The “gives me a headache” thing of watching 3D movies doesn’t matter anymore. Not that the eyeglass frames are too heavy, or some other excuse. 3D cinema is here to stay, even if some believe it is not. But Giacomo Cameron think the opposite.
“I would say that 3D has already been adopted in general. Avatar won the Oscar for Best Photography with a 3D Digital Camera. No digital camera had ever won an Oscar for Best Photography before. Then, two of the following three years, the same cameras were used by the filmmakers who won the Oscar… ”, said the director, days after the reissue. Avatar… In 3D.
It is that the format emerged from the premiere of the film with the blue beings, at the end of 2009. I remember attending the world premiere, in London, in Leicester Square, at the Odeon Luxe cinema, and when we left we left. everyone was talking more about the three-dimensional effect of Pandora than about the plot itself (and today we would continue to talk about the same thing …).
Avatar will have its reissue in Argentina on Thursday, September 22, in a remastered copy, three months before the sequel’s release. Avatar: The way of water.
But that will be another story.
3D cinema, the effect it offers, is intended to simulate true human three-dimensional vision. It is also not that complex: the brain creates the sensation of three-dimensionality by adding the two images it receives with the left and right eye. The glasses of the early years, those used by our grandparents, had a red lens for the left eye and a blue lens for the right.
Fashion or not?
Cameron, regarding this thing of fashion or not of three-dimensionality, recently stated that “to most people it feels like 3D is over. But that’s not quite over. It was simply accepted. Now it’s part of your choices when you go to the cinema to see a movie. I compare it to color. When color films first came out, it was a big deal. People used to go to the movies because they were in color. I think about the time of Avatar, people went to see the movies because they were in 3D. It made an impact, ”she said and planted a flag.
And if you’ve been lucky enough to travel and go to Disney theme parks, you know the “game” of Avatar it impresses, it is amazing … and much of that is due to the three-dimensional effect.
Of course, the tickets to see a film projected in 3D were not, at the time, the same as if you chose a “conventional” 2D projection. Nor is it today, no matter how widespread it is, and it also happens with different formats: 2D is not the same as 4D or XD, or even if you choose to watch a movie in IMAX.
As early as 2010 in many First World countries, 3D glasses were even sold in the same cinema complexes. A – high – value was invested and therefore it was possible to enter theaters to see other films with previously purchased glasses, without having to pay an additional fee.
And for those who still do not believe in people’s preference for watching 3D films, a fact: so far in 2022 4,631,980 3D tickets have been sold, out of a total of 26,685,919: 17.35% of the audience chooses to pay more, but see in 3D.
Last year, of the 13,320,965 tickets sold, 1,672,190 were for 3D screenings (12.55%). Yes: it is increasing. And in 2010, the year of the premiere of Avatar in Argentina-, they were 6,992,526, out of 38,024,225, 18.38%. Almost 2 out of 10 viewers have chosen it.
The peak occurred in Argentina in 2015, with 15,257,578 out of 50,303,605: 30.33%. It was the year they released Minion, Fast and furious 7 and the first of Jurassic world.
The chain is infinite. From black and white cinema to color, to attract more audiences. When the TV appeared, 3D was created. When home video, cable TV, and DVD came out to compete, movies beat it. Now with streaming the battle continues, but with people like Cameron or Christopher Nolan, champions of cinema in cinema, be it in 3D or in the best theater in your neighborhood, all is not lost.
Paul O. Scholz
Source: Clarin
