The 3D Movie Fad Is Already Dying

For the past few years, 3D has been the best gimmick for movies.  Get to see some, if not all, of the movie in 3D and you can hike up the cost of the ticket a few bucks.  Now you can buy 3D Blu Ray players for your 3D TVs at home.  While many have called 3D the next evolution in the movie experience, there is a belief that this is just another fad that will die out.  Somebody pull out the living will, because it looks like 3D is on its way to its deathbed.

Usually, big blockbuster films pull in 60% of its business from its 3D release, new releases "Pirates of the Caribbean: On Stranger Tides" and "Kung Fu Panda 2" have seen less than a 50% return from 3D ticket sales.  Part of the problem is high ticket sales and that the novelty is wearing off.  However, Greg Foster, president of Imax Filmed Entertainment believes a big problem lies in movies that are only using 3D as a gimmick.

"Audiences are very smart.  When they smell something aspiring to be more than it is, they catch on very quickly."

Movies that were designed start-to-finish to be a 3D experience like "Avatar" and "Alice In Wonderland" had incredible sales of 3D tickets, but a lot of other films (such as Pirates and Panda) only seem to be throwing 3D in to gouge the audience for more money.

3D isn't dead yet.  Movies like "Transformers: Dark of the Moon" and "Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows part 2" are expected to bring in a good amount of 3D revenue, but will it be enough to keep 3D going?

I've only been to one 3D film so far, and I wasn't impressed.  Maybe it was partially due to "Tron: Legacy" just not being a great film to begin with, but I honestly couldn't tell what parts of the film were supposed to be 3D.   By the time the credits ran, the best 3D effect was the Disney Logo at the start of the film.

via NY Times