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Author Topic: Is 3-D Still Going Strong? Manny Knowles "What are these things and WHY are they BLUE???" Posts: 4247 From: Bloomington, IN, USA Registered: Feb 2002 posted 09-17-2013 12:00 PM                     I'm curious if any of you in the mainstream market can tell me what's going on with 3-D these days... Are you seeing more 3-D titles? Less? Or would you say that it has hit a plateau and actually become somewhat commonplace? I work in an art-house/repertory venue, so I was never inundated with 3-D product. I recall a while back that Disney had (supposedly?) ordered all features to be shot in 3-D. Now I see the trailers for "Saving Mr. Banks" and none of those are in 3-D. Was this "all 3-D" policy ever for real? Has the House of Mouse relaxed its stance? And, no, I'm not only curious about Disney -- that was just the example I used because it got me wondering about all of this. I'd like to hear your observations, and I'm hoping somebody might even have statistics.  |  IP: Logged Daniel Schulz Master Film Handler Posts: 387 From: Los Angeles, CA USA Registered: Sep 2003 posted 09-17-2013 12:05 PM                        The Hollywood Reporter reports that the percentage of the summer box-office going to 3D is declining. In 2011 45% of the gross for a title released in 3D came from 3D screens; in 2012 40% and in 2013 32%.  |  IP: Logged Buck Wilson Jedi Master Film Handler Posts: 894 From: St. Joseph MO, USA Registered: Sep 2010 posted 09-17-2013 12:41 PM                     What I've noticed, here anyways, is that there IS a small 3D crowd that will see 3D in the first weekend, but the 3D versions have no legs at all. When we have both 2D and 3D, 3D always leaves first and we'll have 2D only for the last few weeks and no one bats an eye. The price is a huge factor. No one wants to pay the premium let alone 3 weeks after release.  |  IP: Logged Mike Blakesley Film God Posts: 12767 From: Forsyth, Montana Registered: Jun 99 posted 09-17-2013 02:29 PM                        Disney never announced all features in 3D. It was all ANIMATED features in 3D. And they have stuck to that so far for theatrical releases.  |  IP: Logged Manny Knowles "What are these things and WHY are they BLUE???" Posts: 4247 From: Bloomington, IN, USA Registered: Feb 2002 posted 09-18-2013 01:11 AM                     Thanks for answering my questions. What percentage of current movies are offered in 3D? This can be estimated. Oh, sure. I know I can easily look up what's "playing this week" but I mean in a general sense -- Are studios releasing as many 3D movies as they used to?  |  IP: Logged Justin Hamaker Film God Posts: 2253 From: Lakeport, CA USA Registered: Jan 2004 posted 09-18-2013 05:12 AM                        The number of films in 3D seems to go in spurts. We had a point in mid-July where we could have had as many as 5 3D movies at one time in my 5 screen complex. But by the time Cloudy With a Chance of Meatballs comes out September 27, we will have gone nearly a month between major 3D releases. I'm not counting Battle of the Year on September 20 since it is limited to about 1800 theatres. In October there is only one 3D release - Gravity. Then there are 3 in November and 3 or 4 in December. By my count there have already been 23 major 3D releases in 2013 (with another 8-9 remaining). By comparison there were 27 in 2012, 34 in 2011, 22 in 2010, and 11 in 2009. For year to date 2013, there have been 23 3D movies to play in 1500+ theatres, and 84 total movies to play that wide. That means the 3D movies accounted for about 27% of the major releases to date. For 2012 it was about 20% for the year, in 2011 it was about 25%, 17% in 2010, and only 8.5% in 2009. The full comparison of 2013 can't be made until after we see what happens with the various Awards contenders, but you can figure it will be 31-32 3D out of a total of around 130 titles to play in 1500+ theatres. For what it's worth, my uncertainty of the total number of 3D films is because I'm not clear on whether Walter Mitty is supposed to be 3D.  |  IP: Logged System Notices Forum Watchdog / Soup Nazi Posts: 215 Registered: Apr 2004 posted 01-31-2015 03:20 PM                 It has been 500 days since the last post.  |  IP: Logged Justin Hamaker Film God Posts: 2253 From: Lakeport, CA USA Registered: Jan 2004 posted 01-31-2015 03:20 PM                        It's almost comical how 3D movies are coming in spurts. The weekend of 2/6/15 will see three new 3D movies open (Jupiter Ascending, Seventh Son, and Sponge Bob Square Pants). This will mark seven weeks since the last 3D release - The Hobbit. The next 3D release after February 6 will be Home on March 27. After that we will see 3D films with more regularity as we start to go to the summer season. I'm just wondering how long it will be before 3D movies basically go away - or are limited to just a handful of appropriate movies each year.  |  IP: Logged Terry Lynn-Stevens Phenomenal Film Handler Posts: 1081 From: Toronto, Ontario, Canada Registered: Dec 2012 posted 01-31-2015 04:48 PM                     I think 3D is pretty much dead for the North American market. Outside of North American 3D is popular. The only segment that still does well in 3D is IMAX but they don't actually charge extra for 3D releases, they just capitalized on the high end moviegoer that would pay extra for their "Experience" whether it is 3D or not. I still wish they would offer some 2D screenings when a 3D movie is released. I wonder if there was no surcharge what would happen for regular theaters? Would more people flock to 3D or would they ignore it. I cannot watch single projection 3D and will refuse to watch it.  |  IP: Logged Marcel Birgelen Film God Posts: 3357 From: Maastricht, Limburg, Netherlands Registered: Feb 2012 posted 01-31-2015 06:04 PM                     I don't see anybody around here getting all excited about 3D anymore. History repeating itself obviously. The novelty factor has long been worn off. As long as you cannot do good 3D without stupid sunglasses or all the other downsides that come with it, it will eventually just go away just like it did in the past. For now, 3D is still being pushed for a few features to squeeze out those few extra bucks. What's a rather recent development around here is the increased availability of 2D shows, whereas in the past there was often just the 3D show being programmed. In some cases, those 2D shows outsell the 3D shows. So, the writing is on the wall for stereoscopic Three Dee.  |  IP: Logged Bobby Henderson "Ask me about Trajan." Posts: 10973 From: Lawton, OK, USA Registered: Apr 2001 posted 01-31-2015 06:23 PM                     I think 3D would be doing better if it weren't for the high surcharges. A lot of customers feel like they're taking it in the ass when it comes to paying extra for a 3D show. It already costs enough to watch a 2D movie in a first run theater without adding another $3 or more per ticket to the cost. Blu-ray 3D is going hardly anywhere in the consumer segment either, primarily because of the high prices. Blu-ray 3D movies cost $5-$10 more than their 2D-only counterparts upon release. As the prices of the 2D movies are slashed down to the $15, $10 or lower price levels the 3D versions of the same movies stay priced really high. quote: Terry Lynn-Stevens The only segment that still does well in 3D is IMAX but they don't actually charge extra for 3D releases, they just capitalized on the high end moviegoer that would pay extra for their "Experience" whether it is 3D or not. Are you trying to claim IMAX branded theaters don't add an extra surcharge for 3D? It sounds like it. And you would be wrong. Theaters charge extra for 3D regardless if the house has an IMAX label on it or not. With IMAX you're paying one surcharge for that brand and then another if 3D is involved. For example, the Moore Warren IMAX branded Theater in Moore, Oklahoma charges $13 for its evening Adult ticket price for 2D shows and $16 for 3D shows. Some IMAX branded theaters are charging even more than that for plain 2D. The AMC Northpark 15 IMAX branded house in Dallas is charging $17.22 for evening adult ticket prices on American Sniper, a $5 surcharge over all the other shows (they run $12.22 per ticket).  |  IP: Logged Marcel Birgelen Film God Posts: 3357 From: Maastricht, Limburg, Netherlands Registered: Feb 2012 posted 01-31-2015 06:32 PM                     Since most non-animated 3D releases are rather big budget productions, because they can actually afford the 3D, it's also rather obvious those kind of productions end up as Digital IMAX release. Also, I've never seen a digital IMAX 3D release being played in 2D on a Digital IMAX screen, but this might be a local phenomenon only.  |  IP: Logged Stephan Shelley Jedi Master Film Handler Posts: 854 From: castro valley, CA, usa Registered: Nov 2014 posted 01-31-2015 07:00 PM                     At the Grand Lake in Oakland we do not have the upcharge for 3D for the bargain shows. Just the evening ones. Matinees till 5:45 and all day on Tuesdays. We are a first run house. All bargain shows are $5.00 In the evening it is an extra $1.50 except Tuesdays.  |  IP: Logged Buck Wilson Jedi Master Film Handler Posts: 894 From: St. Joseph MO, USA Registered: Sep 2010 posted 01-31-2015 08:31 PM                     quote: Marcel Birgelen In some cases, those 2D shows outsell the 3D shows. I'd wager MOST fall in this category. Certainly around here, anyway.  |  IP: Logged Mike Blakesley Film God Posts: 12767 From: Forsyth, Montana Registered: Jun 99 posted 01-31-2015 10:57 PM                        About a year ago we switched to a policy of Friday, Sunday and Tuesday in 3-D, and the other nights in 2-D. That seemed better than doing the whole weekend in 3-D and only weeknights in 2-D. We don't seem to get better crowds on the 2-D nights. But occasionally we'll get a person or two on a Saturday that is bummed because it's not in 3-D, but that's pretty rare. A couple of times various studios have squawked about it, but anymore they don't seem to care. Today it's mostly a "you can do what you want" with regard to 3-D. If it's a movie aimed at the very young kiddies like "Paddington," we'll usually just play it in 2-D only, but if it's a big-time blockbuster like "The Hobbit," we'll do the schedule as above. The last movie we played 100% in 3-D was "Gravity." I think the second week we had some 2-D shows but just a couple nights.  |  IP: Logged

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