Iger and the C-suite takes in 3-D at DES

This article was originally on a blog post platform and may be missing photos, graphics or links. See About archive blog posts.

In case anyone missed Walt Disney Co.’s eagerness to embrace new technology, that focus was on full display at today’s opening of the Consumer Electronics Show in Las Vegas.

Call it a C-suite entourage. Disney Chief Executive Bob Iger was walking the show floor, surrounded by some of his senior-most entertainment executives, including Walt Disney Studios Chief Rich Ross, Disney ABC Television Group President Anne Sweeney and Disney Studio Distribution President Bob Chapek.

The executives were clustered in the Sony booth, surrounded by 3-D TVs.

Iger singled out one monitor displaying a 3-D video game replay of the Phillies-Yankees match-up in the 2009 World Series. The baseball diamond seemed to reach deep into the screen, and when the pitcher released the ball, it looked as though it was traveling through space as it moved from the mound to home plate.

This added depth and heightened reality, Iger said, is the reason Disney’s ESPN announced it would launch a 3-D network and will begin broadcasting games in 3-D starting in June with the FIFA World Cup soccer matches.

Walt Disney Studios also announced plans to start releasing 3-D content for the home on high-definition Blu-ray DVDs, starting this year with filmmaker’ Robert Zemeckis ‘A Christmas Carol.’ It was joined by Sony Pictures Home Entertainment, which said it would release ‘Cloudy With a Chance of Meatballs’ in 3-D.

-- Dawn C. Chmielewski

LCD televisions on display at the 2010 Consumer Electronics Show (CES) in Las Vegas. Credit: EPA/Andrew Gombert