3-D another fad for profit-hungry studios

• Source: Global Times
• [10:15 May 19 2010]
• Comments

By Paul LePetit

How to Train Your Dragon joins Clash Of the Titans in Shanghai cinemas this week, one delivering giant spurts of flames into your face and the other muscular mythical warriors wrestling themselves right into your lap - the gifts of 3-D filmmaking.

Following the runaway success of Avatar, filmmakers and studios are rushing to add that extra dimension to new films (Harry Potter's next two adventures will be in 3-D) and reviving old films.

There is talk of Spiderman going 3-D and insiders suggest the next James Bond movie, if it gets made, might be shaken and stirred in 3-D as well.

Televisions that can screen 3-D movies and sport (some of the World Cup games are being filmed in 3-D) are already on sale - but don't throw out good old 2-D yet.

3-D, as it has been throughout the years, is just a fad, a fashion that may very well go the way of other cinema fads like Cinerama, Odorama (yes, there were films that offered audiences appropriate smells for different scenes), Percepto (which delivered mild electric shocks during a William Castle horror film), and Sensurround (which promised you'd feel earthquake tremors).

Cinema is show business and these days studios put the accent on the business part. 3-D has been around for years in various forms - the first 3-D film was made in 1890 and it has been used off and on ever since.

Alfred Hitchcock used it quite tellingly in Dial M For Murder (1954) but although several brave directors using different technologies tried it, it was not until IMAX films began using it for documentaries that it began to be taken seriously.

Now with James Cameron heading the charge, studios want to leap on the 3-D gravy train. Avatar, Alice In Wonderland, Clash Of the Titans and How to Train Your Dragon have all exceeded box office expectations.

And that is why studios are focusing on 3-D. It helps that the ticket price for 3-D films is also a lot more than for ordinary films.

And so far they seem to be unpiratable in a world where a new release is often only "new" for a few days.

Chinese filmmakers too are joining the gold rush.

The China Film Group Corporation (CFGC), a major production house and distributor, has two animated 3-D films in the pipeline, according to company spokesman Weng Li.

The CFGC movies are likely to follow the release of The Tangshan Earthquake from one of China's most commercially successful directors, Feng Xiaogang.

Feng said he will adapt the film of the devastating 1976 earthquake into a 3-D version.

China has screened several foreign movies and two domestic movies in 3-D, the CFGC said.

However, Avatar has prompted a spike in 3-D investment, Weng said.

A senior manager with the CFGC said: "The huge potential for 3-D movies is luring more investment and it will take only one or two years for Chinese studios to mature in 3-D production."

China has about 1,100 3-D screens, a third of the total number of cinema screens, and cinema companies are upgrading constantly.

But there are some major problems.