Grizzly Adams Productions to Convert Library to 3D Blu-ray

Production company Grizzly Adams Productions, specialized in family-friendly and faith-based independent movies, has announced the signature of an agreement with San Diego-based 3D production studio PassmoreLab to convert 500 of its feature films, television series and documentaries to 3D. The 7-year, $200-million project aims to create the largest 3D library in the entertainment industry.

Mastering has been finished for the 3D Blu-ray edition of The Fabric of Time, an award-winning television special about the Shroud of Turin. This is Grizzly Adams' first 3D evergreen entry into the faith market, which will crossover onto secular retail shelves for Easter sales.

Within the next six weeks, the family film Friends for Life will be released in 3D.

The first new 3D television series for the joint Grizzly Adams-PassmoreLab production pact will be a 52-episode series about George Washington, culminating with a feature-length theatrical picture.

Among the new 3D feature film projects slated for production over the term of the alliance are two titles currently in pre-production: The Super Heroic Life of Edward Hinkleberry and Grizzly Adams Begins.

David Balsiger, vice-president at Grizzly Adams, notes, "to the best of our knowledge, we're the first production company to initiate converting a major film library to 3D." He added: "At the end of the seven-year agreement with PassmoreLab, we project that we will have the largest 3D library available for retail, the most 3D TV programs available for licensing, and we will have captured major shares of both the family and faith 3D markets."

PassmoreLab has arranged funding and ramped up capacity to convert up to 100 Grizzly Adams titles per year.

Greg Passmore, president of PassmoreLab, observes, "Grizzly Adams has completely embraced 3D technology. There are other studios with large libraries, but they face many hurdles to convert even a few titles to 3D. For example, since the industry considers any resulting 3D title as a derivative product, there are contractual restrictions regarding director approvals, talent and music residuals, plus complex financing issues. All of this adds up to a disincentive to convert back list titles into 3D."

However, Grizzly Adams owns all of its films and television series outright. Consequently, explains Balsiger, "our library is ideal for converting shows and filling the retail pipeline quickly while demand is high and supply is extremely low."

Passmore adds, "Internationally, there's every indication that 3D will be the standard from this point forward in movie theaters, on broadcast television, and across all video delivery systems. Our strategy is to be completely ready to take full advantage of that by having a large 3D-ready library available for licensing."