E Unit

Hell yes there's a decline in theaters. For every new movie that has a 3D offering, it's usually 1 or 2 showings a day at most. Been like that with the exception of maybe Endgame.

Still, there's still a good offering of projectors with 3D capability.

Brian T

Sorry, my point was that they're still making 3D versions of most blockbuster/franchise films. They've had comparably limited screenings for ages now, and I'm in a major city here. Fact is, it's still a "thing", but it's a niche, as it was destined to be since, what, 2005 or so? Like everything, they oversold it as much as they could in its heydey, but it was never going to take over. And I'm happy with that.

Might look into a projector, but for the moment, I can still source unopened 'backup' screens here from various wholesale places. They're getting less plentiful, though, so may have to grab one in the near future.

OldBoy

3D or die for me. I didn’t pay $40 to get my 3D relic fixed for nothing!

Alan Smithee

Having every movie in 3D would be a bit much and make it less of a novelty, but the biggest mistake the industry has made was treating 3D as an "extra" or "premium". If a movie is shot or post-converted in 3D, that's the way it should be shown, period- for the same reason everything shot in color should be shown in color. If people aren't willing to pay the upcharges anymore, they should drop the prices rather than decrease 3D showings. I've given up on theaters anyway, but will probably see Gemini Man because it's in high frame rate 3D and they won't be able to reproduce that at home (unless they use 720 resolution, which they haven't for the other high frame rate 3D titles that have been out.)

At this point, a new movie needs to use 3D to really WOW the audience and then re-ignite interest for it at home. Problem with so many recent titles is the 3D hasn't been used strongly enough so people have to ask if it's "worth" seeing in 3D (of course if a movie is worth seeing at all, then it's worth seeing the right way.)

OldBoy

Next Avatars could do. The first was thee best hands down ever I saw in theater. No question, that was an experience.

OldBoy

Fuck, Endgame on Blu-ray 3D is only way to see. The depth and scope are just draw dropping. I will say the colors on both 3D and 2D are a little drab...

OldBoy

It’s like I watched for first time. I saw none and remember almost none. This is so joyful that I’m grinned whole way through. I think only way to see is Blu 3D...

IDrinkMolson

Cross-posting here for those of us that buy 3D from Amazon UK -

OldBoy

sounds like we have another winner...Parasite 3D

mattysemo247

It looks like Abominable is getting a 3D release in the US

OldBoy

Good movie? Looked cute, I think. Is it Dreamworks? Seems ripe for 3D...

Alan Smithee

OldBoy

you know i had LK preordered, but i really don't need to see in 3D. i'm even hesitant to see on digital. i mean i have the stream, but not really looking forward to seeing. as i've said all along, just don't need a shot for shot (almost) in live-action. the animated was just perfect and i have that and the sequels in all formats...

OldBoy

Got to say, they 3D’d the hell out of Parasite (1982). The depth is amazing. The popout on some stuff actually made me cross eyed bc appeared so close, which not necessarily a good thing, but amazing I guess post conversion since 3D in 1982 was red/blue glasses and certainly not tech used, while rarely, on movies today. Even the title cards have great popout. Cheesy B horror movie, with a very young Demi Moore made much more fun!

Jay G.

That's not what post conversion is,and the red/blue glasses had nothing to do with how the movie was shot.

3D post conversion didn't come into use until the 2000s. Nightmare Before Christmas was the first prominent full-film conversion, but it didn't really take off until after Avatar created a 3D boom in 2009. Prior to that, to get 3D live action you had to capture two images on set, since there wasn't the computing power nor the knowledge to do a post conversion.So Parasite, like all live action 3D films up through the 90s, had two distinct images as a source.

The red/blue format came from limitations in distribution, not creation. Originally, films were projected using polarized images: two images projected simultaneously, but with different polarizations, so that the polarized glasses people wore showed only one image per eye. However, this required specialize projector equipment, or at least modification of existing equipment, to send two images instead of one, and each through a different polarizing filter. Also, this required a screen with a silver surface, to properly retain the polarization. After the first 3D boom went bust, however, theaters got rid of what 3D equipment they had, if they ever had any, and many screens started being just white, which scatters light everyhwere. White screens actually helped with hot spots and made viewing from the sides easier, but were useless for polarized 3D, since as soon as the polarized light hit the white screen, it was scattered in every which direction, losing the polarization it had.

So theaters didn't have a way to project and polarize two distinct images simultaneously, and their screens couldn't properly reflect a polarized image anyway. Enter the red/blue anaglyph method. Taking the source of two distinct images, they use them to produce a print with both images superimposed on it, but with different tints. This method could be projected like a normal film, and didn't require any special equipment or screen. It could even be used for home video. The downside was it looked horrible.

For the 3D Blu-ray, they simply went back to the two image source and made a two image 3D Blu-ray, like any other Blu-ray, but with clean-up, restoration, and such to provide a much more stable digital image than what was possible via film.

OldBoy

ok. thanks Jay. either way, the 3D on this one is fantastic and probably second to Ghostbusters (2016) as best in my collection.

Brian T

I saw quite a few of the 80's 3D films theatrically back in the day and they all required grey-lens stereoscopic glasses, similar to what they have now, except they were usually just disposable cardboard items. When local TV stations in nearby Detroit would air special 3D movie nights of shows like BWANA DEVIL and HONDO (usually in conjunction with a local radio station, which would provide a host DJ dressed up in jungle explorer or cowboy drag or whatever; and you got your tie-in glasses from 7-11 as I recall), the prints were always red/blue anaglyph which seriously fucked up the colour. Even though I tuned in every time because I was a sucker for anything 3D, the experience was frustrating because it was NOTHING like what I was seeing in the theaters on SPACEHUNTER, JAWS 3, METALSTORM, etc. For a short time back then, I actually believed that the 50's era 3D must've sucked because of this red/blue business and thank gawd they'd "perfected" the system for the 80's revival. But then I read something, somewhere, that told me what I was truly missing in the presentations of these old shows.

