How long will 3D movies be around?

[SGOS]

No, 2D is still the most popular.  Around here, 90% of the projection time seems to be devoted to 2D.  I suppose it's because some people can't watch 3D, and some people like me don't care enough about it to pay the extra $3.  Roger Ebert carried on an outright attack campaign against it.  I never understood why, but it seemed like he was trying to drive it out of the theaters all together.  Maybe I misread him, but I sensed an ulterior motive, although I couldn't begin to guess what it might be.

[Gawdzilla Sama]

Who were you responding to?

[SGOS]

To  you, although it was a general comment.  You just said something that got me thinking, and the thing about Roger Ebert just seems to stick in my mind.  I really liked Ebert, but he just seemed to have an unusual bug up his ass that has continually perplexed me.  Whether people want to see things in 3D or not doesn't seem like it would pose some kind of threat to the quality of movies, so I don't see a reason to be opposed to 3D.

I've just started noticing that 3D seems to be generating less interest as time goes by.  Since I was looking forward to it so much, and then lost interest myself just seems to point to a pattern, albeit a rather mundane pattern that doesn't necessarily foretell where things will go.  And like you, I don't expect 3D to go away again, nor am I hoping that it will.

[Gawdzilla Sama]

The increase in sales of 3D TVs bodes well for the process, especially for the people who retro-fit 3D onto old movies.

[stromboli]

The increase in sales of 3D TVs bodes well for the process, especially for the people who retro-fit 3D onto old movies porn.

ftfy. 

[Hijiri Byakuren]

3D isn't a turn-off for me, but I don't go out of my way to see movies in 3D. I don't even turn it on when I play my 3DS very often. Strains my eyes after awhile.

[Gawdzilla Sama]

Having survived "Adventures in the Forbidden Zone" I appreciate the current 3D technology. I think that everybody who doesn't like it should be rounded up and kept in tunnels under abandoned Wal-Marts until they either come around to the acceptable attitude or they're processed into Soylent Green.

Just my personal opinion, of course.

[the_antithesis]

[Gawdzilla Sama]

3D would be one facet of those numbers. How good were the movies in 3D?

[SGOS]

Here's the link to the above graph:

http://deadline.com/2014/02/2014-box-office-will-be-hurt-by-diminishing-popularity-of-3d-movies-analyst-676253/

The year will have 28 films in 3D â€" down from 34 last year and a peak of 39 in 2011 â€" which is one reason why Morgan Stanley’s Benjamin Swinburne says today that he expects this year’s domestic ticket sales to fall as much as 2%.  Another reason: The analyst predicts that audience interest in 3D will continue to cool. He foresees 3D showings to account for just 39% of the total box office for films released in 3D, the lowest ratio in seven years and down from 42% in 2013 and 53% in 2012. The exhibition companies he tracks already are hurting from these trends. Consumers’ average outlay per admission  in Q1 will rise just 0.5% as price increases of about 2.5% are offset by lower sales of the premium priced tickets for 3D movies.

Yeah, OK.  Things are disappointing for investors.  But is this glass half empty or half full?  I know investors get grumpy when any kind of sales go down, but 3D sales are only disappointing, not a catastrophe.  So instead of thinking sales are down, maybe you could look at as sales were up for a short while.  In fact, they are still up, just not as much up from the first years 3D started.  Unless I'm missing something, 3D is still adding revenue to an already successful industry.  So the movie industry will just have to go back to the bleaker past where its executives made millions and millions.  Apple computer turned out a lot of failed ideas in the past, and Apple is still doing fine.  Wish I would have bought their stock 30 years ago.

I think Steven Spielberg warned that movie theaters would become a thing of the past.  I think it was because of streaming and home theaters.  I'm still doubtful about that.  At any rate 3D doesn't have anything to do with it.  Maybe Spielberg is worried that he may have to go back to earning millions and millions like he did when times were hard.

[SGOS]

3D would be one facet of those numbers. How good were the movies in 3D?

For a while 3D seemed to have attached itself to lower quality movies.  I think that's changed as most of the sci fi blockbusters are now coming out in 3D.  They started with mostly animations, and 3D entered traditional films with Avatar, which was an incredible movie as well as an incredible 3D experience.  After that, it seemed like they started using 3D to increase interest in some of the box office bombs.  But even using it with the blockbusters, they sell more tickets for the 2D versions.  I was disappointed with Jurassic World in 3D, but I saw it on a huge IMAX screen, where 3D anomalies may have been more distracting.

[Gawdzilla Sama]

I'll wait to see how it parses out when 3D and 2D cost the same at the box office.