The film 'Up' is the first animation ever chosen to open the festival, which is now in its 62nd year. The comic tale from Disney's Pixar Studios cost $150 million to make and is a far cry from the fuzzy 3D offerings of old.
Gone are the red and blue cardboard glasses that left audiences feeling seasick in the 1950s. Instead, moviegoers on the French Riviera will be asked to exchange their Ray-Bans for special polarised spectacles.
Disney has a dozen more three-dimensional movies in the works and Hollywood executives hope that the technology will prove exciting enough to lure audiences back into the cinema. Jeffrey Katzenberg, chief executive of Pixar's rival, DreamWorks, has described the new generation of 3D as the third great revolution in the history of film, after the arrival of sound in the 1920s and colour in the 1930s.
Steven Spielberg, Tim Burton and George Lucas are among the directors working on 3-D projects, while studios are dusting off past blockbusters and giving them the 3-D treatment, including The Matrix and Toy Story.
The only glitch is that not every cinema has the equipment to show the films in their full glory, and it is an expensive investment in the midst of a global recession.
The technological wizardry of 'Up' is not the only thing which makes it stand out from previous animated offerings. Instead of the usual cute animals, Disney has tapped into pensioner power by making the hero a 78-year-old balloon salesman who sets off for South America by tying thousands of balloons to the roof of his house.
"That it's an animated film is noteworthy because it's the first time, but the important thing is that it's an excellent film in its own right," said Thierry Fremaux, director of the festival, when explaining his choice for opening night.
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