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| Avatar and Alice 3D Exclusives for Sony and Panasonic |
| Saturday, 22 May 2010 11:04 |
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Audiences loved Avatar 3D in theaters. But if you want to see it in 3D at home be prepared for a big gotcha. Avatar 3D, scheduled for November release, will be only be sold with Panasonic 3D players, Scott Hettrick
 reports. Sony has made a similar deal for Alice in Wonderland. At least for a time, Netflix will probably not get either film. The studios will collect $millions in return for exclusive deals. At the beginning, there will be so few homes to buy the disks the studios wouldn't sell many anyway. No word yet whether 3D films will reliably work on the earlier Blu-ray players such as the Sony Playstation. Will people wear annoying glasses and sit still for 3D TV? Comcast says only sports and "events" like a major movie will draw a 3d audience. Hollywood, on the other hand, is dreaming 3D for everything everywhere, including classrooms and industrial video. Avatar proved that well-shot 3D is remarkable. A slew of movies coming out in the next year will prove 3D adds little to most films. In New York, the exaggerated prices for the 3D and Imax versions of Shrek are already coming down, Rich Greenfield of Pali discovered. When a master like Jim Cameron adds 3D to older films, it can be be gripping. The more typical hack job is likely to be as effective as Ted Turner's "colorization" of old movies. There are immense practical difficulties still to be solved for regular and older shows on 3D. Close captions jump over the screen as each eye sees a different frame.
Bravo to Avatar for changing film forever; a Bronx cheer for the many cheap imitations soon coming. |