Jeffrey Katzenberg Sees the Future in 3-D
Jeffrey Katzenberg firmly believes in 3-D and told the audience at the inaugural 3DX Film and Entertainment Technology Festival, "In five to seven years, all films, regardless of budgets or type, will be made in 3-D."
As seen this year and reported yesterday, more and more animated films and concert films are being shot for 3-D using improved technology. Katzenberg, according to The Hollywood Reporter, continued to say, "3-D is how we see, how we take things in. It’s natural. This is not a gimmick; it’s an opportunity to immerse the audience, to heighten the experience."
The DreamWorks co-founder and former Disney executive foresees a day when 3-D technology will be available on mobile phones and laptops. "This is not my father’s 3-D," he said. "There’s no ghosting, no eye strain and best of all, you don’t throw up. Throwing up is not good for anyone’s business."
Producer John Landau added that 3-D would "do for cinema what stereo did for the audio industry." He says the immediate challenge is to get movie audiences to see 3-D as something other than a gimmick from B-films and the 1950s. Once accepted, he says the sky’s the limit.
"Consumers clearly prefer 3-D if they have a choice," Katzenberg said. 3-D films are estimated as being able to earn two to three times the business of a standard 2-D release.
Disney leads the pack with eleven films currently scheduled for release between 2009 and 2010. DreamWorks’ next 3-D offering will be March’s Monsters vs. Aliens and Katzenberg estimates nearly 40% of the ticket sales will come from 3-D fans. He predicts the percentage will jump to over 80 for Shrek 4 in 2010.
Stressing the technical advances that made the latest incarnation of 3-D different from past efforts, Katzenberg said 3-D "will bring people back to the movies who have stopped going."
3-D films are estimated as being able to earn two to three times the business of a standard 2-D release.At least part of that is that, up till now, most 3D films have mostly run heavily in IMAX theatres, where tickets cost much more than for non-IMAX houses.
Well, I think part of the resistance from the general public is that they've been burned before. "Presented in 3-D" is often a death knell to a film's box office reciepts because it's usually thrown onto a film that's barely worth watching at all, let alone enduring the silly glasses. Get rid of the glasses and make it work… then I'll be impressed.