Take the recent success of Time Warner's (NYSE: TWX) 300, for instance. The movie opened in 62 domestic IMAX theaters just as it hit your local multiplex. The stylized chronicle of Spartan combat grossed $70.9 million at the box office during its opening weekend on 3,103 screens, and $3.6 million of that came from 300: The IMAX Experience. The average conventional theater took in an impressive average of $22,000 over the weekend, yet the IMAX locations averaged a record $58,000 per screen.According to my calculations, there are now more than twice as many digital cinema 3D-equipped screens world wide as there are large format/IMAX screens.
The crowds kept coming. A weekend later, IMAX was accounting for a worldwide $9.1 million of the cumulative $154.2 million that 300 had generated. You're sitting pretty if you're producing 6% of the ticket sales on just 2% of the screens.
Yes, IMAX setups are a little larger. The company's MPX system, being tested by theater chains, takes up the space of two retrofitted screens. The transformation process doesn't come cheap, but the 300 math still works in its favor. Triple the ticket sales for double the space? An event-driven crowd that will be quicker to pay up for pricey concessions to make the most of the experience? That adds up for me.
However, let's check back in on our good friend Lewis. The $7.1 million in ticket sales generated by the digital 3-D version breaks down to just $12,220 per screen, but that's still 2.6 times more than the film drew from the traditional screens.
Disney has now given Chicken Little and Meet the Robinsons the digital 3-D treatment with welcome results. Can you imagine how sweet it will be with a bigger Pixar flick? Meet the Robinsons in 3-D accounted for 28% of the film's opening-weekend gross, in just 17% of the theaters. Disney isn't going to shy away, especially since movie chains are making the digital migration anyway.
Disney will re-release the digital 3D version of The Nightmare Before Christmas this Halloween again. The only thing different about it is that it will include a 3D re-rendered version of Tim Burton's first short Vincent this time. Don't be surprised of SPE also re-release Monster House in time for Halloween as well. Christie claims that 67 per cent of digital cinema projectors used by Real D were manufactured by Christie, perhaps not surprising given that almost half of them (220 out of 460) are part of the Christie/AIX deployment. World wide Real D claims to have 680 installations. Another major cinema chain to have embraced Real D and digital 3D is National Amusements, which has the system installed in half of all its cinemas according to this press release:
Currently, National Amusements circuit features 24 locations with 25 screens and brings the total of National Amusements 3D 2K projection systems to 44 locations on 45 screens. The installations will be completed for the opening of Disney's animated feature film, MEET THE ROBINSONS in REAL D on March 30, 2007 and will bring over 50% of National's locations into the realm of Digital 3D, the highest percent of any major USA circuit.A brief history of films released in 3D (digital and analogue) is provided in the following article that looks at 'The Three Ages of 3D', of which this is the first:
"We are pleased to be able to bring the excitement of REAL D 3-D technology to an even larger number of our patrons, and just in time to enjoy this new Disney film," said Shari E. Redstone, President, National Amusements. "This great 3-D technology allows National Amusements to bring patrons a broader range of unique film and entertainment programming options such as live sports and concert performances, building on our goal to make our theatres a community entertainment destination."The REAL D 3-D installations complement National Amusements efforts to bring state-of-the art digital cinema to their patrons. The company is participating in Technicolor Digital Cinema's beta test of state-of-the-art digital projection equipment in 14 National Amusements sites, reaching 120 screens in select locations. This will bring National's total Digital Cinema presentation capability to a total of 165 Screens in it's U.S. locations. They have also recently signed a multiyear agreement with Screenvision to install its digital pre-show system on more than 1,000 of National Amusements' domestic screens.
The 1950sHowever, like most it gets the early history wrong. These first films were not shown using anaglyph (red and blue filter) technology but using polarized glasses. This Wikipedia article has a much better grasp of history:
Although the stereoscopic technology used in creating 3-D movies was invented in the late 1800s, with the first debuting in the early 1900s, the 1950s was the decade of ''in your face'' 3-D action. It was part of Hollywood's response to the advent of television.
Following the success of 1953's ''Bwana Devil,'' with its thrown spears and leaping lions assaulting the audience, Hollywood embraced the technology. Later that year came ''House of Wax,'' and in 1954 ''Creature From The Black Lagoon'' and Alfred Hitchcock's ''Dial M For Murder.''
During this time, audiences used the classic, flimsy cardboard glasses with the red-and-blue cellophane lenses.
The "golden era" (1952-1955)And here is a lovely poster of Bwana Devil to remind you of what 3D films aren't like any more.
What aficionados consider the "golden era" of 3-D began in 1952 with the release of the first color stereoscopic feature, Bwana Devil, produced, written and directed by Arch Oboler. The film was shot in Natural Vision, a process that was co-created and controlled by M. L. Gunzberg. Gunzberg, who built the rig with his brother, Julian, and two other associates, shopped it without success to various studios before Oboler used it for this feature, which went into production with the title, The Lions of Gulu.[citation needed] The film stars Robert Stack, Barbara Britton and Nigel Bruce.
As with practically all of the features made during this boom, Bwana Devil was projected dual-strip, with Polaroid filters. During the 1950s, the familiar disposable anaglyph glasses made of cardboard were mainly used for comic books, two shorts by Dan Sonny Productions, and three shorts produced by Lippert Productions. One should note, however, that even the Lippert shorts were available in the dual-strip format alternatively.
Because the features utilized two projectors, a capacity limit of film being loaded onto each projector (about 6,000 feet) meant that an intermission was necessary for every movie. Quite often, intermission points were written into the script of the film at a major plot point.
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