Analysis: Will "Meet the Robinsons” and 3D Technology Transform the Movie Industry?

Authored by Jay Baage on March 28, 2007 - 8:13pm.

A topic that came up frequently during Digital Media Wire’s recent Future of Film conference was that digital 3D-technology is a beacon of light for the movie industry. I got the feeling that 3D can be a game-changing technology - a feeling that was supported on Wednesday when the heads of the top U.S. movie theater chain Regal Entertainment Group and largest independent animation studio, DreamWorks Animation SKG, came out and gave their best predictions for what 3D can mean for the movie business.

Michael Campbell, chairman and CEO of Regal Entertainment Group, said at a Bank of America conference that box office results from the handful of films made with digital three-dimensional technology released so far convinced him of the "potential advantages for theaters, not just studios" in switching to digital projection systems that support modern 3D technology. Campbell told analysts that audiences were not only willing to pay premium ticket prices for 3D films, but that they also preferred them by a 2-to-1 margin (!).

"What that is going to mean for our industry in a few years when we have thousands of digital 3D screens ... if we can sell 10 to 15 percent higher (priced) tickets, that is a needle mover," Campbell said, according to Reuters.

DreamWorks Chief Executive Jeffrey Katzenberg furthermore told analysts in a separate session that nearly every major Hollywood studio plans to make "big event films" in 3D for release in 2009. He added that one day, "the mainstream of moviemaking is going to be the 3D experience ... and consumers will pay a premium."

Katzenberg pointed to an upcoming slate of digital 3D films from top directors, including Steven Spielberg, Robert Zemeckis, James Cameron and and Peter Jackson would hurry along the digital transition in theaters, which so far had been "slow to embrace" the new technology.

"If half their business is a premium business, that changes the whole economics of the business," he said. "The momentum is gathering. This is the most exciting thing that has happened in the business since I have been in the business."

Katzenberg went as far as saying that if enough theaters have converted to digital 3D by the 2009 release of "Monsters vs. Aliens," he would consider releasing the film only in that format, and making a 2D version available only on DVD.

In my blog from Future of Film, I noted that film industry executives see 3D-technology as a way for theaters to offer an experience that is not available to people in the homes, no matter how big and fancy home cinema system they get.

With digital 3D, the studios and the theaters can agree on that the investment in new digital projectors make economic sense. This offers new hope to an industry that is challenged by an ever growing supply of entertainment options that compete for the audiences' time and attention.

Digital 3D has the potential to revolutionize the movie industry, the same way that the DVD transformed the business some years ago. But it comes down to that simple truth that still holds in Hollywood - it's all about the content. However, the slate of 3D films being developed looks promising indeed and this weekend we can expect a solid indication of the future success of 3D when Disney releases its new animated film, "Meet the Robinsons," to 701 digital 3D screens, the largest such release ever.

Joakim Baage

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Comments

Potential for 3D movies to go mainstream

Submitted by anonymous (not verified) on April 15, 2007 - 12:01am.

I am convinced that 3d stereo (glasses needed) movies will become the way more than 50% of people in the industrialized world will opt to see animation films. Maybe 3 to 5 a year, on an on-going basis. In addition, special effect blockbusters, with human actors, will appeal to audiences and support another 5 to 7 general release 3D movies, on an ongoing basis.Finally, in the home market, I suspect the porn industry will have about 5% of their sales coming from 3D HD Sony Blue Ray disks using different glasses than the theaters will offer. 3D is also likely to impact the video game business and education on computers and game machines. It work out to about 5% across the board, average out!