Have you given any thought to why every movie is being put into 3D?  Think about it for a minute.  I’ll wait.

If you answered, “because it is an artistic choice that enhances the movie”, you just failed the class and I will be holding you back a year.  If you answered, “because they can charge more for the same ticket, and in this time of declining theater attendance every penny helps”, you would be right and you get a gold star.

Nov. 2010 box office hit $897 million domestically, a drop of nearly ten percent from Nov. 2009′s $995 million.  Estimated attendance was 106 million, edging out 2007 for the title of worst Nov. in the past 15-years.

The problem is that Nov. was the fourth month in a row where attendance dipped below the same time last year, but yet the overall box office through Nov. 30th was $9.68 billion compared to 2009′s $9.53 billion.

Do the math, how is this possible?  How is attendance down, yet revenues are up?  Yes, ticket prices overall inch higher and higher, but think about the premium price being put on 3D films.  Suddenly the extra money makes sense.  Instead of being concerned with quality, Hollywood has found another way to up its revenues with a gimmick.  That is exactly what 3D is, and we are being forced into paying for it because that is the only way some films are released.  I really want to see Tron Legacy this month, but due to my eyesight problems I know I’m in for a headache if I do go see it in 3D.  I’d see it in 2D in a heartbeat, and I hear some theaters will have it that way, but only having one theater in town pretty much guarantees it’ll be in 3D … with a higher ticket price.

Consumers will eventually tire of the 3D shtick, and then Hollywood will find itself back to facing empty theater seats.  Perhaps then they will concern themselves with quality over shiny gimmicks?