The Great 3-D Glasses War of 2011, and 5 Other Stories You'll Be Talking About Today

Happy Thursday! Also in today’s edition of The Broadsheet: Paul Bettany has had enough… The only early Footloose review you’ll need… Gangster Squad gets a release date… How about them Red Sox?… and more. · Sony and the National Association of Theater Owners are engaged in what looks like (but seriously is so, so not) a mortal tussle over who will pay for the 3-D glasses that murk up and thwart so many contemporary big-screen viewing experiences. Tired of eating the cost, Sony has proposed that studios pass it on to the customer — a surcharge estimated to be about… wait for it… a dollar. Alternatively you can bring one of the myriad pairs you already have wedged in a junk drawer at home. (I think it’s called “recycling.”) Meanwhile, Real-D, which manufactures the glasses, saw a stock price plunge of almost 15 percent on Wednesday, and analysts and theater chains alike describe this development as being a sulfur plume shy of the apocalypse. Sony’s like, “Guys! Can’t we talk about this?” No! Get angry! Or something. I’m so tired. [Deadline] · In a new podcast, Paul Bettany confesses his wariness with Hollywood and suggests he might be on his way out: “It’s not noble. I can’t do it any longer.” He’s basically going to replace Andy Rooney, from the sounds of it. [The Guardian] · Get your calendars out! Warner Bros. has penciled in Ruben Fleischer’s Gangster Squad — featuring Ryan Gosling, Sean Penn, Josh Brolin and Emma Stone — for an awards-friendly Oct. 19 release date. [Deadline] · Dreading Footloose? This won’t help: “It’s an interminable 115 minutes filled with clichs, two leads who couldn’t act their way out of a wet sack if you gave them a knife and written directions, uninspired direction, and a determination to make its audience lose its faith in humanity.” [Pajiba] · Daughters — Hollywood’s next go-to archnemesis? Discuss. [Grantland] · Just to recap for anyone who missed last night’s extraordinary finish to Major League Baseball’s regular season: The St. Louis Cardinals and Tampa Bay Rays each won and advanced to their leagues’ respective wild-card rounds, the Atlanta Braves wiped out in the 13th inning and the Boston Red Sox completed the single worst September collapse in the history of the game. Literally unbelievable. [ESPN]