3D releases on VHS back in that era — THE MASK, THE BUBBLE, COMIN' AT YA — were likewise red/blue and the experience was headache inducing, and I think that's what led to so many people thinking that old 3D presentations were always in red/blue. Well, that, and so many photos of 50's audiences wearing 3D glasses that were doctored to make the lenses red and blue.

This is why so many of the 3D Film Archive restorations are so much more fun than the "depth-only" 3D that we get on most current releases. The films were actually filmed in 3D, and post-processing wasn't even a consideration, thus all the gimmicky pop-outs and what not. PARASITE is sitting at my U.S. mailbox right now, and I'm really looking forward to Kino's SHOGUN WOMEN disc (as noted way back in this thread) because that thing was pop-out crazy.

Josh Z

3D in the 1950s was projected using two projectors in sync. This was complicated and expensive, and if one of the projectors fell even one frame out of sync, the effect was ruined.

The 1980s 3D revival used a simplified and cheaper process of printing both eye images onto the same strip of film, one on top of the other. These were squeezed into the same film negative area as a single frame normally was, and resulted in images that were effectively half-resolution and very grainy. But it worked with just a single projector and never suffered any issues with the eye-views falling out of sync.

Anaglyph red/blue 3D was almost never used in theaters until Robert Rodriguez's Spy Kids 3-D in 2003, and Sharkboy & Lava Girl in 2005.

Jay G.

Hamilton Book has listed some new 3D Blu-rays. Their full list:

https://www.hamiltonbook.com/blu-ray

FLYING SWORDS OF DRAGON GATE - $2.95
COMIN' AT YA! - $2.95
ALICE IN WONDERLAND 3D - $3.95
SECTOR 7 - $3.95
SHARKS 3D - $4.95
STATIC - $4.95
AMAZING OCEAN 3D - $4.95
POLAR BEARS 3D: Ice Bear - $4.95
300: Rise of an Empire - $5.95
DOCTOR WHO--DARK WATER / DEATH IN HEAVEN - $5.95
GLEE: The 3D Concert - $5.95
FASCINATION CORAL REEF 3D: Hunters and the Hunted - $5.95
AMERICAN MUMMY - $5.95
IMMORTALS 3D - $5.95
TEXAS CHAINSAW - $5.95
THE BEST OF THE LITTLE RASCALS IN 3D - $5.95
WRATH OF THE TITANS 3D - $5.95
MONSTER HOUSE - $5.95
THUNDER AND THE HOUSE OF MAGIC - $5.95
GULLIVER'S TRAVELS 3D - $5.95
WINGED PLANET 3D - $9.95
LIFE OF PI - $9.95
X-MEN APOCALYPSE - $12.95

A few of these, like X-Men Apocalypse, may be cheaper on Black Friday. Still, the titles under $6 are pretty good deals.

Brian T

Not sure how new some of those are as I've bought a lot of them in orders from Hamilton this year, although if they're re-stocking stuff that sold out, that's cool. I've been strangely tempted by that LITTLE RASCALS 3D disc over the years. Can't imagine it's very good, but I'm curious and there have been some kind reviews . . .

They've also got some 3D DVDs, although the quality of the 3D will surely be an issue:

ULTIMATE 3D HORROR COLLECTION VOLUME II - This is a DVD-only set from way back. I assume it uses anaglyph glasses. I remember seeing these sets at Best Buy back then but they were awfully pricey. Still are, even at Hamilton.
QUEEN ELIZABETH IN 3D - Got this last year from a going-out-of-business sale up here and just watched it a couple of nights ago. It's a 40 minute CBC Canada TV doc from around 2007 that incorporates probably less than 10 minutes of then-recently unearthed 3D footage, as well as some new stuff shot for the show. The included glasses are yellow/blue instead of red/blue, which for whatever reason at least preserves the colors of the footage a bit better. The depth effects are surprisingly good, but it's still nothing worth keeping. And too many annoying CBC hosts remind the viewer to "put your glasses on now".

Jay G.

I also missed BOSS BABY 3D for $5.95.

Also, the ALFRED HITCHCOCK COLLECTION for $19.99 includes Dial M for Murder in 3D.
https://www.hamiltonbook.com/alfred-...ection-blu-ray

Brian T

Some 3D markdowns at Amazon, presumably for Black Friday:

$6.99
MISS PEREGRINE
WOLVERINE
INDEPENDENCE DAY 2
WAR FOR THE PLANET OF THE APES
ASSASSIN'S CREED
X-MEN APOCALYPSE
X-MEN DAYS OF FUTURE PAST
BOOK OF LIFE

$7.99
HOW TO TRAIN YOUR DRAGON 3D

(keeping in mind, of course, that some of these have been at Big Lots lately, for $5.00, or $3.75, or $2.88 or $1.50, depending on the sale)

Alan Smithee

Seems like somebody at Best Buy loves 3D, wish they could pressure the manufacturers to put it back in at least a few new TVs, no reason for the most expensive ones not to have it.

Jay G.

These are price matches for Best Buy, which started their Black Friday pricing early. Also, Dredd UHD is $9.99, and includes the 3D Blu-ray. It's not mentioned on the front, but is on the back.

Shannon Nutt

3D will be back once those new Avatar movies get released. Then it will die out again with a bunch of post-converts which is what killed it this time around.