3-D movies are hot and with about 1,000 3-D screens in the US, more and more studios are interested in making an extra buck with the alternative viewing method. This time George A. Romero’s 1978 ‘Dawn of the Dead’ will be converted into the 3-D format.

New Amsterdam Entertainment has hired In-Three, which will use their appropriately named ‘dimensionalization’ process. This means moving objects to the front or back in every frame to create the third dimension. If you are interested in turning your home made movies into 3-D too, the process will cost you about $50,000-$100,000 per minute. This would translate into about $4.5-$9 million for a full 90 minute movie. Not too bad right?

They describe it as ‘Clueless’ meets ‘James Bond.’ I thought of a cross between ‘Speed Racer’ and ‘Charlie’s Angels,’ but that must be me. ‘Totally Spies!’ is making its way from the small to the big screen. Mars Distribution is bringing the $12 million project to the theaters next summer — and they’re not connected to the candy bar as far as I know.

‘Totally Spies! The Movie’ will be a mix between 3D and traditional animation. “We didn’t want to just make a long episode of the series. Our job is to make a good film for fans and also show parents they won’t be bored.” The series is one of the best rated in the world and airs in an impressive 166 territories. If the movie does well, production company Marathon Media is planning on several other animated features.

While ‘Bee Movie’ didn’t manage to top its $150 million budget in the US theaters, it did manage to up the revenue for Dreamworks last quarter. The bee movie added $48.9 million to the total revenue of $156.6 million, compared to $93.7 million last year. Net income rose to $26.1 million, from $15.4 million last year.

The total for ‘Bee Movie’ now stands at $287 million at the box office, making it “barely profitable with no material impact on earnings going forward because of its high expense,” chief executive Jeffrey Katzenberg said.

‘Shrek the Third’ added $48.3 million to the quarter’s revenue with 19.8 DVDs shipped. And ‘Kung Fu Panda,’ set for June 6, is expected to drive this year’s revenue, obviously.

On another note, Katzenberg was disappointed with the current amount of screens able to show 3-D movies in the US. Producing ‘Monsters vs. Aliens’ in 3-D added a $10-$15 million to the costs, which isn’t expected to pay off now. “When you hear me talk about my disappointment, it is in the context of really trying to achieve the 5,000-plus screens installed by the time of our release,” Katzenberg said. “If these guys don’t get their act together very quickly in the next 30 days, they are not going to be able to achieve that goal.“

With currently only 1,000 screens able to show 3-D films, I don’t think anybody is expecting that to happen.