It has been over a decade since it last had to educate audiences about 3D cinema, but now it finds itself in exactly the same position for the sequel. These are all clearly designed to combat the rise of day-and-date home releases – yes, you can watch The Matrix 4 on your sofa, but will it launch you about the room whenever there’s a car chase? – but they do all feel like the desperate fumbling of an industry in trouble.Īnd all of this is going to make it especially difficult for Avatar. You can watch films in 2D and 3D, but also Imax, 4DX (in which your seat flings you around in time with the action) and a monumentally stupid gimmick called ScreenX where, at various intervals through the film, the walls of the auditorium will glow with additional 270-degree wraparound footage. My local multiplex, for example, has just reopened after a refurbishment, and it now offers a mind-boggling array of viewing formats. In fact, 3D seems to have become just another way to rake in extra money. They exist if people want a slightly different experience, but they are by no means the definitive version of the film. But the sense is that these are simply marginal sideshows, in 2017 accounting for just 17% of theatrical revenue. They’re still being released this year’s Doctor Strange had a 3D release, as did Dune, Encanto, Godzilla vs Kong and the last Star Wars movie. Which isn’t to say that people stopped making 3D films altogether. Photograph: Courtesy of 20th Century Studios Little wonder it died a death.Ī still from Avatar: Way of the Water. And if all that wasn’t bad enough, the films themselves were actually often wildly superior in 2D, having been shoved through a lazy post-production 3D conversion as part of a dismal movie studio cash grab. What’s more, the simple act of screening a film in 3D meant that cinemas were given free rein to hike up the price of a ticket beyond all measure. The glasses were tight, uncomfortable and environmentally suspect. ![]() In reality, the new 3D revolution turned out to be yet another gimmick. The more eagle-eyed among you will have noticed that things didn’t exactly shake out the way that Techcrunch thought. And ten years from now, we’ll be looking back on a library not of a dozen, but of hundreds of 3D films, some of which (we may hope) will rise to the level of quality set by the classics of the past.” ![]() “To abandon it would be a boondoggle of proportions Hollywood is unwilling to make. “3D is here to stay,” announced an arguably too bold Techcrunch piece from 2010. ![]() Sure, we were told, 3D might have started out as a 1950s gimmick, but this time it was going to be different. Ang Lee made a 3D film and won an Oscar for it, for crying out loud. Thanks to the first Avatar, which used the technology to drop us into gorgeous, immersive alien landscapes, every big budget movie enthusiastically strapped itself to this new way of film-making. A decade ago, 3D was supposed to be the future of cinema.
0 Comments
Leave a Reply. |
AuthorWrite something about yourself. No need to be fancy, just an overview. ArchivesCategories |