3DOh My God

If you had told me that 3D would come back ten years ago, I would have told you you were crazy. It’s always seemed kitschy and dated. You can only watch it with those red and blue glasses that never quite worked well.

And then it came back. They started making things in 3D. It became the next big thing all of a sudden. Who would have thought that something that came out of the Fifties would become the next technology fad?

So now virtually every movie comes out in 3D. Harry Potter, it’s been put out in 3D. Pirates of the Caribbean? Yup, it’s been out in 3D. If they made a documentary of dust bunnies, I think they would make it in 3D.

Or would it?

I read an article about a week or two ago that said that 3D movies are under performing their 2D counterparts. “Kung Fu Panda 2 3D” was released to less than expected in its opening week. The same could be said for “Pirates of the Caribbean: On Stranger Tides”.

So, why is 3D not as popular now?

My guess would be the inundation of 3D. Everything was(is) being released in 3D. The Nintendo DS just released the 3DS. You can have a 3D TV in your house. Every movie has a 3D counterpart. There have been ads about how 3D TV makes your life look better. It’s ridiculous.

A vast majority of movies that have been released in 3D look almost like they’re dioramas. Now, for “Alice in Wonderland”, that worked great. Mostly it fell, pardon the pun, flat. The only things that are worth watching in 3D are either animation or things that were originally shot in 3D.

Frankly, I think 3D has been done to death. It’s still not done quite properly. The technology isn’t really there yet. I don’t think that, at this point, 3D can be done better. The glasses are one size and don’t necessarily fit all heads. And for some people, they don’t work at all.

Maybe we should just give 3D a rest, wait a few years and come back to it later.