Tony Bowler - 3D Films

By Tony Bowler

The trend I’ve decided to research is the re-emergence of 3D films. Starting in late 2005, the advent of wide release 3D movies have been making a comeback across the United States

History

Technically, 3D movies are not a new trend. They have been around since the early 1920's but they really didn’t come into their “Golden Age” until around 1953. In that year alone, 62 different 3D projects were released including “House of Wax” and "Man in the Dark." 

People flocked to see these movies. They donned their goofy blue and red cardboard glasses and really responded to the new 3D craze. In the long term the concept of 3D proved to be unsustainable due because to achieve the 3D effect, two different prints of the same movie had to be projected at the same time in perfect sync with each other or else the movie would be absolutely unwatchable. This meant that theaters would sometimes have to use two projectionists to try and keep everything running smoothly. The whole process became too much for many theaters and the number of movies released in 3D inevitably started to decline. 

After the golden age of the early to mid 50's, 3D movies took an odd turn. The types of movies released in three dimensions in the 60s and the 70s were decidedly far seedier in nature than their comedic and lighthearted 1950s predecessors. For example, titles like “The Playgirls and the Bellboy" (1962),“The Stewardesses" (1969), “Prison Girls" (1972), and the 1977 classic “Revenge of the Shogun Women AKA: 13 Nuns” made up the bulk of 3D films  released during the 60's and 70's.

It wasn’t until the 80’s that 3D films saw a real comeback. Movies like “Friday the 13th Part 3” and “Amityville 3D” brought 3D movies out of the gutter and inspired directors to make more mainstream films using three dimensional technology and showed companies young like IMAX that a contemporary audiences could enjoy the 3D experience just as much as the grindhouse crowd. The 1980s resurgence was short lived however as 3D movies once again fell out of widespread theaters in large numbers due to some of the same problems that plagued the previous generation of 3D films.

Why now?

Today the amount of people going to see movies has diminished greatly from years past. Film piracy and rising ticket prices along with the invention of DVD discs, gigantic 60”widescreen televisions, and the internet’s ability to stream movies online for free have really dealt a huge blow to the movie industry’s bottom line. The movie industry has been looking for a new way to put butts in seats and make going to the movies fun again.  Now since the technology behind the creation of 3D films has become less unwieldy and more financially feasible, the industry is seeing 3D as a way out of the funk.

What Can We Expect To See?

The new 3D re-emergence has already just this year brought us two hot titles. “Coraline” and “My Bloody Valentine” have both been quite successful since their release and they represent just the tip of the iceberg as far as 2009 3D presentations go. There are a whopping 12 more movies making their way to local theaters just this year including Pixar’s “Up,” “Monsters vs. Aliens” by Dreamworks, and James Cameron’s “AVATAR.” There are another 20 or so more that are in the work so far for the next two or three years. 

The three dimensional experience is not only in movies, during Superbowl 43 people around the US were afforded the opportunity to watch some of the commercials in 3D. Although the quality of the 3D that was presented during Superbowl 43 was subpar in my opinion, the foreseeable future contains some major changes in the way people watch television. The company responsible for a large portion of this new re-emergence of 3D media is currently in the works to provide new devices that will allow people to have a high quality theater grade 3D experience in their own homes.

Business Applications

At the moment this re-emergence of 3D movies seems to be favoring the family market with a majority of the films being animated kids films. This seems to be a good strategy however I believe that the new 3D trend can greatly help the movie industry bring more people to see big action movies. Seeing already spectacular special effects in 3D might be just what the movie industry needs to up its attendance. Presenting more movies in 3D will also cut down on piracy and illegal bootlegging because pirated copies of 3D movies are blurry and generally unwatchable. Overall I believe that the 3D trend will be a saving grace for the struggling film industry. The crippling effects that piracy has had on the film industry will definitely be cut down to almost nil if this 3D trend continues and I think that the industry as a whole will be better for it.