The glamorous multitudes heading to to the sun-drenched south of France for Cannes Film Festival this year will be wearing dark glasses of a different kind.

The glasses will be 3D, and movie-goers will need them to watch the festival's opening night film, Disney and Pixar's animation,  "Up," which is being projected in the new format.

DreamWorks CEO Jeffrey Katzenberg models new 3D glasses that look not unlike Ray-Bans.

It's the first time in the festival's 63-year history that Cannes will open with a 3D picture. Indeed, it will be the first time the festival opens with an animation. "Up" will show out of competition.

Are  Cannes' organizers hoping to get in on Hollywood's efforts to reinvent 3D for the 21st century? Disney, for their part, won't mind the extra hype that "Up" opening Cannes will bring the film.

The movie, which tells the story of a 78-year-old man who ties thousands of balloons to his house and flies to South America, is the tenth film from Disney and Pixar and is co-directed by Pete Docter and Bob Peterson.

This is probably a bittersweet moment for DreamWorks CEO Jeffrey Katzenberg: as chief advocate of the new medium, he will be pleased to see a 3D film given top billing at the world's most high-profile film festival. But it is not one of his.

Katzenberg has said that not only is 3D a movie revolution akin to the inception of sound, but that all films will be made in 3D in a few years' time. Admittedly, today's 3D is streets ahead of its 50s predecessor, which was unsuccessful in part due to an unpleasant tendency to induce headaches and vomiting in audiences.

The iconic, if trashy-looking, blue and red lensed 3D glasses have also been ditched. Today's glasses are altogether slicker and look not unlike Ray-Ban Wayfarer knock-offs - especially in the dimmed light of a cinema.

Although recent blockbusters like "Journey to the Center of the Earth" (2008) and "Beowulf" (2007) appeared in the format in certain cinemas, 2009 may be the year 3D finally hits the mainstream.

In January, Lionsgate released "My Bloody Valentine 3D," the first horror film to be shot in 3-D.  It's not just movies either: Boy band The Jonas Brothers recently released a live video in 3D, "Jonas Brothers: The 3D Concert Experience" (indeed U2 released a 3D DVD in 2008).

About a dozen more 3D movies are planned for this year, with many more in the pipeline for 2010.

"Titanic" director James Cameron is currently shooting sci-fi "Avatar" for Fox, a live action movie in 3D that's slated for release late this year. George Lucas has also said he is remastering the original Star Wars movies in 3D.

Of course, all of this is fine and well, but there is one aspect of the festival organizers' choice of "Up," which has caused some commentators to cock a quizzical eyebrow: "Up" is missing one element which many consider to be crucial to the opening night of Cannes - glamour.

The film is seriously lacking the kind of a-list actors and high octane beauties that are traditionally considered to be a must for an opening night at the world's most high profile festival.

So, can technological wizz-bangs suffice as a stand in for the glitz of Hollywood's finest? We'll have to wait and see.