Why are theaters so 3D crazy?

I was wondering the same thing recently. A gf and I went to see Pirates of the Caribbean 4, for the midnight premiere, but we couldn’t find a regular showing of it; they were all in 3D. While we were there, we saw previews for upcoming movies that will also be in 3D.

The whole 3D thing is really blowing up now, and it’s actually kind of frustrating! Especially if it’s a movie I want to take my kids to see!

I have wondered this myself as I don’t think 3D adds to the movie experience in any way. I don’t like it. I thought it might make it more difficult to make pirate copies. I don’t think it is customer driven.

Strange, all our local cinemas show both formats. Usually less than an hour apart & this in lil ole England! Luckily my kids don’t mind watching in 3D, although they’re fine watching in standard too.

They show both versions in South Carolina theaters. I know that my friends watched the new Pirates movie in 2D.

It’s the current big marketing ploy to get you to discard all of your current entertainment equipment and purchase the new 3-D model.

It sucks when the theater does not have the non-3D version and if there was they time the showings in such a way that the 3D plays when there are more people like at 7:30 pm. The non-3D already started at 6 pm.

Very manipulative and I won’t be surprised if consumers’ complaints increase soon enough. Plus 3D glasses dim the screen at least 35 percent in my view. I take my 3D glasses off when the scene does not really need one. I feel I’m being robbed. Enjoyed Thor in normal screen more than the 3D version.

I think it’s a fad/hype way for movie houses to charge more and also to try to take more customers from other theaters, and perhaps in theory, win more sales over home viewing.

Ironically, they’re starting to sell special glasses you can wear to “take out” the 3-D in a movie and watch it in 2D

I have the same dilemma. I have an astigmatism, so I can’t see in 3D at all, even in the real world. So I guess I’ll also just be watching movies on DVD from now on as well…

I can’t wait for this fad to be over. I have a hard time watching 3D stuff because I need my glasses to see, and wearing them plus the 3D glasses makes things feel weird.

I’m with Seelix….I will also be glad when this 3D shit is over. It gives me a headache.

Hell yeah. Fight the POWER! Theater anarchy!!! Fuck yeah! :)

It’s all about money.

It’s what’s in, it’s what’s hot, it’s the fad. I don’t really understand why, it doesn’t even look all that awesome. Also I’m tired of every damn new horror movie I buy having 3D at the end of the title. It will surely pass I imagine. They had a 3D phase back in the eighties…that died. But then, for what it looked like…XD

Many, many people have big screen HD TVs at home now. Home is comfy. You don’t have to buy extra food unless you want to. No bus or train to take downtown, no car ride to the multiplex at the mall, and movies are losing money. Theaters have to do something to make themselves different than you staying home and waiting for the DVD. I’ll bet in 50–75 years, movie theaters will be a thing of the past.

@aprilsimnel Kind of like drive in theaters, maybe. We actually have one here, but from what I know, these are pretty much extinct. You bring up a good point, but I think the transition for the theater business to survive will have to be bigger than just 3D movies.
We also have to consider that movie production is what offers the 3D effect, and not the theaters creating any 3D. They just use what they’re given, but granted, that may very well go hand in hand. Maybe 3D televisions are way too expansive, but the prices are dropping fast enough that people won’t pay all the money it takes to go see a movie. I wonder what the next big thing to stay will be?

@Symbeline :: The theaters actually have to be retrofitted to display 3D. It isn’t cheap. More info is here

And I might add that I was a projectionist for 3 years and this shit would have driven me to quit.

The cartoons that are created to be seen in 3D work well. I thoroughly enjoyed Gnomeo & Juliet 3D but the live-action movies that are converted post-production suck donkey testicles.

Theaters are loosing a lot of business for a lot of different reasons.
A big one is computer gaming, especially MMORPG’s (Massive Multiplayer Online Role Play Gaming), my fav of which is Star Trek Online.

Why just watch a movie when you can be part of it, co-creating it?!

Still, there is something so fun about going to a movie w/ friend or friends, even just alone!
The big container of buttered popcorn, tons of treats I would hardly eat regularly, the smell of the theater itself, seeing others there with your interest viewing the same movie at the same time…. fun, fun, fun.

But fact still has it, computer gaming and I suppose the price of theaters nowadays can cost them some revenue and they need gimmicks.

There was a time they had “Smell-A-Vision”

They also have theaters here in Minneapolis where the seats move!

giggle