3D to save Theatrical?

Copied from Aint It Cool News (and edited for space)
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Hey folks,

Harry here in Austin to address all this hubbub about 3D filmmaking. Well - where to begin? Ok - I'll start here. Film is dying. And frankly, we're the reason. The internet. I love the internet, I've sunk untold thousands into AICN out of my inheritance, my book deal - I've written articles for foreign publications just to keep the lights on here at AICN, and I love all of you.

Gee that's great Harry, we love you too. But please don't hug us...ever.

However, online piracy is a very bitter reality. Having said that... this isn't the first threat to film. Radio pulled people out of theaters, the industry reacted with sound. At that time, sound scared filmmakers to death. I know it's hard to believe, but there was a great deal of resistance to it, the theaters had to get expensive equipment. It completely changed how movies were made. But soon there was no going back.

Harry this MIGHT be a good argument if it weren't utter crap. Records had more to do with sound on film than radio ever did... Didn't the Jazz Singer star a popular singer whose records sold like hotcakes at the time? Radio became the medium by which companies sold records - people heard it then bought it. Originally, they thought radio was going to kill record sales - but it skyrocketed them through the roof.

This is exactly what is happening today with the internet. People are downloading one song then buying the album. The record companies got hit because, unlike the DVD companies they kept prices overinflated.

There is a Harvard Business school study that was profiled on 20/20 that postulates and has correlated data that says for all the downloads etc... record companies are really only losing the cost of one album for every ten thousand sold.

Then there was television. Suddenly with visual entertainment in homes, audiences dropped off. The industry responded with many of their films coming in color. Television went that route too, then we got CINEMASCOPE. Theaters had to change the shape of their screens... hell, in many cases new theaters were built just for the format. Around this time, 3D came in too. However, the dual projectors was often times seen as too expensive to implement - so the RED & BLUE cheapo route came about - and it gave 3D a bad name....

Cinemascope, Cinerama, etc...didn't do dick for reviving theatrical business when it was hit in the fifties. A little company called A.I.P. has been credited by the National Alliance of Theater Owners (NATO) with single-handedly reviving theaters in the fifties with its films.

Bottom line: If studios want to make money at theaters then they need to make it worth it. Ten bucks a head is a lot of money. They also need to head piracy off at the pass by enforcing existing legislation and creating discs that can't be copied.

3D is cool. I have a friend and his company is doing 3D projects. Great.

But the saviour of theatrical and DVD? That's a bit much to put on the shoulders of a system that hasn't that great of a track record with consumers.

Let's let the system evolve, and become economically viable.

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