Is anyone else concerned that the recent "3D Craze" in movies will kill itself? With the box office success of Avatar, Clash Of The Titans decided to do a hasty "up-conversion" to 3d, even though the movie was not made with 3d in mind. The result was a product many found to be poor and even worse than the 2d experience.
More and more now I'm seeing movies advertised as "3D" and I never know which ones are worth seeing in that format. Knowing that studios are willing to put out a poor 3d product to fool the consumer and make more money has been turning me off to the 3d experience. If I'm in the minority, this isn't a problem. But if my hesitation is common, we may see a lack of sales for 3d drive the medium out of the market.
This would be a real shame, since 3d done well is a great experience. And frankly, I think it's one that Hollywood needs to use well if they want to keep people in theaters. I'm very pleased with my home theater and actually prefer watching movies on my couch with my superior (and much cheaper) drinks and snacks over a pricey theater with "talkers" and a less than sharp picture. I've been to a number of big chain theaters and they all seem to suffer from picture quality that is less clear than my tv and people who don't know how to keep their mouths shut.
It's getting easier all the time to wait for DVD/Blu-ray and if Hollywood started releasing movies on home video at the same time as the theater I'd probably never walk into a theater again.
No such luck for now. Here's hoping I have a good audience when I see Iron Man 2 this weekend...
2 comments:
Hey Paeter,
I'm going to show my age here. During the 1980's there was a brief rebirth in 3D. This was due, of all things, to an Italian western which was shot in 3D. Then everybody jumped on the bandwagon. There was Friday the 13th 3-D, Jaws 3-D, Parasite, Metalstorm, Spacehunter and a re-release of the Vincent Price version of "House of Wax". There was even talk of Star Trek III being made into a 3D movie. I remember the 3D effects of the time being adequate, but the movies were not necessarily any better than any other movie. I think there are some science fiction/fantasy/horror properties that beg for a 3D treatment, but not every movie that comes down the pike needs it. It will just become another gimmick that lacks any punch.
Chuck Russell
PS: My latest script is playing at Darker Projects. Tales from the Museum.
CR
Congrats on DP, Chuck!
I actually remember some of that myself! (Though I was too young to be seeing those flicks in theaters.) And I grew up watching the standard version of Jaws 3 on TV, which had several shots that you could tell were originally intended for 3d but just looked unusually fake in 2d.
As long as Hollywood is smart this time around, realizing that 3d does not equal a great movie experience, I'm optimistic for the medium. But I suppose only time will tell.
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