As Hollywood studios and national movie chains search for new ways to get consumers into theaters, they’re turning back to 3-D for their future.
Studios have announced plans to release a record 25 or more 3-D titles over the next two years, including a remake of the hit "The Nightmare Before Christmas" that premieres Sunday(Oct. 19).
Movie theaters, meanwhile, are rolling out 3-D-capable screens in record numbers.
This month, a consortium of theater owners -- including the AMC, Cinemark and Regal chains -- announced an agreement with five Hollywood studios to spend nearly $ 1 billion to install at least 14,000 digital projection systems in theaters across North America over the next several years. That would nearly triple the number of digital theaters in North America.
Despite financing concerns amid the meltdown of the banking system, backers say some of the first digital screens from the agreement could open the first quarter of next year.
"We’re going to push forward as quickly as possible," said Rich Manzione, vice president of strategic development for the Digital Cinema Implementation Partners consortium.
Digital movie projection systems are key to the newest 3-D movie technology. Today’s digital cinema projectors -- the vast majority of which are made by Dallas-based Texas Instruments Inc. -- create 3-D images with a single machine, while old 3-D technology required two projectors running the same film simultaneously.
The new projectors send one image intended for the viewer’s left eye and one for the right. Special polarized eyeglasses prevent the right eye from seeing the left-eye movie, and vice versa. The brain combines the two projections into a single 3-D image.
The reason why Hollywood is hot for 3-D is simple. With big-screen televisions, DVDs, high-definition and pay-per-view movies now commonplace, fewer consumers are going to theaters.
"This gives (theater owners) the chance to provide something that consumers can’t get at home," Manzione said.
It also lets them charge higher prices and reap higher profits. Theaters typically charge a few dollars more for 3-D productions than they do for 2-D productions.
Recent 3-D projects have been well received.
"Journey to the Center of the Earth," billed as the first live-action feature filmed in the latest 3-D technology, opened at No. 3 at the box office in July.
Most notably, theaters that showed the 3-D version of the film sold about three times as many tickets as theaters that showed the film in 2-D.
A 3-D concert video from Walt Disney Studios, "Hannah Montana & Miley Cyrus: Best of Both Worlds" debuted at
No. 1 when it premiered in February.
The top-grossing 3D film of all time came from Austin, Texas filmmaker Robert Rodriguez. His "Spy Kids 3-D," released in July 2003, grossed an estimated $ 197 million worldwide. It cost $ 38 million to make. (NYT)
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