Why 3D is a waste of money

Unlike what Hollywood tries to pawn off on a misinformed consumer, 3D technology is nothing new. The first 3D film I saw was in 1990, I was 10 years old and on a family trip to Walt Disney World in Orlando, Florida. In one of the Disney theaters, I was presented with a 3D short film. The visuals were spectacular; Goofy was only inches from my face. It felt like if I reached out, that I could actually touch the characters.

Now fast forward 23 years to the present, 3D movies in comparison are terrible. Take The Avengers for example, released last year. In a movie lasting 143 minutes, only 10 seconds of it could actually be considered 3D. The rest of the movie was simply holographic. Think back to a holographic baseball card you may have had as a kid, or even the holographic image glued to the slipcover of the 3D Blu-ray for The Avengers; it shows depth, but you can still tell it's a flat card. That's all the movie shows, depth, with the occasional "jump off the screen" moment. Each scene that showed any true 3D laster a 1/2 second, spread throughout the movie, it adds up to about 10 seconds in total. Despite the movie being mainly holographic, it wasn't entirely. Toward the end of the movie, when you see reactions on the TV, that's a flat shot. No holographic effects at all. Then in the following scene when everyone is standing by their cars, we go back to the holographic imagery. In Coraline (2009) this happens quite often. The so-called "3D" is turned off so much, that it feels like a 2D movie.

Why are people paying extra for a mediocre experience, one that is over 20 years old? Since Hollywood was losing theater viewership for the more comfortable and personal home theater experience, they decided to pull an old technology off the shelf, blow the dust away, and pretend it's new. But it's not new, instead they took an old technology and made it even worse. The 3D movie I saw 23 years ago is far superior to the junk Hollywood is producing today. And people are paying a premium to get ripped off. That's why when I had a choice between a reasonably high ticket price to see Iron Man 3 in 2D or an outrageous ticket price to see Iron Man 3 in 3D, I choose the 2D version. Not just for the price, but also because I knew I'd get a better viewing experience in 2D than I would in the faux 3D.

The reason Hollywood is producing junk these days, is because they spend more time and money putting everything in 3D than they do coming up with a good story. Despite high box office results, the Transformers movies sucked. They do, you can admit it. The old cartoon from the 1980s was good, so what happened? More focus was on the special effects and cutting deals with Chevy, than they were with having a good plot and telling Chevy NO, Bumblebee is NOT a Camaro, he is a Volkswagen Beetle! Consumers have more voting power than they think, and they cast their vote with their dollars. If you want better movies, instead of junky 3D flicks, stop spending money on this 3D nonsense.