The rise of 3-D

Back in 2008 we noted that though the cost of converting cinemas to enable them to play 3-D films has held things up, Hollywood was convinced that the format would take off. Which, of course, it has.

Now, in The New Yorker, Anthony Lane looks at the history of 3-D film-making.

To survey the filmography of 3-D, from the days of “Bwana Devil” to a movie like “Jaws 3-D,” which, in 1983, earned eighty-eight million dollars worldwide, is to trespass upon a mythical land that is both laughed at and lost. It’s like hearing from survivors of Atlantis that the place was a bit of a dump.

And he considers the implications of the rise of 3-D now that many of the technological problems have been overcome.

Those members of the “Avatar” audience who said that they felt blue, in every sense, as the movie ebbed away were the most accurate critics of all. 3-D will ravish our senses and take us on rides that no drug could match, but my guess is that, like so many blessings, it won’t make us happy. It will make us want more.