3D and timing helped push HOW TO TRAIN YOUR DRAGON into the top spot last weekend. The power of the PG rating over R rated fare certainly had something to do with it. KICK ASS should have been PG-13. And, it seems, the addition of the 3D gimmick could have helped.
But after visiting my local Best Buy and donning a pair of their pricey ($200) glasses, 3D might prove to ultimately be a bigger deal at home than in the theaters. Not only did MONSTERS VS. ALIENS look sharper and more 3D (is that right?) than what I remember from my theatrical experience, but there’s a possible “upconvert” option that is exciting. The Samsung set I watched had the ability to take normal Blu-Ray discs and convert them to something that approximates 3D. Now, everything you watch can have more depth. Insert joke here, but that means that the AVATAR Blu-Ray release might be 3D after all. And if a TV set costing less than $3K on sale can convert 2D to something like 3D, why does it cost $5 to $30 million to post-production covert theatrical films to 3D?
It should come as no surprise that DRAGON managed to handily take the weekend. BoxOfficeMojo.com smartly pointed out that it is likely that the Jennifer Lopez romantic comedy THE BACK-UP PLAN actually had more audience members over the weekend. However, given 3D ticket prices (accounting for 67 percent of DRAGON’s haul), the cash generated gave DRAGON a sizable edge. The Sunday estimates had DRAGON at a little over $15 million compared to PLAN’s little more that $12 million.
DRAGON’s numbers (totaling $178 million in just 31 days) affirms the power of 3D but also confirms that 3D is largely a gimmick that is financially successful with kid’s films (live-action CLASH’s success in the format has been mixed). But I suspect that the format’s version for home entertainment could prove to make the cross-over permanent as almost everything you watch is projected to some degree in three dimensions. The fellow at Best Buy told me that this year’s Masters was offered in 3D, and we’ve all heard that 3D cable stations are coming. The effect of bringing the glasses into our homes could mean that audiences will become more and more accustomed to wearing the shades and insist on watching everything that way.
But after seeing the home version with my own glasses enhanced eyes, I wondered aloud whether 3D was better on a small screen. Could the new advent of the format at home dramatically affect the theatrical market? You bet. And better yet for the consumer, watch 3D ticket prices fall over the next couple years as more of these 3D sets, even ones that may manage to ditch the glasses become the home norm. The spectacle associated with 3D is already beginning to wan. In a press release last week we learned that THE LAST AIRBENDER is being post-converted to 3D. This move is hardly surprising but with the ho-hum CLASH OF THE TITANS post-production conversion, the less than inspired AIRBENDER (now apparently dropping the Avatar designation) doesn’t look to reap much of a bounce.
And with 3D wedging itself into our homes, it won’t be long before my prediction that Woody Allen will make a film in that format comes horribly true.
