Every once and awhile, a groundbreaking idea creeps into the world of film and has experts and connoisseurs puzzled at exactly how it will play out to a mass audience. Whether it’s something like 3D that hits it big, or something that flops like “4D”, there is always room for new ideas and potential leaps in technology when it comes to the theatrical experience.

13th Street, a production company out of Germany, has recently tested out their newest project, which combines the classic horror film with the interactivity of a modern game show. Each viewer uses their cell phone to call in to the service and at the beginning of the film, one of them is chosen at random to “speak directly” with the film’s protagonist. From there, that person gives voice commands that dictate which direction the character will go, and what they will say.

Obviously, there are some pretty big potential flaws with this idea, such as “who wants to watch a movie when it’s encouraged for some jerk to scream at the screen?” or “why would I spend money for somebody else to interact with the film?” These are all valid points, which means that we could still be years away from seeing this project take off internationally.

The sheer idea that something like this is on the way only means that we’re getting that much closer to a Back to the Future 2-like lifestyle, which is exciting in it’s own right. Check out the trailer for Last Call and see exactly how it all works after the jump.

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Though Avatar didn’t pick up the best picture award at the Oscars on Sunday, the filmmakers can console themselves by sobbing into the ridiculous pile of money the film is still making and a few technical awards. Even without a big Oscar win, the 3D juggernaut in Hollywood keeps rolling along, as word is now coming in that Warner Bros. is planning on rebooting the holiest of classics: The Wizard of Oz.

And yes, it will be in 3D. From The LA Times:

The studio is examining two existing “Wizard of Oz” projects, with an eye toward giving one of them a modern gloss and moving it toward the screen.

One project, called “Oz,” currently lives at Warner’s New Line label. It’s being produced by Temple Hill, which is behind a little franchise called “Twilight,” and has a script written by Darren Lemke, a writer on the upcoming “Shrek Forever After.”

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Wow, I don’t think anybody predicted the massive opening weekend that Tim Burton’s Alice in Wonderland just had. Audiences scooped up an amazing $116 Million worth of tickets to the film. This is the biggest opening weekend in Tim Burton’s entire career, and despite a critical consensus that this was a very average movie, word of mouth appears to be good.

This also appears to indicate that audiences are embracing the 3D trend. I am very curious if there will be a large drop-off next weekend, because the 3D in Alice was in no way comparable to  the 3D in Avatar. If  Avatar is what people are expecting, they are going to be disappointed.

It is interesting to note that Avatar only opened to $77 Million, but has now grossed over $720 Million. I will be pretty shocked if Alice has any real legs at the the box office, but the totals this morning show me that this movie may be full of surprises.

Brooklyn’s Finest, starring Don Cheadle, Richard Gere, and Ethan Hawke, came in second over the weekend with $13.5 Million.  It played in just under 2,000 theaters, and has a fairly modest budget of $25 Million, so it will likely end up profitable.

Shutter Island made about $13 Million in its 3rd week in release.  It now has exceeded its budget of $80 Million (with $95 Million total), and looks certain to hit $100 Million next weekend.

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Even when he tackles darker subject matter, Tim Burton always manages to bring a touch of whimsy to his films.  On the surface, Alice in Wonderland seems to be the perfect tale for the eccentric filmmaker to put his own spin on. With Alice oscillating wildly between giant and diminutive proportions, two queens vying for control of the land, and anthropomorphic fauna and animals, the tale seems ripe for a wild re-imagining.

Trouble is, Burton leaves the enchantment at home along with warmth and heart. The resulting movie is rather cold, devoid of color and brightness (save for the mad hatter’s shock of orange hair and startling green eyes) and not a lot of fun. I’m not saying that makes it bad, but it was very different from what I was expecting.

In this particular retelling, Alice is a grown woman instead of a little girl. At a large party she learns she is to marry a stodgy bore of a man. She rushes off to be by herself and falls down the rabbit hole into the “underworld.”  There she encounters the characters that we are all familiar with. There is the white rabbit (voiced by Michael Sheen), the Cheshire Cat (Stephen Fry), the stoned-out-of-his-cocoon caterpillar (Alan Rickman), and of course, the Mad Hatter (Johnny Depp.)

This version of the  Mad Hatter is a more tragic character with a brutal back story to explain his madness.  I found Depp’s portrayal of the Hatter annoying and frenetic, crazy for the sake of being crazy. He drifts in and out of a heavy Scottish brogue for reasons not immediately clear.  I wish the character had been toned down a bit as I think it would have made him a little more likable.

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This was a big week for news, especially of the comic book movie variety. Surprisingly, even with all that coming out we still have even more items worth talking about on the radar. Batman beats Superman…again, a Star Wars character makes a bid for a mascot job, MGM is still looking for money, Brian De Palma may get paranormal and what cities will Michael Bay reign destruction upon next?

Batman trumps Superman on the auction block

Looks like Batman wasn’t content with beating Superman at the box office, he had to do it at an auction as well. The 1939 first appearance of The Dark Knight sold for a whopping $1,075,500. This beats Superman’s first appearance in comics which sold for 1 million. Sorry, Supes…but, hey, you did land an awesome writer for your upcoming reboot.

