# 3D movies - here to stay or soon to vanish again? **URL:** \ **Category:** Cafe Society\ **Created:** [July 4, 2009, 4:02pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/3d-movies-here-to-stay-or-soon-to-vanish-again/501901 "2009-07-04T16:02:28Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![TheMadHun](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/53a042/32.png) [@TheMadHun](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/TheMadHun)\ **Post date:** [July 4, 2009, 4:02pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/3d-movies-here-to-stay-or-soon-to-vanish-again/501901/1 "2009-07-04T16:02:28Z")
Will 3-D movies really draw people back from DVD’s ? That’s the hope of theaters investing in expensive new equipment. Will it go mainstream, with name stars and normal plots instead of just cartoons and ones picked to show off depth? Will they be cheap and easy enough to film that indie productions will try them? Will movie DVD’s get the same capabilities? Perhaps released in game machine or special goggles format? ---
**Author:** ![Khadaji](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/k/9e8a1a/32.png) [@Khadaji](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Khadaji)\ **Post date:** [July 4, 2009, 4:33pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/3d-movies-here-to-stay-or-soon-to-vanish-again/501901/2 "2009-07-04T16:33:53Z")
I love 3D movies. However, right now I would have to drive at least an hour to see one. If a local theater starts showing them, I’ll go and see even the bad ones. ---
**Author:** ![FoieGrasIsEvil](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/foiegrasisevil/32/16638_2.png) [@FoieGrasIsEvil](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/FoieGrasIsEvil)\ **Post date:** [July 4, 2009, 4:51pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/3d-movies-here-to-stay-or-soon-to-vanish-again/501901/3 "2009-07-04T16:51:15Z")
I vote they are here to stay. The latest 3D movies are incredible visually. I do wonder, as you say, how well the medium will translate to regular filmmaking as opposed to the animated genre. Even if it primarily stays just within that realm, it will still be great because there’s been no shortage of average to very good animated films. ---
**Author:** ![garygnu](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/garygnu/32/2924_2.png) [@garygnu](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/garygnu)\ **Post date:** [July 4, 2009, 4:55pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/3d-movies-here-to-stay-or-soon-to-vanish-again/501901/4 "2009-07-04T16:55:59Z")
I think 3D is here to stay, but I don’t see 2D vanishing any time soon. The equipment and the methods to use it are too ubiquitous and inexpensive. For 3D to really succeed, though, editing styles will have to change (fewer cuts/longer shots) and frame rates may have to increase. It may not be possible going forward for the same cut of a movie to be used for both presentations. ---
**Author:** ![Spectralist](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/ecccb3/32.png) [@Spectralist](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Spectralist)\ **Post date:** [July 4, 2009, 5:30pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/3d-movies-here-to-stay-or-soon-to-vanish-again/501901/5 "2009-07-04T17:30:51Z")
> [@TheMadHun](#): > > Will movie DVD’s get the same capabilities? Perhaps released in game machine or special goggles format? You can get 3d setups for your computer, i have one. I don’t, however, know if dvds or blueray have the 3d info. ---
**Author:** ![Red\_Barchetta](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/da6949/32.png) [@Red\_Barchetta](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Red_Barchetta)\ **Post date:** [July 4, 2009, 6:20pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/3d-movies-here-to-stay-or-soon-to-vanish-again/501901/6 "2009-07-04T18:20:40Z")
The first real test will be when James Cameron’s Avatar (which has a larger budget than even Titanic), is released this holiday seasons. The movie was designed from the ground-up with 3D in mind, using state-of-the-art technology to better integrate 3D creatures with live-action. Early impressions of the first 20 minutes which were recently shown were beyond ecstatic, so here’s hoping the final movie lives up to the hype and really demonstrates what 3D can do. ---
