AMC Rockaway 16

oh yeah for avatar i knew it was 3D that was the big pull, heck I don’t even personally know anyone who saw it in 2D hah

Oops! I meant over $100 million, not thousand. And to clarify, I was speaking only domestically, not worldwide. Thanks for catching that. It does make a slight difference. Also, from what I read, the 3D showings outperformed the 2D showings in terms of revenue.

If by 100k you really do mean $100,000, what is that? That’s barely a blip on ticket sales for a bomb, so if that is all the first few pulled in and some were concerts and specials i’m sure those ones really count as mainstream 3D yet, most of the money for those titles must’ve come through 2D.

anyway whatever the case 3D is certainly totally mainstream now and on a real roll

Interesting, I had thought that the 50’s 3D stuff had been big for 6-8 years, if not extending well into the 60’s continuously, judging from how people had talked! I guess I was wrong about that.

I guess I don’t think of the current trend as being 5 full years, since for the most part I never really heard much talk about it from anyone until shortly before Avatar. Pretty much nobody I knew had even seen a hollywood 3D movie this go around until last fall (and even historically speaking, almost none had seen any of the 80’s 3D releases either), so I was counting the current trend as only like 8-12 months long so far since it really didn’t seem mainstream to me until this fall, just the odd release at certain theaters in certain regions and almost soley pure computer rendered cartoons, which seems to me like a much less mainstream start than what it had been back (or at least I had imagine it had been and perhaps i’m wrong) in the 50’s.

Welcome aboard, ski…I always appreciate a convert (ha). And you show them, Justin, that people who wear glasses can adapt for the length of a movie.

I guess I’m the “oldster” in this group. My first 3D movie was 1953 (BWANA DEVIL). I was 8 years old (now 65). 50s 3D lasted approximately 2 years (1953-1954) with only one or two more in 1955 (REVENGE OF THE CREATURE). There were a couple in the 60s and 70s (ANDY WARHOL’S FRANKENSTEIN)(excluding the adult stuff). The 80s only lasted about 3 years (1982-1984) with STARCHASER in 1985. We are now in our 5th full year of digital 3D, so digital rules!

yeah, i don’t see what the big deal about the glasses are, heck those giant D&G sunglasses all the girls wear are like twice as big anyway haha

and skiing googles are a beast of whole nother level and nobody complains about those

i’m definitely on board with the current 3D trend (can’t comment on 50’s stuff, way, way, way before I was even born haha) and again this coming from someone had been pretty dubious about the whole thing coming in

Just my opinion: There were many good 3D films in the 50s (HOUSE OF WAX, CREATURE FROM THE BLACK LAGOON, IT CAME FROM OUTER SPACE, DIAL M FOR MURDER [HITCHCOCK], KISS ME KATE, HONDO, MISS SADIE THOMPSON, to name a few.) But, like 2D movies, there were a lot of bad ones too in terms of script, acting, dialog, etc. The problems leading to its demise was mainly poor projection (causing headaches), exploitation (hurl stuff in your face) and expense (dual-strip, e.g., twice the prints). You’re right about JAWS 3D. That and FRIDAY THE 13TH-3D did well, but the problem with 80s 3D was the switch to a a single-strip system (avoids the out-of-sync problem). A “beam splitter” provided the left and right images. The picture was neither as bright nor as sharp as dual-strip. It was lousy (so were most of the films). COMIN' AT YA! was downright unbearable to watch. Today’s digital 3D is far superior to anything that precedes it AND it’s being used much more wisely, as evidenced by the support it’s getting from the industry and the viewers. Even the glasses are more comfortable (BTW, red/blue was NOT used in the 50s, a common misconception…those films were polarized). I wish people would stop complaining about having to wear “dopey” glasses to see a 3D movie. We wear prescription glasses, sun glasses, swimming goggles, skiing goggles, etc. Get over it already!

saying that Jaws 3D was the highest grossing summer 3D film is like saying an Apple computer is the highest selling brand in an Apple store! In the 80’s 3D was a failure, most people never even saw a single 3D movie and the one that did the best was only 15th best for the year! The 1950’s trend obviously lasted longer than the current one (but I think, only because the current trend really only just started in any serious way, can’t make a comparison at this point).

Anyway I was one of those who hadn’t been that big on 3D and kind of thought it would be a waste, but after Avatar and Alice, I’ve definitely changed my mind.

(BTW Cameron absolutely was right that to really make 3D look real you have to use 3D cameras. I don’t know who all those fools were trashing him for saying that and claiming 2D conversion won’t be distinguishable and that with carefully converted films nobody will ever be able to tell! Alice was converted carefully and it was clear that is was a conversion (as to be expected barring actual magic). That said they did pull it off a lot better than I imagined and it certainly was cool. But very definitely you could tell easily that it was a conversion so I do hope they only use 3D cameras in the future. And I think the cheap quick 4-8 week conversions will look really flimsy.)

Anyway all that said the 3D, even if added on (carefully) afterwards, still did enhance Alice and the movie itself was way better than I had expected, nothing at all like the unwatchable Chocolate Factory which I couldn’t stomach for more than 10 minutes, Tim Burton is definitely back, very, very nice and well done movie. He’s had has abominations like Chocolate Factory and Apes, but this surely is not one of them.

Last week I asked the ticket taker when they will be getting more digital projectors. He thought I meant IMAX and said not anytime soon because of the expense. I then asked about RealD and he said that they will be adding a couple more of those but didn’t say when. As of this Friday, there will be three 3D movies playing: AVATAR (reduced to 2D), ALICE, AND DRAGON…and it’s going to get tighter throughout the year. I think we’ll see a significant growth rate in 3D screens this year cause “that’s where the money is”. This current “unnecessary, goofy glasses, gimmicky, headache-inducing, short-lived trend” (BLAH, BLAH, BLAH) has now outlasted both the 1950s and 1980s 3D waves and shows no signs of stopping!!!

Alice in Wonderland has a midnight IMAX showing on friday. I think when Clash of the Titans opens up on friday, then Alice will be playing in 2D, leaving Dragon and Clash to be in 3D and Clash will be in 2D as well. Iron Man 2 will play in IMAX 2D in May, then Shrek 4 will be out in 3D, 2D, and Imax, then Inception in IMAX, then Twilight Eclipse in IMAX, then Toy Story 3D in all formats, the list goes on!!! As more and more movies get 3D'ed or Imaxed, then it will be time for AMC to upgrade other screens with digital projectors alongside the two and the IMAX digital. What’s the latest, Slimshady?

woohoo….

I know….i must work harder to upgrade my nearly 6 year old hdtv with a 3d-ready one in 10 years when prices come down. It won’t be soon before 3D becomes common everywhere.