Blockbuster struggles to remain relevant in the digital age

Video rental store Blockbuster continues an uphill battle to compete against digital alternatives.  The brick-and-mortar business reported a “$435 million in the fourth quarter, compared with $360 million in red ink in the year-ago frame. Revenue dropped 18% to $1.1 billion.” As companies like Netflix and Redbox continue to steal market share some believe Blockbuster has some merit left:

“The drying up of retail competition from the ongoing closures of most Movie Gallery and Hollywood Video stores; major studios aren’t making their new releases immediately available to Redbox; and Warner Bros. will begin a 28-delay before giving Netflix access to new-release DVDs.”

Personally, I don’t see a rebound at this point and beyond the legit competition Blockbuster still has piracy to content with. Is this the end? We’ll see.

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About a month ago, we brought you news of the first new character to be revealed from Disney’s upcoming Toy Story 3. His name was Mr. Prickelpants, and he was a porcupine in lederhosen, voiced by Timothy Dalton. As if the characters couldn’t get any better than that, we just got word of the next four to be revealed.

Disney has even gone as far as to give descriptions of each new toy, staying in the context of the Toy Story Universe. Each of our favorites are still back, including Tom Hanks as Woody, Tim Allen as Buzz, Wallace Shawn as T. Rex, and John Ratzenberger as Piggy Bank.

Check out each of the descriptions, with exclusive new pics, after the jump. Catch Toy Story 3 in theaters and IMAX across the country on June 18th.

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Between Avatar raking in more money than any other film in the history of Hollywood, and other studios jumping around to upgrade their films for that extra 3D bump, such as Warner pushing back Clash of the Titans so they can go back and convert the film to a more 3D-happy stock, it looks like even more films will be getting this treatment.

IESB recently reported that Lionsgate’s upcoming reboot of Conan the Barbarian (now just titled Conan) will be going 3D, hoping that the film will bring in some of those fans that made Pandora a cash cow. Many other studios have fallen in line with this method, such as MGM changing the release date more than a year so that Joss Whedon’s Cabin in the Woods can get the 3D changeover.

Conan, based on the pulp series by writer Robert E. Howard, will begin filming next month, with Stargate Atlantis actor Jason Momoa stepping in as the sword-swinging barbarian. Mickey Rourke is also rumored to be joining the cast.

Jeff Blake, Chairman of Sony Pictures Worldwide Marketing & Distribution announced today that the upcoming Spider-Man reboot will be coming to theaters on July 3rd, 2012 in full 3D. According to Blake: “Spider-Man is the ultimate summer movie-going experience, and we’re thrilled the filmmakers are presenting the next installment in 3D. Spider-Man is one of the most popular characters in the world, and we know audiences are eager and excited to discover Marc’s fantastic vision for Peter Parker and the franchise.”

Set to be directed by Marc Webb (500 Days of Summer) with from a screenplay by James Vanderbilt (Zodiac), the still untitled Spider-Man film will quickly reboot the franchise that had starred Toby McGuire as Peter Parker. Now already eight years after the original film’s release, a new generation’s webslinger will step on to the silver screen.

With visuals like shooting webs and swinging through Manhattan, it seems like the Spider-Man franchise would work well in 3D as long as they were about to avoid the somewhat stereotypical “throw something at the screen” actions that some of these style films fall in to. Our main concern though is making sure there are no 3D song and dance routines down Broadway.

With Avatar getting nine Academy Award nominations yesterday, it seemed to put the final nail in the coffin for any films on the bubble between 2D and 3D. Word is now coming in that Warner Bros. has confirmed both Clash of the Titans and the final two Harry Potter films will be in 3D.

This isn’t that big of a deal for the Potter films, but unfortunately sets the entire marketing plan for Titans upside down. This news means that the studio has to go back and convert the original film stock into something that can handle 3D, while still looking state-of-the art.

This conversion will set the release date of Clash of the Titans back to April 2nd, from it’s original date of March 26th. The studio seems convinced that this is the best plan of action, according to an interview with The Hollywood Reporter:

“We are experienced and have been successful in the conversion of 2D to 3D going back to such hits as ‘The Polar Express,’ select scenes in ‘Superman Returns’ and the last two Harry Potter films,” Warners domestic distribution boss Dan Fellman said.

“We’re excited about 3D and look forward to bringing a rich, involving visual experience to audiences around the world,” Warners film group president Jeff Robinov said.

The production on Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows Part 1 and Part 2 are still ongoing, which means that the respective release dates of November 19th and July 15th, 2011 will probably remain unchanged.

While attending the Television Critics Association Winter Press Tour to promote The Vampire Diaries, writer Kevin Williamson gave us some updates and the current status of Scream 4:

“I’m almost done with the first draft of Scream 4. I’m trying to get that together for Wes Craven. We’ve got to get going on that, during the hiatus. We have Neve Campbell, Courteney Cox and Dave Arquette. I was always holding out hope because the pitch was about those three characters. I didn’t want to have to re-route the whole story. We don’t have to do that. I can do it exactly the way I want wanted. The story is going to be told the way I originally conceived it.”

The immediate good news for fans of Scream are that all the principals are back, hopefully this will mean Wes Craven will return to direct. Films like this do best when you can bring back that core creative element. Of course, few of the other characters survived the first three films to return anyway.

Some may wonder if jumping back into the world of Scream is a good or bad idea. The horror genre has changed considerably since the first Scream movie came out in 1996. Scream 3 alone is ten years old. The big money makers these days are franchise films like Saw and unexpected indie hits like Paranormal Activity. The closest films to what Scream was would be the recent Halloween reboots, and even that’s a stretch.

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