3D post-conversion hit a hard wall almost right away with the somewhat disastrous (in terms of public perception) release of Clash of the Titans. Warner’s knows better than to smear a layer of shit all over the next Harry Potter film when there is still a final film to release and a legacy to consider (they don’t want a Matrix Revolutions situation next year), so we recently received the very welcome news that Deathly Hallows would remain 2D (at least Part I). The conversion effort continues though and will soon extend to the rest of Yate’s Potter films.
Variety dropped the story, and they surmise that the earlier films will be targeted at some point as well- I have to agree. Warners is likely banking on the strong possibility that 3D will remain a significant marketplace factor, and that they might as well have the whole franchise converted and in the 3D catalog from this point forward- there are Blu-Ray’s, double dips, and theatrical re-releases to consider after all. Once the Harry Potter saga has concluded, Warner Brothers will probably have a detailed and aggressive plan to continue exploiting the franchise for as long as possible, with a fully converted catalog providing a big asset for that effort.
I saw Order of the Phoenix in IMAX back when it was popular to convert a few key scenes in the film into 3D as they did with two of the Potter films and Superman Returns. They were all uniformly awful, so I can’t imagine that work won’t be redone. No promises have been made for 3D Potter Blu-Rays or special events, so the conversions will hopefully be done with the proper time and attention. There have always been reports of well-done post-conversions that look great, but I don’t think a single one has yet to be released in theaters en mass. Once some of these miraculous conversions have surfaced, maybe we can all be more positive about these developments.