DIRECTOR BAY LOOKING TO TRANSFORM 3D

With moviegoers increasingly shunning 3D screenings — only about a third of the audiences for last weekend’s Green Lantern — opted to see it in 3D — director Michael Bay has gone on a media offensive to get out the word that the 3D they’ll get with next weekend’s Transformers: Dark of the Moon is something special. He told today’s (Wednesday) New York Times that he has called the CEOs of the major theater chains and urged them to show the movie in a way that may burn out their projector bulbs more quickly but will make the picture on the screen look brighter and sharper. Paramount Chairman Brad Grey told the newspaper, “We’re putting all of our resources into this. … It’s the most spectacular visual experience I have ever seen.” The studio’s vice chairman, Rob Moore, observed that he realizes that the public is beginning to feel burned by 3D surcharges. “They’re tired of sitting in a theater thinking, ‘Wait, is this movie in 3D or not?’ Well, with ‘Transformers’ people are going to leave saying, ‘You absolutely must see this in 3D.'” The Times said that the cost of shooting the movie with Avatar director James Cameron’s 3D crew added $30 million to the film’s $165-million budget.