**Author:** ![Nobody](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/n/94ad74/32.png) [@Nobody](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Nobody)\ **Post date:** [July 4, 2009, 6:59pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/3d-movies-here-to-stay-or-soon-to-vanish-again/501901/7 "2009-07-04T18:59:08Z")
I never saw it, but for how live action 3D will do, remember there was “My Bloody Valentine 3D”. So, if any of you saw it, how good were the 3D effects? ---
**Author:** ![garygnu](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/garygnu/32/2924_2.png) [@garygnu](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/garygnu)\ **Post date:** [July 4, 2009, 7:18pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/3d-movies-here-to-stay-or-soon-to-vanish-again/501901/8 "2009-07-04T19:18:04Z")
> [@Nobody](#): > > I never saw it, but for how live action 3D will do, remember there was “My Bloody Valentine 3D”. So, if any of you saw it, how good were the 3D effects? My wife watched it on DVD, without 3D\*. I caught a little bit of it from the kitchen and such. It was loaded with “THIS IS A 3D MOVIE!” shots I had to laugh (mostly a pick-ax swinging at the camera). During trailers before _Up_, there was a preview for an X-Games documentary (or something like that). I noticed pretty clearly that the fast-action often looked choppy and hard to watch, but there still were some “Wow” shots of flying bikes and the crowd behind. \*: I had offered to take her to a 3D theater showing of it for Valentine’s Day, despite disliking horror movies myself. We never got around to it before it left theaters. ---
**Author:** ![RealityChuck](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/realitychuck/32/195_2.png) [@RealityChuck](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/RealityChuck)\ **Post date:** [July 4, 2009, 9:04pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/3d-movies-here-to-stay-or-soon-to-vanish-again/501901/9 "2009-07-04T21:04:29Z")
I give 3D five years tops. 3D movies give people headaches – some seriously so. Until they can be created without having to wear glasses, that’s a basic fact of human physiology – the 3D effect wrecks havoc with your instincts. Maybe about a quarter of your audience find 3D actively unpleasant to watch, and it makes no sense to throw away a quarter of an audience. There’s also nothing you can’t done in 3D that can’t be done in 2D just as well. ---
**Author:** ![CalMeacham](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/calmeacham/32/35_2.png) [@CalMeacham](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/CalMeacham)\ **Post date:** [July 4, 2009, 9:15pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/3d-movies-here-to-stay-or-soon-to-vanish-again/501901/10 "2009-07-04T21:15:48Z")
> [@](#): > > Until they can be created without having to wear glasses, that’s a basic fact of human physiology – the 3D effect wrecks havoc with your instincts. It has been – there’s been a 3D theater in Moscow using “lenticular” technology for _decades_. It’s the only theater in the world made for this type of 3D. And it doesn’t require flasses. For some reason, it hasn’t been very popular, and I don’t know why it hasn’t been tried elsewhere. To tell the truth, I haven’t heard anything about it in years, so for all I know it’s gone. But still, it’s old technology. IIRC, the Moscow theater doesn’t actually use lenticular arrys, but merely a specialy-constructed screen. There have been patents out for Television systems using no-glasses lenticular 3D technology for decades, too. I’ve been over them – as far as I can tell, they’d work. But nobody wants to put the money into them. as a bonus, the TV systems don’t merely provide a “2 eye” view, but would allow you to move around a bit and see more of a scene. And not all glasses-using systems cause headaches. The LC glasses that cause alternate eyes to be blocked out has been used for years in computer 3D displays and for porn, of all things \*. It’s too expensive for theater use (you can throw those circular-polarizer glasses Real 3D uses away, but a set of LC glasses would be too expensive), but there’s no reason home systems couldn’t use it. \*Further evidence to bolster my theory that horny males drive home entertainment technology. ---
**Author:** ![TBG](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/c89c15/32.png) [@TBG](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/TBG)\ **Post date:** [July 4, 2009, 11:57pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/3d-movies-here-to-stay-or-soon-to-vanish-again/501901/11 "2009-07-04T23:57:46Z")
I don’t see them taking off. I think they’ll continue to exist for the various CGI movies, and maybe a few others a year, but they certainly aren’t going to become the default moviegoing experience. Also, that they charge extra for the 3D showings doesn’t help. ---
