George Lucas did amazing things “in a galaxy far, far away”. But when it comes to his ideas on 3-D, he’s way, way off.
The “Star Wars” creator has predicted that 3-D will take-over movie making the way color took-over black and white. And he’s happy about it.
First of all, it won’t happen. But if it does, NO ONE will be happy, except the studios, who will be making tons more money forcing people to see 3-D versions of movies that should be in 2-D. But the comparison Lucas makes doesn’t make sense. Color became popular because it was real life, and movie-goers wanted to see people and stories that looked like real life. 3-D in movies doesn’t look like what we see with our eyes in the real world. It’s phony.
And can you imagine a film like “The King’s Speech” in 3-D? That would be foolish. And the same for all of the other Oscar-nominated Best Picture films from last year (except, of course, “Toy Story 3”, where it worked). I’ve been saying for years that there are only two genres where 3-D should be used: animation and fantasy/sci fi, because they aren’t real life.
And, when 3-D rules the world, what happens to the independent movie theaters (and independent films)? The cost would put them all out of business.
Of course Lucas cares about the success of 3-D because he’s re-releasing all of his “Star Wars” films in 3-D, and I’m sure wants to draw fans back to see them. We can blame James Cameron and the popularity of “Avatar” for the current 3-D craze, but there are signs that 2-D isn’t dead yet. “Rango”, the biggest movie of the year so far, is also the best looking film of the year in spectacular 2-D. And 2-D didn’t hurt “Harry Potter 7 Pt. 1” (those boring camping scenes did).
And, theater GM’s I’ve spoken with are worried that families are not going to be able to afford to go to 3-D movies, because they’re so much more expensive. And if the studios stop making 2-D versions of films, people will stop going to the movies as often and the studios will start losing money. That’s when the 3-D craze will officially come to an end.