News

3-D Swamps Under-Screened Cinemas

By Robert Marich
    Feb 16, 2010 – There’s a bottleneck of not-enough 3-D cinema screens to handle the growing tide of 3-D films and some worry that some quick conversions of 2-D movies to 3-D will undermine quality, says a Wall Street Journal article.
   The bottleneck problem occurs when 3-D films such as Avatar are still doing brisk business after 3-4 weeks when the next big 3-D film makes its debuts, putting a squeeze on screens.
   About 10% of the nation’s 40,000 screens were 3-D at the start of the year. About 250 screens are converted each month, which suggest about 7,000 3-D cinema screens will be operating at end year.
   “Early next month, Walt Disney Co.’s Alice in Wonderland will hit theaters at a time when Avatar is still running and hoping to capitalize on the Academy Awards, where it was nominated in nine categories,” says the WSJ article by Lauren A. E. Schuker and Ethan Smith. “Some theater owners worry they will not have enough screens to play both films. Avatar has grossed $2.4 billion (worldwide) so far.”
   The article says that Warner Bros.’ Clash of the Titans is undergoing an 11th-hour conversion into 3-D and is scheduled to open a week after DreamWorks Animation’s How to Train Your Dragon. Unfortunately, some 3-D screens will likely still be playing Alice in Wonderland when the two new titles make their debut.
   There are worries that 2-D films reconfigured to 3-D will disappoint moviegoers because they weren’t originally conceived to showcase 3-D and perhaps rush to complete the process.
In any case, film distributors are jumping on the bandwagon because audiences eagerly pay $3 premium for 3-D showings of movies.
   “For big-budget movies that come with a global audience, a 3-D version may increase a film's profits by about 25%,” says the WSJ article. “Avatar consistently sold out its higher-priced 3-D and IMAX screens before its 2-D ones; 75% of its revenue came from 3-D screenings.”
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online.wsj.com/article/SB10001424052748703562404575067671820288834.html (subscription required)

www.marketingmovies.net/chapters/chapter-8-exhibition-theaters/ (free)

www.marketingmovies.net/news/pr-beowulf-3d-screens-outperform/ (free)

www.marketingmovies.net/news/wsj-can-3d-save-hwood/ (free)