures is creating a stereoscopic conversion process to keep up with the new 3D craze.

Stereo proprietary technology, developed at its R&D site in Korea and designed to convert any digital format to a 3-D format, will be deployed in service bureaus in Los Angeles and Korea. Once set up, the company estimates that it could convert a title in as little as a month and a half.

3D is becoming the main-stream these days, with most of the main production companies switching to the format, new technology popping up left and right, and now new stereoscopic ready television sets are debuting on the market.  And just when you thought you were safe with your HD plasma screen.

Walt Disney Co. has announced that 5 more classic animated features are getting the 2-disc Blu-ray treatment in the near future (source: The Hollywood Reporter),

Of the five new Blu-ray releases, “Pinocchio” will be first out of the gate, coming in the spring. “Snow White” is next, followed in 2010 by “Fantasia” and “Fantasia 2000.” In conjunction with these releases, Disney will issue “Destino,” an unfinished animated feature film created by Walt Disney and famed surrealist painter Salvador Dali. Begun in 1946, the rare film was rediscovered in 2003 and completed by Walt Disney’s nephew, Roy E. Disney.

Bringing up the rear is “Beauty and the Beast,” the only animated film ever nominated for a best picture Oscar. The film will be available as a Blu-ray Disc Platinum Collection release in fall 2010.

The first Disney classic to be offered on Blu-ray is “Sleeping Beauty”, which will be released Oct. 7th.

A trailer has been released on the Legend of Secret Pass website.  “Legend” is an independent CG-animated film that has recently completed post-production.  According to the website, the story

revolves around the Thunderbirds of Native American mythology and an animal haven of mystical proportions, following the journey of a Native American boy, Manu who lives with his Grandfather, high in the mountains.  As a terrible doom approaches, Manu must take up an awesome responsibility.  With the help of his Cousin Nica and Aunt Nitika, Manu must face a terrifying trial if the family is to survive and he is to embrace his special destiny.

No word yet on when the film will be released in theaters.

EOnline.com has a report that Steven Speilberg will still be the first director to foray into the Adventures of Tintin, the extremely popular Belgian comic strip series that dates back to the 20s.  Recently, the Brussels studio that owns the characters had claimed that Peter Jackson would be taking over the role.  Jackson still remains as producer, and will helm the second Tintin film in the series of three film they plan to produce. The first film

will be adapted from two books in the Adventures of Tintin series—The Secret of the Unicorn and Red Rackham’s Treasure, written between 1942 and 1944. Dr. Who scribe Stephen Moffat penned the script.

And now Tintin’s signature carrot top will reach new heights: The originally 2-D traveler is being brought to the big screen with Polar Express-style motion-capture animation technology.

Although motion capture’s come a long way from Polar Express, it should be interesting to see how these very recognizable beautifully drawn characters will relate to the audience in a motion capture world.  The article reports that Andy Serkis will be involved in bringing Captain Haddock to life.  Thomas Sangster will voice Tintin.

The Hollywood Reporter announced that the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences has named the finalists for the 35th Annual Student Academy Awards.  The categories include Animation, Documentary, Narrative, and Alternative.  This year’s finalists in animation are

“The Gloaming,” Andrew Huang, USC; “Mr. Popcorn,” Alexander Krivicich, Cornell University, New York; “Paper Shepherd,” David Houry, The Cleveland Institute of Art, Ohio; “Simulacra,” Tatchapon Lertwirojkul, The School of Visual Arts; “Snow Day,” Kim Hazel, Ringling College of Art and Design, Florida; “Toumai,” Carlos Stevens, The Art Institute of Portland, Oregon; “The Visionary,” Evan Mayfield, Ringling College of Art and Design; and “Zoologic,” Nicole Mitchell, California Institute of the Arts.

The Student Academy Awards will be held at the Samuel Goldwyn Theater in Beverly Hills on June 2nd.

Ultimate Disney has a great interview with Henry Selick, director of the upcoming stop-motion feature Coraline. Selick is also widely known for acting as director on the acclaimed Tim Burton’s Nightmare Before Christmas which is getting a special 2 disc DVD release this year as well as on Blu-ray DVD. Here’s an excerpt from the interview:

Q: Does a film like Nightmare naturally look amazing in high definition or do the translation and remastering take a lot of work?

Henry Selick: The fact is the film was originally shot in 35mm film. Each image is pristine with no blur, so the source material is already high def, more so than a standard film. So the mastering is less of a challenge.

Q: The DVD already makes the animation look so clear. What new details will we notice in Blu-ray?

H.S.: Some of the details that may become apparent in Blu-ray are that we tried to add texture to all the characters and backgrounds as if they were an engraving. For example, you’ll see that Jack’s stripes on his suit are hand-drawn, and the hills behind also have handmade textures built into them. Additional details would be things like the leaves that Sallie is stuffed with, the bugs inside Oogie Boogie. Look into the shadow areas, there are hidden details there that have never shown up on the previous DVD but will show up on the Blu-ray.

Check out the rest of the in-depth article to read about Selick’s work history, favorite characters form Nightmare, and his love for stop motion animation.

Variety reports that Gnomes and Trolls: The Secret Chamber, a Swedish animated film by Robert Rhodin, had its first screening at the Norwegian Film Festival and already has sold to 69 countries worldwide.

“It’s sold to many Euro countries, to Latin and South America, the whole Middle East and Asian countries including India, Pakistan, Sri Lanka, Bangladesh and Iran,” said NonStop’s Judith Toth. But it has yet to sell to the U.S., U.K., France, Italy or Germany.

Gnomes and Trolls will be shown at Cannes in October, and the November AFM in Santa Monica.

Variety reports that Marvel has established a pact with Madhouse to develop their line of superheroes into anime characters for the Japanese market.

First four series will bow in 2010 on Animax, a 24-hour network dedicated to anime.

To better appeal to Japanese fans, Marvel’s superheroes, including Ironman and Wolverine, will be retrofitted with new looks and backstories that touch on local culture and Japanese history.

With companies like Dreamworks going over to 3d, the technology is stepping up to supply them.  Avid recently developed DS version 10, the first Avid product to feature stereoscopic film tools.  The Hollywood Reporter says:

This summer, a number of postproduction technologies that support 3-D were introduced by various manufacturers.
Da Vinci Systems recently revealed that it will preview its R3D color grading system designed with 3-D support next month at the International Broadcasting Convention.

Along with the recent announcement of Autodesk’s Maya and Toxic 2009, we should see more and more post production companies flocking to the stereoscopic banner.  We shall see how audiences take to the new format.

IESB.net claims that “Toy Story 3″ now has additional voices for its movie. Mattel’s Barbie and Ken will be reprising their roles- with the voices of none other than Jodi Benson (best known for Ariel in “The Little Mermaid”) and Michael Keaton as Ken! Keaton previously worked with Pixar when he voiced Chick Hicks in “Cars”.

Not much is known about Toy Story 3 with the exception of a short synopsis given to the Wall Street Journal earlier this year: “Woody the cowboy and his toy-box friends are dumped in a day-care center after their owner, Andy, leaves for college.”

Toy Story is slated for release in June of 2010.