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3D film backlash starts, but porn could save the day
Cinema-goers don't want to pay for mediocre 3D films. Someone should tell the porn film makers
Has the backlash against 3D films begun? A glut of mediocre 3D films flopping at the box office has raised fears that cinema-goers are no longer prepared to pay a premium to watch these movies - many of which weren't actually filmed in 3D but were converted in post-production.
The success of Avatar, which was released at the end of 2009 and quickly went through the $1bn box office sales mark, led many to believe that a new age had dawned. People would be persuaded that it was worth making a trip to the cinema - at an inflated price - to see spectacular 3D films rather than waiting for them to be released on DVD. And all Hollywood studios had to do was add the tagline '3D' to their movies.
Tim Burton quickly announced that his 're-imagining' of Alice in Wonderland would be released in 3D, one of many movies that were converted to 3D in post-production, with mixed results. (Avatar was actually filmed in 3D with special cameras).
Now, reality is starting to rain on the 3D parade, because while the likes of Alice in Wonderland and Clash of the Titans have done relatively well out of their hasty conversions, there have been other, less successful movies.
Cats & Dogs: The Revenge of Kitty Galore has yet to recoup half of its $85m production cost. And 3D has failed to give a shot in the arm to tired franchises such as Step Up and Shrek. In its opening weekend, Step Up 3D raked in less than either of the first two films in the trilogy. And although Shrek Forever After grossed more than the original Shrek, it wasn't 3D ticket sales that did it.
Most 3D films are also released in ordinary, 2D format. Richard Greenfield of Wall Street analysts BTIG Research points out that the percentage of people going to see the 3D version as opposed to the 2D Shrek Forever After "declined notably from Dreamworks' [previous] film, How to Train Your Dragon, despite a higher number of 3D screens (both IMAX and non-IMAX)".
He adds: "While consumers may have no issue paying a 3D premium for a movie such as Avatar or Alice in Wonderland, consumers may downgrade to 2D for weaker content such as Shrek."
However, the 3D format has received a massive vote of confidence from the adult entertainment industry, a sector with such influence it is widely credited with helping the VHS video format see off the technologically superior Betamax in the 1980s.
Seemingly oblivious to the lesson that people aren't willing to pay extra to see mediocre 3D content, three film-makers are racing to release the first 3D movie in that bastion of low production values, porn.
In Hong Kong, Christopher Sun is filming 3-D Sex and Zen: Extreme Ecstasy (above), while Italian director Tinto Brass says he will remake his 1979 erotic classic Caligula in 3D, and Hustler is planning a pornographic spoof of the 'blue' film that reignited the 3D craze, Avatar.
Stephen Shiu, producer of Sex and Zen, said: "This is the future of the movie business - it's human nature to want to see things in 3D." ·
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I think 3D at the cinema has a long way to go, but go it will. After all, the step up from the silent movies to the talkies was not without controversy. Beowulf 3D was quite stunning in places, but the extremes of the 3D FX, though well done, made it a very in-your-face experience, particularly at the beginning with the spear pointing scene. On the other hand, Airbender 3D was OK in places, but awful in others, with the 3D FX clearly added - disastrously badly in some places - not built in to the design. But the economics of it will all get better as the technology matures and some films prove more amenable to the 3D treatment than others. Give it time, it will soon be better and cheaper, just like computers, cars, food, travel, holidays, the study of ancient Greek...all the benefits of the free market when not encumbered with the interference of the government or socialist nuisances in general.
It's not just 3D, Hollywood movies in general are a load of rubbish.
A new minority has been created - we one-eyed people. Obviously, we choose Gordon Brown as our Patron, and we want a suitably one-eyed Quango (which shouldn't be difficult to staff).
We need a hero/heroine to lead the charge - step forward Joanna Lumley?
Those stupid 3D glasses give me a headache and distract me from the movie. 3D did well to hide the fact that Avatar was a very weakly plotted film which was all style over substance.
A great example of greed in action. Take a film and convert it to 3D with the sole intentions of inflated tickets prices at the box office. Just wait for Coronation Street 3D.... Yikes...