3-D Is Here to Stay
OK, we give up. We thought that 3-D movies, a brief fad in the giddy '50s, would come and go just as quickly this time. The goggles and the gimmicks, we sighed. Meanwhile, Hollywood was thinking: the higher ticket prices we can charge! If Robert Zemeckis didn't quite close the 3-D deal with his cartoon-real Disney's A Christmas Carol, then James Cameron did it with the gorgeous alternate world of Avatar, which in its early weeks was earning about 70% of its money from theaters showing it in 3-D. In an era when special visual effects are the highest form of pop-movie art, the movies may as well pop out at you. The possibilities of the format are intoxicating. The problem for Hollywood, though, is the same as in the '50s: a process that offers a unique experience in theaters can't be duplicated in the home market, where the big profits are. Next barrier to hurdle: seeing 3-D movies, with their full impact, in the rec room. And, please, without glasses.