**Author:** ![commasense](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/commasense/32/3017_2.png) [@commasense](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/commasense)\ **Post date:** [July 5, 2009, 5:31am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/3d-movies-here-to-stay-or-soon-to-vanish-again/501901/12 "2009-07-05T05:31:48Z")
> [@TheMadHun](#): > > Will 3-D movies really draw people back from DVD’s ? That’s the hope of theaters investing in expensive new equipment. They already are. The 3D editions consistently outperform the 2D versions of the same films. That’s why traditionally conservative exhibition industry is installing the hardware. (That, and the fact that the studios are paying a large part of the bill through [virtual print fees](http://www.nytimes.com/2008/03/12/movies/12scre.html).) > [@](#): > > Will it go mainstream, with name stars and normal plots instead of just cartoons and ones picked to show off depth? Do you call Brendan Fraser a “name star”? Not everyone liked _Journey to the Center of the Earth_, but it was the first live-action, non-documentary 3D feature of the current digital 3D wave, and it’s made $240 million so far. Also, I’d question your last assumption. Many of the animated films released in 3D so far were not planned as 3D productions and didn’t use 3D particularly effectively. But, oddly enough, that didn’t keep them from being popular. As **Red Barchetta** said, _Avatar_ will probably be a watershed for live-action 3D production. However, don’t assume that its astronomical budget is because it’s in 3D, or that the expense of 3D is what’s holding back live-action production. _Journey_ was made for “only” $60 million. Its producer told me that she estimated that 3D added about 20% to the production budget. Considering how it was reviewed, I think it probably would have performed substantially worse at the box office without the novelty of 3D, so it was a good investment. The main factor holding back live-action 3D has been that there aren’t enough 3D screens for a true wide release. The number most people seem to be waiting for is 5,000 in North America. That’s the [current worldwide count](http://widescreenreview.com/news_detail.php?id=18520), and most are in the U.S. and Canada. So we’re getting close. (BTW, the author of the linked article makes many of the same points I have made in other threads.) > [@](#): > > Will they be cheap and easy enough to film that indie productions will try them? For now it is somewhat simpler and cheaper to create a 3D version of an animated film than it is to shoot live-action 3D, but those costs will come down, as most digital technologies tend to do. So, yes, eventually you’ll be able to shoot 3D with a cheap home camcorder. > [@](#): > > Will movie DVD’s get the same capabilities? Perhaps released in game machine or special goggles format? The technology is coming. Samsung and several other TV manufacturers are offering or have announced 3D-capable flat panel TVs. I haven’t looked lately, but I’m quite sure that with the convergence of computers with home theaters and other technologies, home 3D playback systems are not far off. I’ve written extensively [here](http://boards.straightdope.com/sdmb/showthread.php?t=513019) and [here](http://boards.straightdope.com/sdmb/showthread.php?t=515526) about why I think 3D is here to stay, and why, contrary to what some people claim, this iteration of 3D is not just a flash in the pan, as previous revivals were. The simple fact is that, unlike the birth of 3D in the 1950s, and brief returns a few times since, today the theater chains are installing a permanent infrastructure in thousands of theaters to show 3D. And this will enable them to show live events, like concerts and sports events, as well as movies. Also, the studios and top directors (do they get any topper than Cameron?) are producing dozens of new films in 3D, and the vast majority of those released to date have been quite profitable. There’s no doubt in my mind that 3D is here to stay. That’s not to say that all films will be released in 3D any time soon, but I would expect the percentage to increase steadily. Ultimately, 3D may be as common as color, but that will probably take at least 10 years. > [@Reality Chuck](#): > > There’s also nothing you can’t done in 3D that can’t be done in 2D just as well. And there’s nothing that can be done in color that can’t be done in black & white, right? ---
