They are pretty sturdy for cheap pair of one use glasses. They’re not really dark enough to be sunglasses. Any other uses now that the movie is over ?
No, not really any other use for them. They won’t necessarily work at a future 3D movie, either, because not all 3D projection systems are the same. Furthermore, the theater won’t drop their 3D surcharge just because you have your own glasses.
They’re not disposable, either. IIRC, they cost the theater in the vicinity of $40-$50 each, so they actually do recycle them. I would recommend giving them back.
There was no direction to return the glasses for recycling and I’m pretty sure there might be sanitation issues with that.
Re “they cost the theater in the vicinity of $40-$50 each,” with all due respect that seems highly improbable.
They are all typically disinfected.
Looking it up, they appear to be $3-5 a pair.
We saw Avatar at the local IMAX theatre, which shows a lot of 3D movies. They had instructions to return the glasses to bins on our way out. So at least that theater does reuse the glasses.
Hence the surcharge to see the movies in 3D.
But back to the OP - I think the value of keeping the glasses is zilch - as you can’t really use them on any of your home electronics. To the best of my knowledge, there are no video or internet displays that can be seen in those 3D glasses on a television or computer monitor.
We saw Avatar at a non-IMAX theater, which also had a bin for returning the 3-D glasses. You were only borrowing (renting?) the glasses when you saw the movie, not buying them.
The 3D system IMAX uses may be (probably is) different, but at my theater, our RealD 3D glasses cost about 65 cents a pair. We do have a recycling bin that almost no one bothers to use, but we don’t recycle the glasses ourselves. When we get enough, we send them back to the supplier for a small rebate. And no, you can’t use them for anything else. They don’t work as sunglasses, and if you come back to another 3D movie, you’ll get another pair.
I think the $45-$50 figure might be for the glasses that use active LCD shutters, and therefore have batteries and electronics in them. The theatres I’ve been to use the RealD polarized glasses which are much simpler. There was a bin to toss them into when you left the movie. I took a poair home, then thought, “I don’t have a polarized monitor! Why did I do that?”
They will give a rainbow display if looking at an LCD watch or phone display, but that’s pretty low rent entertainment
EL cheapo circular polarization filter for photography?
Damned if some people aren’t trying to sell them on eBay!
The theater where I saw Avatar had one recycling bin on the way back to the main lobby, but none on the way to exit doors where most people went after the show. I would have been happy to recycle my glasses if there had been one there, but wasn’t about to walk out of my way to do it. So I suspect they were in the same situation as you.
I recently watched two 3d films, Final Destination 4 and Avatar. Final destination was in RealD. There was a bin at the entrance with individually wrapped glasses. You could take as many as you wanted, and they didn’t ask you to return them.
Avatar was in Dolby 3d. There was a person at the entrance handing the glasses. There was an inscription on the side that said the glasses are security tagged. They asked us to return the glasses at the exit. Also the ticket was 4 euros cheaper at the Dolby 3D movie (9 vs 12 for the Final Destination film)
My guess is that the RealD glasses are very cheap and they simply add the cost to the price of the ticket. The Dolby 3D glasses must be more expensive.
I saw an ad that Avatar was being shown in RealD, Dolby 3D, IMAX 3D and 2D, depending on the theatre. They must be going all-out.
It depends on the theatre. The Picture House cinemas in Britain give you a discount if you bring your own 3D glasses.
Correct on the expensive version of 3D glasses. Imax currently uses a different system than RealD and their glasses do cost more. They are based on color filtration rather than a polarizing process. I would imagine that they are in the $3-$5 range versus the cheaper RealD glasses. The Imax Dolb3D process relies on the more expensive glasses while the Real3D relies on an expensive screen and cheaper glasses.
How do you know you’re bringing the right 3D glasses?
You look at the advertisement It should state what type of movie is shown. In the case of RealD, it’s clearly marked on the glasses.