Disney's "Chicken Little" Sparks 3-D "Robinsons"

LOS ANGELES (Reuters) – Walt Disney Pictures on Thursday said it will release an upcoming computer animated movie, "Meet the Robinsons," in a three-dimensional version following the success of current 3-D hit "Chicken Little." The 3-D "Chicken Little" is being closely watched in Hollywood as an early test of alternative types of movies made for new digital cinema systems. The industry is in a very early, tentative stage of a transition to digital projection from old celluloid filmstrip. The 3-D computer animated "Chicken Little" raked in an average $26,000 per theater in its opening weekend this month in 79 venues equipped with new digital projectors. Ticket sales in over 3,600 theaters showing a traditional film averaged $10,961, Disney said in a statement. Disney expects to be able to release the 3-D "Robinsons" in 750 to 1000 screens as a digital cinema transition expands. "Robinsons" is based on a book by William Joyce in which a young boy travels into the future and meets an eccentric family, the Robinsons, who will change his life.