Post-conversion 3-D is ruining movies and Hollywood

Hollywood is trying to scam us, but moviegoers are not buying what they are selling.

According to a recent National Association of Theater Owners ( NATO )survey, ticket prices rose to an all-time high of $7.89 per person in 2010, a 5 percentincrease when compared to 2009. While profits for the major studios stayed flat in 2010, attendance dropped 5.3 percent. Hollywood hopes this trend reverses in2011, but are already prepared just in case it doesn't. The plan: Saturate the market with 3-D fare, adding as much as $5 to the admittance price. This plan has faltered early in 2011, with "The Green Hornet" earning a disappointing $80 million to date, with critics and audiences feeling polarized towards the mundane 3-D visuals.

Movie studios are scrambling to post-convert already finished projects into,3-D, which is the process of taking an already finished film and re-shooting scenes to fit the 3-D format. If you were one of the unlucky masses to see ‘The Last Airbender" or "Clash of the Titans"  last year, you received the crash course in post-converting.

Both of the aforementioned films were widely considered to be two of 2010's worst. And in 2011, 37 3-D films are slated to be released, with seven falling under the post-conversion category. "Capitan America," "Thor," and "The Green Lantern" are three of these seven films set to be released in 2011. Expectations are high for each of these films, as the respective studios took each one back into production to post-convert for 3-D viewing. If the past history of this process tells us anything, it would be better to avoid the cumbersome glasses and pay regular price at the multiplex.  

Looking further at the slate of films set to be released later this year, there is ample opportunity for movie studios to 3-D convert even more projects in order to help drive the box-office grosses up. Don't be surprised if the next installment of the horrid "Twilight' series receives this treatment. The last thing audiences need is to see the "sparkle" of Robert Pattinson directly in your face. Unless you are a 15-year old girl who likes "emo" disco-ball vampires.

It is clear that what needs to be done has already been done by audiences all over the United States: Make attendance drop further in 2011. Movie studios will continue to flood the market with 3-D films, and ticket buyers will keep figuring out that it is not cool to shell out almost $20 per person to see Jack Black's fat gut in a movie that very few have seen (Gulliver's Travels" ).

3-D can be used to great effect, enhancing the viewing experience for the audience. Films like "Jackass 3-D" and "Saw 3-D," while grotesque, used the newer 3-D technologies greatly, making sure the audiences were getting the most for their dollar. "Tron: Legacy," although flawed, was the best 3-D treat of 2010, as the unbelievably attractive Olivia Wilde put to shame any marvelous special effects "Tron" had to offer. Now only if we could take those special effects to change Kristen's Stewart's morose and dopey facial expressions.

Source: http://www.americanrivercurrent.com