DreamWorks Animation chief Jeffrey Katzenberg is predicting that new 3-D projects will drive up the box office as moviegoers seek out entertainment that they can not duplicate at home. As Katzenberg put it in an interview with the New York Post following announcement of a deal with IMAX to release his forthcoming films in 3-D IMAX, "I think this becomes something that so differentiates what you get in your home versus what you get in a movie theater, it becomes a real driver to keep people excited about the movie going experience." Box office analysts will be keeping an eye on receipts for 3-D screenings of Beowulf, which opens tomorrow, to see whether audiences will in fact be willing to pay premium prices to see the 3-D version. The film, from director Robert Zemeckis, uses the same 3-D performance-capture animation technology that Zemeckis introduced in The Polar Express. Meanwhile, a daughter-in-law of John Wayne says she is hoping to restore the actor's 1953 Western Hondo, which was filmed in 3-D, and re-release it. The Hollywood Reporter reported today (Thursday) that a digital print of the movie was screened Tuesday by the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences. Gretchen Wayne, widow of Wayne's son Michael, told the trade publication, "I would love to get this film [restoration] as good as possible and take it out for a theatrical release. ... The digital world is constantly evolving, and as it does we are able to do more and more with this very old 3-D version of Hondo."

A side note from ye editor.
3-D has always been a gimmick used when boxoffice attendance drops as new home technolgies are introduced. After seeing BEOWULF in 3-D I can say it was spectacular BUT the glasses were annoying. They wre annoying in the past and they will continue to be annoying in the future. The novelty, like it has in the past will wear off fairly quickly.

3-D will help the industry for the short term but it will go the way of the past 3-D attempts, even though the 3-D technology is incredible in today's world. Still the glasses...will eventually get more annoying. Enjoy these 3-d movie swhile you can because as producers see the attendance drop in the future the films will disappear quickly.

3-D films will only be able to survive in the future if they can find away around the glasses. Until then it will only remain a short term novelity.