3-D may not be a boon for DVD
March 13, 2008

“It is nothing less than the greatest innovation that has happened to all of us in the movie business since the advent of color 70 years ago.” That’s DreamWorks Animation’s Jeffrey Katzenberg’s feeling about 3-D movies.

3-D was all the buzz at ShoWest in Las Vegas this week, where Katzenberg told theater owners that all of DWA’s animated movies will be in 3-D beginning with next spring’s Monsters vs. Aliens, despite the fact that 3-D will add about $15 million to the production cost of each film.

Katzenberg, a longtime leader of the 3-D band, pitched theaters owners by saying that consumers will pay a premium for a premium 3-D product, which was proved by ticket sales to Disney’s Hannah Montana/Miley Cyrus: Best of Both Worlds Concert Tour earlier this year, and that 3-D will distance the in-theater experience from in-home viewing.

There are only about 1,200 screens worldwide currently capable of 3D exhibition, but Katzenberg hopes that number will grow to 3,000 to 5,000 by Monsters vs. Aliens’ bow next spring. There are as many as 10 3-D movies coming to theaters next year.

3-D also was an issue, thought less so, at the CDSA replicators’ conference in La Quinta over the weekend, and I’m not sure the prognosticators there were reading the 3-D tea leaves right.

CDSA president Charles Van Horn framed 3-D as beneficial to the adoption of next-gen Blu-ray, as the format “will be able to deliver those 3-D films into the home provided the consumer electronics manufacturers develop screens capable of delivering the 3-D experience to consumers’ living rooms.”

That’s a lot of “provided” in there…provided TV screens will evolve quickly and affordably…provided Blu-ray adoption takes off…provided, according to Katzenberg, that consumers find a way to black-out their living rooms and sit really close to the TV so that the image fills their peripheral vision.

In the short term, it’s entirely possible that 3-D movies are going to come to the home market in 2-D versions, which could be perceived by consumers as unacceptably inferior to the theatrical versions.

With as many as 10 3-D films hitting theaters by 2009, this is something studio home video divisions and retailers are going to have to grapple with by this time next year, before Q4 2009 brings a bunch of blockbuster DVD releases that aren’t as good as they were in theater…

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Posted by Marcy Magiera on March 13, 2008 | Comments (1)