The Rise and Fall of 3D?

I wonder what that graph would look like if those movies had come out in reverse order?

LOL, that was my thought too...

Part of the problem is also that the infrastructure still doesn't exist in a lot of cineplexes to accommodate multiple 3D movies. If multiple 3D movies premiere close to one another there often are not enough screens to accommodate them all and lots of folks will have to settle for a 2D presentation. Avatar had all the 3D screens pretty much to itself; that isn't the case for movies being released today.

almostinsane, you can't believe everything you read. Why isn't Clash of the Titans on this revenue graph? Or Alice in Wonderland or Ice Age 3D or G-force? I bet the chart really is more like a wave pattern. To expect every toon flick that comes out to beat the last in this economy is asking a little too much. And to expect ANY MOVIE to hold the line with AVATAR is ludicrous, and to put Despicable Me as the final proof of poor showing- C'mon. Who even wanted to see that? And it still got 45% of it's revenue from 3D screens! I bet by the time Tron Legacy comes out in December, there will be an uptrend in the graph. But again, the graph is not showing the total story of revenue because of the omissions. Hollywood only makes a small percentage of the total revenue that can be generated thru the actual screenings in the first few weeks. It's the dvd/bluray/ppv window that really brings in the dough because it's continous: the home market- and there will be demand there.
I don't mind Mr. Nolan not shooting his films in 3D. I wish he would, but it's ok. My Plasma will do the 3D conversion for him, again, when it's at home in Blu-ray where it's nice and bright. I'll still go see Inception at the theaters, but only in D-box. In a 3D AV forum, how else do you expect me to react?

Yup, what is missing is the fact that multiple 3-D movies are playing at once, and there are only so many capable screens. DISPICABLE ME opened on far fewer 3-D screens than some of the earlier movies did, because TOY STORY 3 and even the horrible LAST AIRBENDER mess are also still in release.

Are the 3-D releases coming too close together is the real question.

I can only imagine that graph raising up again when the likes of Tron, Harry Potter, Chronicles of Narnia etc come out in 3D later this year.

Boy did you just call it!

The graph is misleading because it is only plotting gross revenue from 3-D screenings. To have any meaning, the graph would also need to factor in the number of 3-D screenings vs. the number of 2-D screenings for each title.

I have read elsewhere that Despicable Me debuted on fewer 3-D screens than any other 3-D release this year. Link. That would certainly account for a smaller percentage of its gross earnings being attributable to 3-D.

Statistics can be massaged to prove just about any point that one wants to make.

also more people are on vacation with family`s before school starts.

One thing that nobody mentioned yet is what audience those movies cater to (as well as the things other people mentioned). You start with Avatar which is definitely aimed more towards adults, an follow it with movies aimed more towards kids. I know that when we take our son to movies now we don't do 3D because the glasses annoy him and don't fit well and cause more trouble than it is worth. I wouldn't be surprised at all if other people have the same issue. Plus I don't mind not forking over the extra money to see a kids movie in 3D as opposed to a movie I would enjoy more.

I also agree with the gross sales amount being a bit misrepresentative. They need to somehow account for how many screens were playing 3D vs 2D.

From The Hollywood Reporter:

Despicable Me = 1,500 3D screens out of 3,476 total

The Last Airbender = 1,606 3D screens out of 3,169 total

Toy Story 3 = 2,000 3D screens out of 4,028 total

IMO, it has nothing to do with the number of screens that a 3D movie is playing on, nor does it have to do with the public losing interest in 3D movies.

It has everything to do with the huge premium Hollywood and NATO has stuck on 3D movie tickets and we are seeing the backlash now. They are literally pricing themselves out of the market with their greed.

as people start to get fatigue from paying high prices for 3D movies, there will be pressure on cinemas to cut that '3D tax'. They'll have made back their investments by then so no big deal.

They'll have to move from a 'lets make more money out of these saps by charging way more for tickets' model, to a 'lets charge the same but keep audience figures higher than normal because of 3D' model.

+1, This! If ticket prices were the same (which it should be) then many more people would be opting for the 3D experience, me included. At the moment with the extra charges and most 3D being done post production (fake 3D) it's just not worth it. The only 3D movie I have seen is Avatar and I saw it twice. All the others I have opted for the 2D showings.

I see nothing wrong with a small increase for a 3D movie ticket - like $1.50 - $2 per ticket. By me it is $3.50 per ticket. It can be as high as $8 in a major city like NYC.

Exactly. I think $1.50 more would be the sweet spot.

All I know is that in the 80's the ticket price was the same for a 2D or a 3-D movie. The theaters recycle the glasses, so they can not use that as an excuse.

I went to see Inception in IMAX on Friday and the ticket was $17.50. What's gonna happen with 3D IMAX? For a family with 2 or 4 kids, I just don't see folks paying the premium. I guess I'll get to check it out with the re-release of Avatar next month.

Bad example - 80's 3D. By that time they went with a single camera using a beam splitter to record L & R images within a single 35mm frame - then a single projector to present it so there was no cost difference.

Today, they are converting film theaters to digital theaters at about a cost of $100,000 per screen plus the 3D add on and associated expenses.

How good does imax 3d look

Many theaters were digital before this latest 3D craze, so that is a bad example.

No - it's a good example - the Digital Cinema Initiative is working with a plan to add 14,000 digital screens over the next 5 years.

There are less than 5,000 3D digital screens in the USA out of a total of 34,000

3D is for smart people.

who is going to watch an upgraded 3D movie?

Tron will be the first reallife motion picture after Avatar. lets see how it will perform in 3D.

Does Tron come out before Resident Evil: Afterlife? RE used the same 3-D technology used on Avatar.

Do you always have to be right?

I never professed to be. As a matter of fact, if I am wrong about something, I would hope that someone would correct me. This isn't the only forum I post on.

That was meant to be a joke. I see your posts here, Highdef digest, bluray.com.

I didn't see the or a . . . my bad.

No bluray.com