YOU LOVED Sequel 2: 3D– well, coming soon, from the makers of 2011's record-breaking number of sequels and 3D films, it's 2012, another record-breaking year for sequels and 3D films. Try to look surprised.
Ours is not to reason why.
Isn’t this the very same film industry that has spent months bemoaning dwindling ticket sales from – you’ve guessed it – sequels and 3D pictures?
As long ago as last May, a New York Timespiece entitled "3D starts to fizzle and Hollywood frets" made note of panicked studio executives and a sharp seasonal decline in 3D ticket sales. Who knew that bust came right after boom in the cycle?
The huge box office spikes from Avatarand Alice in Wonderlandwere supposed to herald a golden era of 3D profits. But the thrill was already gone for North American audiences; last year only 47 per cent of the audience for Pirates of the Caribbean: On Stranger Tideswere willing to fork over for the 3D version. Back in the day, all of 12 months earlier, similar-sized releases were doing between 60 per cent and 70 per cent of their business from 3D prints.
The North Americans were not alone.
Irish movie-goers also spent 2011 opting for pocket-friendly 2D prints of event movies ( Transformers: Dark of the Moon, The Green Hornet) and all-ages films ( Gnomeo and Juliet, Rio) over 3D versions whenever and wherever possible. Irish family audiences, in particular, are voting with their feet. The defiantly lo-fi Alvin and the Chipmunks: Chipwreckedwas reigning champ at the Irish box office over Christmas, several chart jumps ahead of snazzier 3D rivals Happy Feet Twoand Arthur Christmas.
The 3Dcline, as critic Mark Kermode is calling it, all got too much for Dreamworks mogul Jeffrey Katzenberg who, speaking to Hollywood Reporterin June, used words such as "heartbreaking" and "tragedy" to describe the overall dip in 3D viewing figures.
Kung Fu Panda 2and Pirates of the Caribbean 4did not make significantly more than previous instalments from those franchises: Pirates 4took $1.06 billion worldwide, only a slither on Pirates 2's $1.04 billion in 2006; Panda 2managed $665 million globally, a teeny $34 million improvement on the 2008 original.
What’s $30 million-plus between movie friends, you ask? Factor in the tremendous cost of shooting and processing in 3D and the sums don’t nearly add up.
Remain calm. Hollywood has a plan. In order to combat 3D fatigue and "sequelitis" in 2012, the studios are opting for a stern, BF Skinner-inspired flooding technique. Coming soon, new for 2012, audiences will opt for Sequel 2: 3Dbecause they won't have any other place left to go. The strategy is simple: more 3D sequels, fewer 2D prints.
Take that, budget-conscious movie buff.
With this in mind, punters should check local listings for the impending 2012 onslaught of 3D franchise product, a line-up including Underworld 4: Awakening, Journey 2: The Mysterious Island, Ghost Rider: Spirit of Vengeance, Clash of the Titans 2: Wrath of the Titans, Dorothy of Oz, The Avengers, Men in Black III, Madagascar 3: Europe's Most Wanted, Ice Age 4: Continental Drift, Step Up 4and stereoscopic sequels to Texas Chainsaw Massacre and Halloween.
Additional 3D reissues of Titanic, Beauty and the Beast, Top Gun, Finding Nemo and Star Wars: Episode I The Phantom Menacecomplete the overwhelming sense of déjà vu.
It sounds like a perverse strategy. But for now it’s keeping the wolves from Hollywood’s door – 3D may not be the miracle the industry once imagined it was, but it does add lustre to global takings and zeros to existing hot properties.
At the start of 2011 only seven titles – Avatar, Titanic, The Lord of the Rings: Return of the King, Pirates of the Caribbean: Dead Man's Chest, Alice in Wonderland and The Dark Knight– had grossed more than $1 billion dollars at the box office.
At the start of 2012, stereoscopic premiums have helped three more titles – Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows: Part 2, Transformers: Dark of the Moon and Pirates of the Caribbean: On Stranger Tides– intothe billionaire's club. (And at least one of those properties was thought to have "underperformed".) It's clear that 3D is no longer enough of a novelty to bring the masses into the multiplex. But it's lovely gravy money for already successful franchises, just enough, in fact, to offset decreasing US audience numbers and the red dwarf phase of the DVD business.
Franchise flicks, 3D or not, are sure things. The biggest films of 2011, save Rioand The Smurfs, all represented established movie brands: Harry Potter, Transformers, Pirates, Twilight, Kung Fu Panda, The Hangover, Cars, Planet of the Apes, Shrek (via Puss in Boots)and Mission: Impossible.
The biggest films of 2012 will all, in turn, represent established movie brands.
The Dark Knight Rises, The Hobbit: An Unexpected Journeyand the final Twilightinstalment look certain to take more than $1 billion dollars each; franchise extensions The Amazing Spider-Man, The Avengers, the 23rd James Bond instalment Skyfalland Ridley Scott's quasi- Aliensprequel Prometheuswill not be far behind.
Of these big-hitters, The Hobbit, The Avengers, Spider-Man and Prometheuswill be 3D issues – other titles may convert closer to release. Audiences cannot live on bells and whistles alone but they don't seem to mind spending a little extra on the products they already love. Make way for Sequel 2: 3D.
That’ll be another €2, please.
