Even though I really liked this movie in 3D, I have to wonder why I paid so much more for a little extra best spiritual movies for Jackass and ended up paying about twenty dollars just for the tickets. So why are movie theaters racking up the price for a 3D movie? Surely, the projector equipment for a 3D movie isn’t that expensive.
Well, I did a bit of research and found out that it definitely isn’t the cost of the projector equipment that’s causing the price increase. Roger Ebert in Newsweek, says there is a lot of money to be made though 3D movies. Consider this a theater buys a 3D projector to play the 3D movies. Yes the new projector costs money so the theater does have to charge a couple bucks more to make up for the cost, but what they don’t tell you is that the theater uses that same projector to show 2D films.
To put it in prospective we are paying an extra five to seven dollars for the same movie but with a few extra fancy animation bits. The movie theaters are trying to rationalize the cost with the excuse of a pricey projector, but if that was true then why are they using their normal prices for a 2D movie coming from that same expensive projector. Many critics are claiming Hollywood has run out of ideas for films and are just using 3D as a way to make money. The question is do people really like 3D films enough to pay that much more for them, or are they a soon-to-be forgotten fad?
There are movies like the unforgettable green man and his donkey that made an insane amount of money the first time around. Shrek is now on its way down the unprofitable road of 3D animation. The most recent Shrek Forever After, the fourth edition has failed to meet expectations. It only made $71.3 million while the third Shrek made a whopping $122 million opening weekend, and the fourth Shrek had the benefit of the higher 3D movie ticket price. So are people getting bored of Shrek or is it the way the movie is presented. I personally would like the option to choose whether I want to watch a movie in 3D or 2D. I also do not think it is fair to charge that much more for a movie that doesn’t cost a lot more than a 2D film.
There have also been studies done with the effects of 3D animation. Many people have been having headaches and or visual problems associated with the prolonged exposure to digital 3D projections. Doctors say that 3D is a very unfamiliar visual experience which makes the brain work harder to translate, and easily resulting in a headache. There are also a lot of people with minor eye dysfunctions that under natural circumstances do not pose much of a problem, but when watching the unusual visual of a 3D film the eye can create more of a problem.
The Consumer Reports state that 15 percentage of people attending movies experience eyestrain and headaches from a 3D film. I personally have only experienced it a little, and before I researched I thought it was because of the glasses they give you to wear. When I would start to feel a headache coming on I would take the glasses off and watch the film without them for a while. The problem then becomes that I can’t watch the movie at all, because they are now designed so you have to wear the glasses, unlike the first 3D movie Spy Kids.