Who killed 3D movies?

[Dion]

An analysis published in Slate last August showed that the patient might already have flat-lined. The profitability of 3-D cinema had dropped since the start of the vogue several years earlier, and more recent films were barely breaking even on their 3-D screenings. Now we've got another year's worth of data—12 months' more evidence that the medium is in peril. According to a New York Times business story from June, waning enthusiasm for 3-D has brought the vultures circling, with shares of DreamWorks Animation, the studio managed by Jeffrey "2-D films are going to be a thing of the past" Katzenberg, in free-fall. Shares of RealD, one of the big players in stereo projection technology, have also been in a tailspin, losing 70 percent of their value since May.

http://www.slate.com/id/2303814/pagenum/all/

Slate reports that while 3D films practically printed money in 2009 and early 2010, things started to fall apart with the release of Toy Story 3. The film made $110.3 million at the box office, which is great—except that the per-theatre revenue of the 3D version of the film was 5 percent less than the 2D version. Which kicked off a downward trend that seems to be getting worse.

Avatar Director and 3D evangelist, James Cameron hit it right on the nose when he said that movie goers "don't want to pay extra for something that's not a great experience." Hopefully Hollywood will listen, and realize that slapping a 3D badge on a movie and expecting people to pay a premium to see is a losing proposition. Unless The Lion King 3D makes a gillion dollars this weekend. Then we're screwed.

http://gizmodo.com/5841182/2d-versio...d-counterparts

[CrunchBite]

Too many "3D" movies where the 3D adds nothing to the experience other than a couple more bucks for your ticket.

[Resolute 14]

The makers of 3D killed 3D. Putting a fancy bow around a big pile of crap doesn't make it smell any better.

[Mike F]

I've always found 3D movies to be too dim and headache inducing. I haven't seen a 3D movie that I wouldn't have enjoyed at least as much, if not more, in 2D*





*I've yet to see 3D porn

[macker]

Don't forget about the brutal 4D either.....Took the kids to the scratch and sniff Spy Kids

[kirant]

The lack of good 3D movies is what killed 3D movies.

[awildermode]

use of 3d is like use special effects. you cannot base you movie on gimmicks and expect people flock to see it. the foundation of any movie is story telling. if your story and/or story telling sucks, no amount of special effects or 3d is going to help.

[Shasta Beast]

Originally Posted by Mike F

I've always found 3D movies to be too dim and headache inducing. I haven't seen a 3D movie that I wouldn't have enjoyed at least as much, if not more, in 2D*





*I've yet to see 3D porn

You find them dim because they were never meant to be 3d. When the 3d effects are added post filming it darkens the whole negative.

The exception to this is when the movie is specifically shot in 3d like Avatar, but very few 3d movies do this.

The 3D fad sucked ass. If you can't do it right, don't do it at all, good riddance.

[DownhillGoat]

I could personally never see the big deal over 3d to begin with. Without the glasses, maybe. Or maybe I'm just out of touch.

It seemed like studios were putting in 3d effects just to use 3d effects. Watching Green Hornet and Drive Angry in 2D, it was painfully obvious where the 3D effects were supposed to be. And for no other reason than "Hey look! Here's a gun flipping in the air!".

One technology I'll be rather happy to see die off, although it did bring some nice improvements to the home projector market, even on the 2D front.

[VANFLAMESFAN]

Avatar and Transfomers 3 are the only movies in which I enjoyed the third dimension of my viewing experience.

[stang]

Jackass was good in 3D too

[Dion]

Greed from the movie studios is killing 3D. I'm not going to shell out extra bucks to see a movie in 3D and it seems the movie going public is saying much the same thing. I have no problems watching a movie in 2D and the few that I did see in 3D gave me headaches. The sooner this fad dies the detter.

[Vulcan]

I'm not much interested in 3D movies but I would like it if the TV providers had more sports in 3D. If we don't get a lot more content, nobody will bother buying the 3d TVs.

[SebC]

Originally Posted by Shasta Beast

You find them dim because they were never meant to be 3d. When the 3d effects are added post filming it darkens the whole negative.

The exception to this is when the movie is specifically shot in 3d like Avatar, but very few 3d movies do this.

The 3D fad sucked ass. If you can't do it right, don't do it at all, good riddance.

I don't think so. They're dim because they the light that's going to each eye is cut in half by the polarizer. Bit of an odd complaint though, since there isn't a whole lot of ambient light in a typical theater.

To me, it's conversions and gimmicky use of 3D that have dampened people's enthusiam. On the other hand, if you made a great movie, released in 2D, then revealed that it was shot natively in 3D and released the 3D version, I think people would love it (e.g. the talk of Inception/Titanic/Star Wars being converted - I think if Star Wars was natively 3D it would be amazing).

[saskflames69]

The only good 3D movie I've seen?

Jackass 3D. The Poo Cocktail scene was the best.

[stang]

^^^^ I dunno that shooting dildo was good too!

[Daradon]

It's been said in the article and echoed a few times here already, but it's just that there have been too many 3D movies. It needs to be a special thing, and too many studios have used it as a marketing gimmick. Especially if one has to pay 5 bucks extra or whatever it is. Customers feel gouged enough at the theater as it is.

[Stumptown]

Disclaimer: I work for a company that makes 3D film making equipment and I'm a bad marketing person because I'm not really fan either. That said, there's a HUGE difference between films that are actually shot with actual Left-Eye/Right-Eye camera rigs and those that are shot in 2D and retroactively made 3D. Part of it us just the post-production that fails, but I find most of the problem is in the cinematography. When the director/photographer is thinking about each shot in 3D they'll set them up differently. However, most Hollywood directors think a good 3D shot just objects flying towards the screen.

The only 3D movie that I think fully used the capabilities of the medium was Werner Herzog's Cave of Forgotten Dreams. You wouldn't think that a documentary about paleolithic cave paintings would be the best application of the technology, but it was amazing. The surfaces of the cave are so dynamic and the way the artists used the curves and textures of the cave walls to imbue the drawings with depth and motion is just incredible. That's something you're just not going to see if you have a flat view.

I think 3D has applications, but on the whole, it's not being done right. Especially the post-processed films - the only reason those are being turned into 3D is so the studios can make more money by jacking up ticket prices. If there's a legitimate story-telling or artistic reason to shoot a film in 3D, and you've got a cinematographer who knows what they're doing, it can be done well. But that's such a small percentage.

[SebC]

Originally Posted by Stumptown

If there's a legitimate story-telling or artistic reason to shoot a film in 3D, and you've got a cinematographer who knows what they're doing, it can be done well. But that's such a small percentage.

To me, that we see the real world in 3D is sufficient reason to shoot 3D. But it has to be done well. I'm a big 3D enthusiast, but I wish I had watched Captain America in 2D instead. Why? Because I came out thinking, "I bet that was a conversion". And it was. But to the average viewer, they'd just find something off-putting about it without realizing what it was. And that's not even a notoriously bad conversion, like Clash of the Titans.

[CaramonLS]

When you're coming out with things like Piranha 3D, I really don't give a damn.

Apart from a few movies, 3D has not 'added' anything to the experience. I saw Xmen First class in 3D. Great movie, but the '3D' Added nothing to the experience.