3-D will probably be pushed again for Avatar sequel(s) - how many will be onboard?

[Mike Blakesley]

We all know what happened with 3-D the last time around.... it was the big selling point for everyone to hurry up and get switched over to digital cinema RIGHT NOW so you could cash in on the latest trend of 3-D movies.

Now that it's almost 13 years since the original Avatar and the bloom fell off the 3-D rose about 8 years ago, what's everyone think about a possible 3-D resurgence? Will it happen?

Is anyone even still playing anything in 3-D? The last movie we played in 3-D was the "Jungle Book" remake in 2016 - since then we've had maybe three or four requests to bring 3-D back but that's it.

[Jim Cassedy]

Nobody working at the theatre I'm at can remember the last time they ran 3D there.
I don't know if we'll be playing the new Avatar flick, but I about a month ago, I was
asked by corporate honchos to "test" the 3D system and either do an alignment or
arrange to have someone do it, if it needed work. (We use a dual projector system for 3D)
I was also recently asked to provide technical info to a "3D Readiness Spreadsheet", which
I think I was told came from Disney.

[Marcel Birgelen]

It really depends on how relevant Avatar 2 will be. It will be obvious they'll be pushing 3D and most likely some form of HFR, for some "hyper-real" experiences, but it will be hard to predict if it will be able to capture the audience like it did back in 2009.

Back in 2009, the scale of those special effects was pretty breathtaking. The 3D was probably one of the better 3D experiences ever brought to cinema. But after years of never-ending special effects mania, I'm not sure if Avatar can bring anything to the table that will turn the tide.

[Carsten Kurz]

Back in 2009, the scale of those special effects was pretty breathtaking.

But you could only state that after having seen the actual movie.

Now, maybe we can say the same about AVATAR 2 only after having seen it.

Some people may think that AVATAR 2 will be a 'just' a sequel to AVATAR. Same look, different story. But let's wait and see.

They are currently doing HFR compatibility tests for AVATAR 2.
While I hate HFR myself for fictional content, James Cameron knows what he is doing, that for sure.

Looks as if in Europe there were quite a bit of 3D releases during recent years, obviously more than in the US.
I don't think AVATAR 2 will breathe new life into 3D as such, it will probably just be a movie that will be worth seeing in 3D.

[Jon Dent]

We bounced the idea around but then we realized we'd have to:

A: Get our bigger projector that's in storage up and running
B: Replace our new high gain screen with a newer silver screen
C: Deal with the resulting light loss and less than ideal viewing angles in 2D

None of that seemed worth it. Sure we might get some extra viewers for Avatar 2, but our 2D presentations would suffer and even the extra business wouldn't offset the thousands of dollars we'd need to pony up for the upgrade. So we're saying 'nope'.

[Frank Cox]

I still do 3d here because I've got it. If a movie is available in a 3d version that's the one that I play.

Most people don't seem to care much if a movie is 3d or not, though.

"Oh, this is a 3d movie? I didn't realize that." I hear that a lot while I'm selling tickets.

So I don't think I sell any more tickets because a movie is 3d, but I don't think I sell any less tickets either.

I haven't heard anything about Avatar 2, though.

When I played Alita Battle Angel I had to jump through some hoops to get the 3d version. I had to play a special test clip and send them pictures of that clip on the screen that were taken with an iphone. I don't have an iphone so I had to borrow a demo model from a friend of mine who owned a cell phone store at that time (and has since retired).

Alita Battle Angel. Whale of a good movie with a great soundtrack and visuals. And almost no audience for it. *sigh*

[Mike Blakesley]

We have Dolby 3D, but every time we would have a power failure more than 20 minutes (which is more often than you'd care to think about), our system would lose its connection to the projector or something, I'm not sure what, but we would have to reinstall the software. Eventually that failed to work so we put 3D into mothballs, and that's where it sits. Our crew hated the extra work of cleaning the glasses and we had some people who absolutely hated 3D, so we more or less cut our losses with it. We could still get it fixed I guess, but I'm just not sure if it'll be worth the trouble, plus it'll probably go south again anyway. Congrats, Dolby, you lost a customer over your stupid unreliable 3D system.

[Frank Cox]

I have Real D so there's nothing to clean; the used glasses go into the recycle box when people leave and that's all there is to it.

It's really no more difficult and requires no more labour to play a 3d movie than it does to play a 2d movie. I hand everyone a little plastic package with the glasses along with their ticket and that's literally all there is to it.

[Mike Blakesley]

Maybe this year somebody will come out with disposable/recyclable Dolby 3D glasses. That'd be the ticket.

[Leo Enticknap]

In the last 2-3 years I've done a lot of replacing Series 1 and early Series 2 projectors that were 3-D capable, with laser projectors that are not. This was usually because the old projector had the Dolby DFC100 system, which cannot be installed in a laser projector, and the theater owner thought it simply not worth the cost of investing in the system; especially not all those new pairs of glasses. So if the service and installation work I've been doing is representative of the industry as a whole, there are likely far fewer 3-D capable auditoria available now than there were a decade ago.

So the movie's promoters can push 3-D all they like, but I suspect that there is a much reduced 3-D seating capacity as a whole to push it to.

[Frank Cox]

Does Real D work with laser projectors?

[Carsten Kurz]

Sure. Only the classic color wheel (Xenon) Dolby 3D is ruled out with them. Shutter glasses also do work.

[Philip Jones]

Are there any 3D systems which don't require a silver screen but have disposable glasses? With NEC1200 xenon projector.

[Sam Chavez]

Dolby 3D with 6P laser projectors from Barco and Christie work very well, albeit with lots of speckle. The glasses are specific to Christie and Barco and not interchangeable with each other. Older style Dolby 3D glasses won't work. Not sure this will be supported as the projector world continues to involve.

[Randy Stankey]

I was watching a video, the other day, that talked about the history of "Smell-O-Vision" in the movies.
(Pumping scents into a theater during the presentation.)

The presenter made several comments to the effect that movie theaters often use gimmicks to drum up business and, near the end, he said that theaters would probably double down on gimmicks in the near future as a means to recover some of the lost revenue because of the COVID pandemic.

It sounds, to me, like the gimmickry is already afoot!