New Advances for Stereographic "3D" Digital Cinema

Monsters vs. Aliens is a hit! $60 Million in the first weekend...

I can't wait to take my girl to see it later this week -and my expectations are pretty darn high.

I've been closely following the development and adoption of 3D filmmaking technologies for the past couple of years.

The newly refined 3D tools, technologies and methodologies available to filmakers allows for a much richer, more elegant 3D movie viewing experience compared to that of even a year or two ago -let alone those dating from the 50's that required wearing those red/blue ("anaglyphic") monstrosities on your face.

There's been a ton of activity on Hollywood around the idea of making movies in 3D. Many of the big blockbuster films shot in the past couple of years were produced with 3D viewing in mind.

In fact, 100% of the films made by Disney and Pixar in the past 18 months have been shot and produced in "3D". However, with only a few hundred theatres nationwide having been upgraded with the new 3D projection technologies, most of these films have been distributed and viewed by audiences in the standard "2D" format.

The problem has been cost.

It can cost between $150,000 to $300,000 to update a single movie theatre screen with the new technologies required to give viewers a quality 3D experience. Most or all of this cost falls on the owner of the theatre - and to them, recovering the cost of this significant cash outlay is a risky proposition.

Will enough people come to see 3D movies?
Will they pay $5 to $8 more for each ticket just to view the film in 3D?
Is this just a "fad" that will pass before the cost has been recovered?

Luckily, the signs are beginning to point to a big fat "YES!!"

Just today, AMC Theatres announced a deal with Sony that will put super high-resolution digital projection systems into all of their 4600 screens across the country. (here's the link - http://www.variety.com/article/VR1118001829.html?categoryid=13&cs=1)

This doesn't mean that all of them will be "3D-capable" but the implication is that a great many of them will be. After all, a majority portion of the cost involved in upgrading a theatre to 3D projection capabilities is the digital projector itself.

I'm adding up the most current data and trends and I'm seeing, finally, a newly energized inertia of both the industry and the movie-going public towards an embrace of 3D film.


Here's some additional tasty reading on the topic:

http://www.digitalcinemareport.com/node/797

http://www.lvrj.com/opinion/42072917.html

http://pro.sony.com/bbsc/ssr/mkt-digitalcinema/?XID=O:4Kon3D08_030109_digcinreport_homepage_3_d145x600swf:3d

http://www.reald.com/

http://www.foxbusiness.com/story/markets/industries/entertainment/dolby-digital-cinema-d-digital-cinema-systems-selected-china-film-group/

http://www.foxbusiness.com/story/markets/industries/entertainment/amc-entertainmentr-reald-announce-d-partnership/