**Author:** ![Chronos](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/chronos/32/134_2.png) [@Chronos](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Chronos)\ **Post date:** [July 5, 2009, 5:39am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/3d-movies-here-to-stay-or-soon-to-vanish-again/501901/13 "2009-07-05T05:39:37Z")
> [@](#): > > Will it go mainstream, with name stars and normal plots instead of just cartoons and ones picked to show off depth? _Beowulf_ had name stars and a normal plot, and while it certainly benefited from the depth, it didn’t really depend on it. It’s just taking filmmakers a while to get used to 3D as a legitimate technique that augments other techniques, rather than as a standalone gimmick. But then, the same was true for color and sound when those appeared on the scene. ---
**Author:** ![GuanoLad](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/guanolad/32/42_2.png) [@GuanoLad](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/GuanoLad)\ **Post date:** [July 5, 2009, 7:00am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/3d-movies-here-to-stay-or-soon-to-vanish-again/501901/14 "2009-07-05T07:00:18Z")
> [@commasense](#): > > They already are. The 3D editions consistently outperform the 2D versions of the same films. Only because they’re responding to hype and the successful application of a gimmick. I don’t think you can rely on that to sustain. It might. I haven’t gone to see any 3D movies yet, partly because I don’t go to cinemas anymore, and partly because they’re not playing in 3D locally, I have to travel further. But also because I don’t see the point. It doesn’t improve a movie’s story, so why bother? But the proles seem to like it, so who knows. ---
**Author:** ![Red\_Barchetta](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/da6949/32.png) [@Red\_Barchetta](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Red_Barchetta)\ **Post date:** [July 5, 2009, 7:40am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/3d-movies-here-to-stay-or-soon-to-vanish-again/501901/15 "2009-07-05T07:40:21Z")
> [@GuanoLad](#): > > It doesn’t improve a movie’s story, so why bother? Neither did color. ---
**Author:** ![MovieMogul](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/f08c70/32.png) [@MovieMogul](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/MovieMogul)\ **Post date:** [July 5, 2009, 7:45am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/3d-movies-here-to-stay-or-soon-to-vanish-again/501901/16 "2009-07-05T07:45:27Z")
> [@GuanoLad](#): > > Only because they’re responding to hype and the successful application of a gimmick. I don’t think you can rely on that to sustain. Also, 3D movies charge more per ticket than their 2D counterparts. ---
**Author:** ![jackdavinci](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/jackdavinci/32/3259_2.png) [@jackdavinci](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/jackdavinci)\ **Post date:** [July 5, 2009, 8:01am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/3d-movies-here-to-stay-or-soon-to-vanish-again/501901/17 "2009-07-05T08:01:45Z")
They are pretty much here to stay, given that more theaters are doing it, and more are converting screens to fauxmax. However, they will stay pretty much the somain of animated films, or live action action films with large amounts of cgi. ---
**Author:** ![GuanoLad](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/guanolad/32/42_2.png) [@GuanoLad](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/GuanoLad)\ **Post date:** [July 5, 2009, 9:26am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/3d-movies-here-to-stay-or-soon-to-vanish-again/501901/18 "2009-07-05T09:26:23Z")
> [@Red\_Barchetta](#): > > Neither did color. Colour was a natural and inevitable progression, and caused no issue with viewing. Stereoscopic 3D is still problematic to view for many people and requires, possibly unavoidable, accessories. ---
**Author:** ![mbh](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/a6a055/32.png) [@mbh](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/mbh)\ **Post date:** [July 5, 2009, 2:03pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/3d-movies-here-to-stay-or-soon-to-vanish-again/501901/19 "2009-07-05T14:03:34Z")
> [@RealityChuck](#): > > There’s also nothing you can’t done in 3D that can’t be done in 2D just as well. Nonsense. It is one of the great tragedies of cinematic art that Chesty Morgan never made a 3D film. ---
