The Movie Waffler New Video Essay Explores the Life and Death of 3D | The Movie Waffler

New Video Essay Explores the Life and Death of 3D

3D
New video examines the history of 3D and the format's uncertain future.


A decade ago, in the aftermath of James Cameron's runaway success with Avatar, 3D was everywhere. Cinemas spent a fortune on updating their tech to take advantage of the format and the extra fees it allowed them to charge, and every Hollywood studio got behind a format very few cinema-goers were actually all that enthused about.

What's the future of 3D? Hollywood has all but given up forcing it down our throats, but James Cameron is still ploughing on with the tech for his upcoming Avatar sequels (if they ever actually arrive), and the recent Chinese movie Long Day's Journey Into Night showed just how the format could be used to enhance a movie experience.

A new video essay from The Royal Ocean Film Society takes a look at 3D's beginnings in the silent era, its brief 1950s and '80s fads, the recent revival, and its uncertain future.