Murch's comments fit into *another* 3-D ReelThoughts. (I can hear the groaning already.) I also spent an hour talking to a regional theater manager about 3-D and he had some interesting things to say about the subject.

It's dying. Only the studios stubbornly refuse to acknowledge this fact.

Good news for me, i'm just lucky that both of the theaters near me usually play films in 2D as well.

Was it ever really alive? It seems to me that's it's something studios pushed on audiences and once the initial novelty wore off and people realized the quality wasn't anything close to what Avatar offered, they stayed away.

A year removed from what was supposedly a "game changer", the technology has been pretty resoundingly rejected by audiences. Basically, one movie was successful with 3D.

I agree with you completely if you're qualifying success based on how well the 3D worked in the film.

If, on the other hand, you're looking at Box Office, then I think you're mistaken

Take something like Alice in Wonderland. Around 300 Million in the US. Not bad. Total International Box Office? Over 1 BILLION dollars. That's scary and I'm convinced that the 3D surcharge played a big part. Ditto for the International grosses of Clash of the Titans, Toy Story and some others.

The real question is whether the international bonus will last. Up to literally a few weeks ago we could only see 3D movies in 3D. Cinemas have only now begun to offer the alternate 2D versions. I imagine that it's similar in other international countries and studios have to be loving it. Customers don't necessarily like the 3D, but the movie studios are still reaping the profits.

I didn't take international box office into consideration for the exact reason you gave. I'm not sure if the movie is available in 2D in other countries, so if 3D is the only way audiences can see a movie, then you can't really consider 3D a success if that's the only option, can you?

If the 2D versions of movies are just now becoming available, then we'll see what happens in the coming months.

James, do you know if this is this the case for most countries outside of the US?