nWave ready to stagger the world

nWave has the number one position in theme park ride movies and content for motion simulators. Today, a 13-minute version of Fly Me To The Moon can already be experienced at theme parks such as Bellewaerde (Ypres, Belgium). The strong position in this market allows nWave to invest in a feature length movie that will show the way for new feature-length animated films designed for 3D theatres. The total production budget of Fly Me To The Moon is €17.3 million. nWave financed about 75% of the budget itself. To raise the rest, investors could benefit from Belgium’s Tax Shelter system. The Flanders Audiovisual Fund contributed €100,000, 10% of its annual budget for animation. Unlike the first 3D full length animation film, Monster House by Robert Zemeckis, Fly Me To The Moon is exclusively created for 3D, and therefore will not be available in 2D. Monster House was not originally created in 3D. Instead, software was applied after filming in 2D. The fact that films that are exclusively made for and in the 3D format cannot be pirated, is a big plus for the industry. For a company like DreamWorks, it is a major argument in their strategic choice to only produce 3D movies from 2009 onwards. The idea is not to use the screen as a window, but rather as a space. The filmmaker creates perspective behind the window and throws things at the audience through the window. ‘Not every story lends itself to be shot in 3D’, says nWave director and co-founder Ben Stassen. But Fly Me To The Moon has all the right ingredients: three flies going on a trip into space aboard Apollo 11, for instance. The audience watches them float 'inside' the theatre. By the time Fly Me To The Moon is released, there will be 700 3D theatres across the US and over 200 IMAX theatres. At present, there is no theatre in nWave's home territory of Belgium ready for 3D projection, but by 2008 there should be 11, one in each Kinepolis multiplex.