Friday, August 12, 2011

So Maybe It IS Permanent

The format leaves me a little cold, but the stats say the world (at least right now) feels otherwise.

Overall, 3D made up 19.3% of the global box office, up from 8.6% in 2009.

Worldwide box office revenue from 3D screens more than doubled last year to $6.1 billion, up from $2.5 billion in 2009, reflecting the increase in the number of 3D releases and the rapid build out of 3D screen in theaters. ...

I can take 3-D or leave it. These days, mostly I leave it.

I've seen enough dimensional cinema to know it's occasionally pleasurable. I enjoyed the sweeping camera moves through London and snowy English countryside in Zemeckis's Christmas Carol. And I like a lot of the 3-D work embedded in DWA's animated features.

But most of the stuff reminds me of pop-up books that move, flat planes in front of flat planes in front of flat planes. Color films mimic the hues of real life. Dimensional movies, however, even the good ones, are not particularly close to the way most carbon-based life forms view reality.

For that reason, I'm not entirely sure 3-D will sustain itself over time. I think that audiences will grow tired of it, particularly if they have to pay an extra three to five dollars at the box office.

Now maybe I'm wrong. Maybe I would have, back in 1928, whined how talkies were a passing fad, except I don't think so. Sound added a familiar dimension, just like color did. 3-D just seems kind of ... I donno .. weird. And it gives me a lovely dose of eye strain.

3 comments:

Anonymous said...

3D keeps me employed unlike tv animation :/

Steve Hulett said...

That's a good thing.

So maybe I should go back to buying the goggles and watching 3-D.

Anonymous said...

Nope. Still a fad. The numbers are higher because there is a ton of content, most of it terrible and unecessarily needed in 3d. They have to try and cram it down the audiences because some studios have made a big commitment to try and guage more money out of the theater goer which has been in a steady decline.

Bottom line I feel is no glasses 3d and more reasonable pricing. Because home theater set ups are becoming far more enjoyable than seeing a bad 3d/movie for 18 dollars.

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