The Walt Disney Co. said this week its Pixar animation studio will commit to 3-D by releasing all its movies in the format beginning with "Up" next year.

Chief creative officer John Lasseter made the announcement in New York at a presentation of Disney's upcoming lineup of animated movies. He said Walt Disney Animation Studios will offer "The Princess and the Frog" in the traditional hand-drawn format for release for Christmas 2009.

Meanwhile, Pixar movies will be released in 3-D and the traditional two-dimensional format, beginning with "Up," about an elderly widower who embarks on a South American adventure, in May 2009.

The lineup from Walt Disney Animation Studios also includes "Rapunzel," a retelling of a fairy tale set for release for Christmas 2010, and "King of the Elves," set for release for Christmas 2012. Those will be released in both 3-D and two-dimensional formats.

In a deal announced last month, four studios -- Disney, News Corp.'s 20th Century Fox, Viacom Inc.'s Paramount, and Universal Pictures, which is owned by General Electric Co.'s NBC Universal -- agreed to help finance and equip 10,000 screens in the Untited States and Canada.

The conversion will cost as much as $700 million and take three years

Box office figures have shown that the enveloping feel of 3-D can attract two to three times more moviegoers who are willing to pay as much as $3 more per ticket, analysts said.

Theaters owners and studios hope the offerings will help bring people back to multiplexes for an experience that cannot be matched by increasingly sophisticated home theater systems. (Associated Press)

United Artists has pushed back the release of "Valkyrie," starring Tom Cruise as a World War II German officer, from Oct. 3 until President's Day weekend, starting Feb. 13.

It's the second time the movie, originally slotted for June, has been pushed back.

The film, to be distributed by Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer Inc., is the second attempt by Cruise and producing partner Paula Wagner to revive the once-moribund United Artists.

The studio's first movie, the clunky think piece on terrorism, "Lions for Lambs," was a critical flop. "Valkyrie," directed by Bryan Singer, is based on a real-life plot to assassinate Adolph Hitler.

MGM said the move was to take advantage of the holiday weekend.

"When an opening became available for President's Day weekend, we seized the opportunity," Clark Woods, MGM domestic distribution president, said in a statement. "Having seen a lot of the film and how great it is going to play once it's finished, moving into a big holiday weekend is the right move." (AP)

Dust off the videotapes or set the TiVo. Turner Classic Movies will pay tribute to actor Charlton Heston with a 15-hour marathon starting today. TCM's lineup, announced after the 84-year-old Heston died Saturday at his Beverly Hills home:

2:30 p.m.: "Private Screenings: Charlton Heston" -- A conversation between the actor and TCM host and movie expert Robert Osborne, who called the late actor a "towering man both in person and on screen."

3:30 p.m.:"The Buccaneer" (1958) -- Heston plays Gen. Andrew Jackson in this film also starring Yul Brynner and Claire Bloom.

5:30 p.m.: "The Hawaiians" (1970) -- Henry Mancini wrote the music score for this film, a sequel to "Hawaii," with Heston and Geraldine Chaplin.

8 p.m.: "Private Screenings: Charlton Heston."

9 p.m.: "Ben-Hur" (1959)" -- Heston won the Best Actor Oscar, one of 11 awarded this film featuring the famous pulse-pounding chariot race. Jack Hawkins and Stephen Boyd are among the co-stars.

1 a.m.: "Khartoum" (1966) -- Heston played British Gen. Charles Gordon in this epic, shot on location in Egypt and in London, and also counting Laurence Olivier and Richard Johnson among its cast.

3:30 a.m. "Major Dundee" (1965) -- Heston played a cavalry major, Amos Dundee, who has been banished to Texas where he runs a prison for POWs in this film with Richard Harris, Jim Hutton and James Coburn.

TCM is carried on many cable systems in the Pittsburgh area, although you need digital cable in some neighborhoods. Check your local listings. (Barbara Vancheri, PG movie editor)

Robert Morris University students and faculty will showcase their work during Monday's Docufest 2008. It's free and starts at 6 p.m. Monday at Massey Theater.