Will 3-D make a comeback with the next Avatar films (or anything else)?

[Mike Blakesley]

I had a customer ask me about 3-D a few nights ago, the first time in many months somebody has asked about it.

I also, for fun, checked to see how many 3-D shows were being scheduled in Billings for Frozen 2 back when it came out. (The answer: One show at 9:15 pm.)

A lot of big movies, including the recent Star Wars and others, are still released in 3-D, and the most recent 3-D "craze" was kicked off by the original Avatar movie. So I wonder.... given the fact that Disney has a bunch of new Avatar films in the pipeline, will their marketing muscle be able to revive 3-D when those start coming out? Or will some other phenomenon happen that makes us all forget 3-D? What's the "next big thing?"

[Steve Guttag]

I think Mr. Cameron will be disappointed that the same craze will not exist for any of the sequels...well maybe the first one. Then again, there may not be as much interest in the sequels, 3D or no.

[Bobby Henderson]

The Avatar sequels might revive some interest in 3D, but some positive things need to happen for any bump to be sustained. Obviously the sequels won't do anything to help 3D at all if the movies are lousy.

The previous complaints about 3D will still be there. That's a problem.

I personally have never been bothered by wearing 3D glasses, but there is a crowd out there that insists the movie industry and/or electronics industry is screwing the public by not having glasses-free 3D available. I'm not going to hold my breath for that to happen in theaters or the home any time soon.

Now the complaints about up-charges for 3D are more legit. I think the surcharges (often $3 or more) did more to ruin the resurgence of 3D than the glut of really crappy 2D-to-3D conversions we saw following the success of Avatar (a true dual camera 3D movie).

One thing that could help a new resurgence of 3D with these Avatar sequels: a growing number of theaters with laser-based projection. 3D has the potential to work a lot better (brighter images mainly) in laser-based theaters, particularly those with dual projectors. Strangely, out of all of AMC's Dolby Cinema theaters it seems like they never show anything in 3D on those screens.

[Mike Blakesley]

If there's going to be a 3-D revival, it might be helped if theaters figure out a way to make it a zero-upcharge thing. I think I would be willing to sell people the 3-D glasses for cost (we have the Dolby system), and then forego the up-charge if they bring their own glasses. The surcharge would still apply if they want to "rent" the glasses. Although, as I stated back in the 3-D days, we never had any complaints about the money -- it was always about the glasses themselves.

[Frank Cox]

How do the Dolby glasses compare to the Real D glasses in terms of size and weight? I've never seen anything other than the Real D glasses that I have here and they're pretty much the same as a pair of cheap plastic sunglasses.

[Geoff Jones]

I think I would be willing to sell people the 3-D glasses for cost (we have the Dolby system), and then forego the up-charge if they bring their own glasses. The surcharge would still apply if they want to "rent" the glasses.

How would that work? When the movie is over, how do you know which patrons to collect glasses from and which ones to ignore? The only thing I can think of is to charge full price for the "rental" and then give them a partial refund if they return them to you.

[Steve Guttag]

We always thought that they should have let the Black ones be the "rented" versions and any other color could be sold to patrons.

[Frank Cox]

A grocery store in a city near here sells (or at least sold) plastic shopping baskets the same as what they were using in the store itself. They put a "paid for" sticker on the basket that people purchased to differentiate it from the store's own baskets.

I don't know what they did if the sticker wore off, though. Never bought one of their baskets....

[Mike Blakesley]

How do the Dolby glasses compare to the Real D glasses in terms of size and weight

They are a little smaller and a bit lighter. The original Dolby glasses had real glass lenses which made them heavier than RealD, but they switched to lightweight plastic lenses.

[Steve Guttag]

They didn't switch so much as offered the lighter weight versions. In fact, the CAT832 plastic glasses are no more and the CAT834 glass lenses are all that are available for the original xenon based Dolby 3D.

[Justin Hamaker]

I don't know that it would revive demand so much as it would be the time of movie that would have demand. Just as the last Lost World movie had some demand for 3D, but that did not translate into demand for 3D for other movies.

One thing that will be a concern is making sure 3D systems receive testing and maintenance prior to being used. We have MasterImage 3D, and I make an attempt to run the wheel for a little while every so often just to ensure it doesn't have issues from sitting without use for an extended period. We also dropped down to 3K bulbs instead of 4K bulbs in the projectors capable of running 3D.

[Mitchell Dvoskin]

> Will 3-D make a comeback with the next Avatar films

Short answer, No. Long answer, No, although the 3D showings of Avatar 2 should do well.

I personally like 3D, but what killed it every time it reared it's third dimensional head was/is that people do not like to wear the glasses. Also, the up charge for 3D has come to be considered by many to be a rip-off.

[Mike Blakesley]

They didn't switch so much as offered the lighter weight versions. In fact, the CAT832 plastic glasses are no more and the CAT834 glass lenses are all that are available for the original xenon based Dolby 3D.

That's good to know... we have a case of the plastic ones but we never did use them because I never could figure out a way to get the water spots off of them and figured they would wear out quickly. We have "hard water" here and we always had to wipe the lenses each time we washed glasses.