Hey, you know that big budget action/genre/etc movie you’re looking forward to that is coming out at some point in the next two to three years? It’ll be in 3D/on IMAX. There, I’ve just saved us all a whole bunch of time.
The latest no duh announcement of a 3D release is Spider-Man 4, which Sony is not yet naming. The film will be released on July 2, 2012, putting in direct competition with the not-yet-announced-as-3D Star Trek 2. Some folks have pointed at the 3D announcement as a sure sign that Sony isn’t really going to make an 80 million dollar Spider-Man film, but you must remember that until recently 3D was the province of horror and kiddie movies. This shit only gets pricey when you’re doing it in post. Believe me when I tell you that My Bloody Valentine didn’t cost all that much.
I wonder if the 3D shine will be off by 2012. Make no mistake: this is a fad. Avatar was the first film that a general audience saw in non-red/blue 3D (again, 3D movies had been for horror and kid films until then), so they’re pretty amazed by what people who saw films like Coraline or Beowulf were already used to seeing. Alice in Wonderland will be the immediate beneficiary of this newfound enthusiasm for 3D, but I feel like two years and a hundred new 3D films will make the whole thing less special and unique. And nobody likes wearing those fucking glasses.
By the way, shooting in 3D was a sticking point between Sam Raimi and the studio. Sam wanted to spend hundreds of millions on effects but didn’t want to go 3D. Sony gets their way.