Around 2005, our film experiences were served up a new experience which had been used in cinema as early as even the Fifties when a creature emerged from a Black Lagoon to scare movie fans in the format we know as 3-D
Previous attempts to use 3-D have occurred since the Fifties, most notably in the Eighties especially in the Threequel, Jason stalked his victims on a Friday the 13th and movie’s most famous great white shark, Jaws attacked Seaworld, causing as much damage and bad press as Blackfish has done since its release in the real world
It was used as a gimmick to add much needed excitement to the Elm Street Franchise, yes for around 20 minutes, you got to see Freddy Kruger die in 3-D in Freddy’s Dead, the not so Final Nightmare, Robert Rodriguez saw value in it and had some fun with his Spy Kids franchise but the less said about Shark Boy and Lava Girl the better =)
But all that changed in 2005 when directors like Stephen Spielberg and James Cameron through their weight behind it, in an attempt to deter piracy and monster hits for both directors have followed with TinTin and Avatar
But for every success story, you will read about the post conversion 3-D process which has given us the almost 2-D Clash of the Titans for example (A post I read that sums it up states that by removing glasses and you can tell how 3-D a film is by how blurry it is)
The trouble for most is whilst 3D has been away, we have attended IMAX shows and attraction shows such as Cinema 2000 where we expect to have things come from the screen and practically be in our lap (I have vivid nightmares of this from a Honey, I Shrunk the Kids show, where a large snake was the 3-D image leaving the screen for my lap)
3-D is used now as part of the film, not the gimmick in your face way of the past, it does especially work for depth, I remember this particularly well with going down the rabbit hole in Tim Burton’s Alice in Wonderland and most recently Everest where we saw the drops our climbers faced
For me though 3-D is still best suited for the Horror genre where there is of course every reason to have images leave the screen for our laps, the last Final Destination and Saw films both had spikes etc kill their victims and leave the point and blood splatter head our way, Shark Night and 2 Piranha films have had the creatures come for us from the screen too
Animation is another genre where the young will love the raised images, Minions sticking their tongues out at us, Ice age stars Sid, Manny and co and Toy Story heroes Woody, Buzz and Co have all left the screen for their laps recently too
Of course for cinemas there is the added bonus, with the added charge for seeing a film in 3-D, rightly or wrongly those extras £1-3 to see a 3-D film will have an effect on profits when it’s a Marvel or the forthcoming Star Wars film on release in the format (that could rise as in the US it has been announced there will be 5 different types of character designed 3-D glasses for Star Wars which I’m sure one of our chains will follow)
I’ve never seen a film on the strength of being in 3-d or not but do like the option, I certainly didn’t complain when X-Men: Days of Future Past and the forthcoming Mockingjay Part 2 have given me the change to see Jennifer Lawrence in 3-D and it has to be said, having seen trailers for The Walk, 3-D has made me consider the film when I had written it off as having seen the original documentary Man on a Wire didn’t see point of it
Home 3-D viewers are being treated to post conversion of classic films such as Predator, Top Gun and Jurassic Park to let them experience the film in another way and I having never seen it still hope that one day I can see Jaws 3 with the 3-D restored
What are your thoughts of 3-D, like it or loath it? Do you have a favourite 3-D moment? Do you have a character or film you would love to see in 3-D? Why not let us know
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