THRILLER getting Converted into 3D?

We all know John Landis for helming comedy classics like Animal House, the Blues Brothers, and Three Amigos!, but it's easy to forget that he's the same guy who directed a couple of Michael Jackson's most groundbreaking music videos, "Black or White" and "Thriller." The latter of the videos came up during a Q&A Landis did at the BFI in London, after a screening of his fantastic car salesman doc, Slasher -- which was the very loose inspiration for The Goods: Live Hard, Sell Hard.

Someone in the audience asked Landis if The Making of Thriller would ever be hitting DVD. CHUD was also in the audience and reports that Landis confirmed that the hour long doc, along with the remastered longform video, would be coming soon.

There have been lawsuits and royalty issues holding up any further releases, and although Landis didn't say they had all been cleared up, he did make it seem as though Jackson's death had presented an opportunity for the sides to come together and hash things out.

But then Landis dropped the bomb, telling the crowd that the folks behind Jackson's estate want to turn the video into 3D! Though Landis is not the biggest supporter the technology, he's fine with the idea. But it's not clear if this is meant for a theatrical release, which would be quite bizarre considering it 14-minute run time. Even with 3D TVs on the way, there's not enough of a market for it, nor will they be for quite a while.

Landis also co-wrote the screenplay for "Thriller" with Jackson, which was specially screened with Disney's Fantasia to qualify it for the Oscars in 1983. With audiences going to movies to just watch trailers, most recently the fanboys seeing Alice In Wonderland just to watch the Tron Legacy trailer (Venkman included), and more notably girls lining up to see a new trailer for New Moon attached to Sorority Row last year.

So could this be advertised to play in front of film as a way to sell tickets to boost sales of a weaker release? Or could this be part of of a movie made up of 3D versions of Michael Jackson videos? Either way, they'll figure out how to milk it for all of the cash it is worth.