**Author:** ![CalMeacham](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/calmeacham/32/35_2.png) [@CalMeacham](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/CalMeacham)\ **Post date:** [July 5, 2009, 2:22pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/3d-movies-here-to-stay-or-soon-to-vanish-again/501901/20 "2009-07-05T14:22:55Z")
Stereo movies _don’t_ require special glasses, as I’ve noted above. See here: > [@](#): > > A Future in the Past > In a visionary 1950 essay titled “The Third Dimension – Film of the Future?” cinema historian Ivor Montagu wrote about 3-D movies after visiting the Stereokino in Moscow and viewing an 80 minute program consisting of three motion pictures. The 3-D movies, comprised of a travelogue of the Crimea titled “Sunny Region," an instructional film called “Crystals” and a comedy, “Caran d’Ache on the Ice,” were all autostereoscopic; in other words, no 3-D glasses were required to see the third dimension in the films. Are you surprised? > > Sounds a lot like the 3-D future to me and yet it happened over half a century ago. These 3-D movies used interlocked rear projection of dual left and right eye 70mm film prints on to glass with vertically etched lines. A printed notice on the ticket to the films pointed out a limitation of the autostereoscopic process. “Leaning to one side loses the stereoscopic effect, which can be recovered by a movement of from 4 to 8 inches.” > > For our immediate future, however, as digital cinema begins to proliferate (as of May 2005 there were about 75 theatres in North America equipped with digital projectors), audiences viewing 3-D movies will be using the glasses. And, for the time being, they will be using either Liquid Crystal Shutter (LCS) glasses with left and right eye lenses alternating at 48 frames a second (96 hertz) or disposable glasses containing circular polarizing filters. > > The strength of either process is that each requires only a single lens digital projector. The projector of choice for digital cinema appears to be the Christie CP2000 with 2k of resolution. A lower end model also projects 1.2K of resolution but both models are in use with the exhibitors who have installed digital projection in their theaters. Therein lies another strength in the digital 3-D process: exhibitors currently housing digital DLP projectors need not completely overhaul their system, they only need to procure the dual-stream server and the eyewear. [http://www.rollanet.org/~vbeydler/van/3dreview/3dr0507.htm](http://www.rollanet.org/~vbeydler/van/3dreview/3dr0507.htm) > [@](#): > > Semyon Ivanov used an autostereoscopic system to complete a version of Robinson Crusoe on 70mm in 1941, in the midst of WWII. It, along with other pictures, played in Moscow’s specially constructed 180-seat Stereokino Theatre––for 18 years! Four additional Stereokino houses were eventually built in the Soviet Union. > As a result, no one less than Sergei Eisenstein stated, “To doubt that stereoscopic cinema has its tomorrows, is as naïve as doubting whether there will be tomorrows at all.” Hopefully Ray Zone will document many of those tomorrows in a successor volume that continues the magical story of 3-D cinema. > **[Motion Picture Editors Guild - IATSE Local 700](https://www.editorsguild.com)** > > The Motion Picture Editors Guild (MPEG) is a national labor organization currently representing over 7,500 freelance and staff post-production professionals. Ours is the world's premiere craft guild that sets the standards for excellence in the... > [@](#): > > The first feature-length talkie in color and 3D was Alexander Andreyevsky’s Soyuzdetfilm production Robinson Crusoe (USSR '47), starring Pavel Kadochnikov as Crusoe and Y. Lyubimov as Friday. The process used, Stereokino, was the first to successfully dispense with anaglyphic spectacles. Developed by S.P. Ivanov, it employed what were known as “radial raster stereoscreens”—a corrugated metal screen with “raster” grooves designed to reflect the twin images separately to the left and right eye. The most difficult technical problem encountered during the production of Robinson Crusoe was persuading a wild cat to walk along a thin branch towards the camera. After five nights occupied with this one scene, the cameraman succeeded in getting a satisfactory shot. The effect, according to accounts, was riveting, the animal seeming to walk over the heads of the audience and disappear at the far end of the cinema. > **[Yahoo Search - Web Search](https://search.yahoo.com/)** > > The search engine that helps you find exactly what you're looking for. Find the most relevant information, video, images, and answers from all across the Web. [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/3d-movies-here-to-stay-or-soon-to-vanish-again/501901.md?page=2)