The Last Great Innovation: The Stereoscopic Cinema

Abstract

In February 2007, a sea change in perception took place. A full-page article in Variety magazine extolled the virtues of 3-D movies, and a few days later, an editorial in the L.A. Times stated that 3-D had to be taken seriously by the studios. Since then, a number of articles in the trades have discussed the stereoscopic cinema in positive terms. It has become the great hope of the industry after languishing for a century, primarily because recent 3-D movies are producing about three times the revenue of the simultaneously released 2-D version of films such as Chicken Little, Monster House, and Meet the Robinsons. In addition, Disney's The Nightmare Before Christmas, a 14-year-old film that had been in home release, was converted to 3-D and profitably theatrically re-released. Before February, in the trades and the popular press, the stereoscopic cinema was referred to with derision; it was a joke, to be dismissed. That is no longer the case. What has changed in addition to the better box office? In this article, I will attempt to provide a historical perspective with regard to technology introductions to the cinema, and explore the reasons for this recent change in attitude, with regard to the stereoscopic cinema.