| Many film studios are trying to cash in on moviegoers' craving for 3D films. However, many studios are "faking it" by converting 2D films into 3D post-production. Worse, the studios are not being upfront in their advertising, with some people feeling ripped-off after paying extra fees for the "3D Experience." This is no discredit to the actual graphic artists working on these conversions, but there's only so much that can be done post-production. If you only have one-eye's worth of content, you can't just make up the content for the second eye. It's not as simple as the re-colorization that happened to classic movies. (To learn more about the upconversion process, read Brian Palmer's article on Slate.)
And so I present to you a handy list for separating the real 3D films that were shot/rendered natively in 3D from the fake ones that weren't. Happy watching!- Phil Dhingra
PS. If you want to see my notes, click here or go to View > Source in your browser for hidden HTML comments. PPS. Slate mentions RealOrFake3D in their article about the decline of 3-D. | |
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Real 3DN/A |
Fake 3DUntitled Star Trek Sequel |
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2012 47 Ronin Abraham Lincoln: Vampire Hunter The Amazing Spider-Man Brave Dorothy of Oz Dr. Seuss' The Lorax Dredd Frankenweenie The Great Gatsby The Hobbit Hotel Transylvania Ice Age: Continental Drift Jack the Giant Killer Life of Pi Mad Max: Fury Road Madagascar 3 ParaNorman Pirates! Band of Misfits Prometheus Resident Evil: Damnation Resident Evil: Retribution Rise of the Guardians Silent Hill: Revelation 3D Step Up 4 StreetDance 2 Stretch Armstrong Texas Chainsaw Massacre 3D Underworld Awakening Wreck-It Ralph |
2012 The Avengers Ghost Rider: Spirit of Vengence Gravity Hansel and Gretel: Witch Hunters John Carter Men in Black III Star Wars Re-release Titanic 4 Wrath of the Titans |
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2011 The Adventures of Tintin Arthur Christmas Born to Be Wild 3D Cars 2 Cave of Forgotton Dreams The Darkest Hour Dolphin Tale 3D Drive Angry Fields of Valor: The Civil War Final Destination 5 Fright Night (in 3-D) Glee: The 3D Concert Movie Gnomeo & Juliet Happy Feet 2 in 3D Horrid Henry Hugo Journey 2: The Mysterious Island Justin Bieber: Never Say Never Kung Fu Panda 2 Mars Needs Moms! Nova Zembla 3D Piranha 3DD Pirates Of The Caribbean: On Stranger Tides Puss in Boots Rio Sanctum Sex & Zen 3D Shark Night 3D The Three Musketeers Torrente 4 A Very Harold & Kumar 3D Christmas |
2011 Beauty and the Beast 2 The Cabin in the Woods Captain America Conan the Barbarian Don 2 Ghost in the Shell: S.A.C. Solid State Society The Green Hornet Green Lantern 5 Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows: Part 2 Hoodwinked Too! Hood vs. Evil Immortals Lion King 3D Priest Ra.One The Smurfs Spy Kids 4 Thor Transformers: Dark of the Moon * * actually "hybrid," see note 6 Turtle: The Incredible Journey Valhalla Rising 3D |
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2010 Alpha and Omega Animals United The Child's Eye Despicable Me How to Train Your Dragon Jackass 3D The Last Reef Legend of the Guardians Megamind The Mortician Resident Evil: Afterlife Sammy's Adventure: The Secret Passage Saw 3D (Saw VII) Shrek Forever After Space Chimps 2 StreetDance 3D Step Up 3D Tangled Toy Story 3 Tron Legacy Yogi Bear |
2010 Alice in Wonderland Cats & Dogs: The Revenge of Kitty Galore The Chronicles of Narnia: The Voyage of the Dawn Treader Clash of the Titans Daybreakers Dune Gulliver's Travels Hubble 3D 1 Hybrid The Last Airbender My Soul to Take Nutcracker in 3D Piranha 3-D Running Man Shrek 3D Starter Kit |
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2009 Astro Boy Avatar Coraline A Christmas Carol Cloudy with a Chance of Meatballs The Final Destination The Hole Ice Age: Dawn of the Dinosaurs Jonas Brothers 3D Journey to the Center of the Earth Monsters vs. Aliens My Bloody Valentine 3D Shock Labyrinth Toy Story (re-release) Toy Story 2 (re-release) Under the Sea 3D Up |
2009 Besouro Dawn of the Dead G-Force Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince |
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2008 Bolt Dolphins and Whales Fly Me To the Moon Hannah Montana Scar Wild Ocean |
2008 InAlienable |
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2007 Battle for Terra Beowulf Meet the Robinsons 3 U2 3D |
2007 Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix |
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2006 The Ant Bully Deep Sea 3-D Monster House Night of the Living Dead Open Season |
2006 Flirting with Flamenco The Nightmare Before Christmas Superman Returns |
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2005 The Adventures of Sharkboy and Lavagirl Aliens of the Deep Chicken Little 7 2004 The Polar Express 2003 Ghosts of the Abyss Spy Kids 3-D 1986 Captain EO 1983 Amityville 3-D Jaws 3-D Spacehunter: Adventures in the Forbidden Zone 1982 Friday the 13th Part III 1954 Creature from the Black Lagoon Dial M for Murder 1953 Hondo House of Wax |
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This has been brought to you by 3D Porch. If you have any additions or corrections, please email me with a link to your source. Right now, this list includes major releases in 2009 and after, notable releases in 2000-2008, and a handful of releases before 2000 for some historical context.
1. "The IMAX 3D camera contained a mile of film, though this allowed for only 8 minutes 30 seconds of footage to be recorded." (wikipedia)
2. Since new 3D models are being created to extrude the original 2D objects, this counts to me as new content, and so Beauty and the Beast will technically be "Fake 3D." However, Disney has all the original artwork saved in separate levels, so there may not be much "filling in the blanks" done by the new animators. Instead, the conversion may be more like the process used in Meet the Robinsons (see note 3) which I categorized as "Real 3D." Plus, unlike the other "Fake" films, Beast is neither live action nor 3D animation, and so moviegoers are not being sold an inauthentic experience.
3. According to this YouTube they appear to have original 3D models. I also talked to a friend of some of the crewmembers, and apparently they projected the original 2D image onto the 3D models because it was faster than re-rendering with a second camera. This is why it appears like a longer conversion process in this article. If you have the original 3D geometry, that's real enough.
4. James Cameron said, "It's never going to look as good as if you shot it in 3D. But think of it as a sort of 2.8D."
5. The stereoscopic supervisor mentioned to me that the CGI effects were done with real 3D (about a third of the film).
6. Transformers should really be classified "Hybrid," given how much people are raving about the 3D in the film. However, between one-third to one-half of is converted, with 78 minutes converted from Legend3D. All of the CGI was converted, which may not be a problem in most movies, but considering the transformers are the stars of the film, if they're not rendered natively in 3D (which should be the case with all 3D CGI), then viewers are kind of not getting the real deal.
7. Disney gave Chicken Little to a 3rd-party to convert the film into 3D. However, they provided original 3D models, so it's nearly a native rendering. This is similar to Meet the Robinsons. Ideally, they would've re-rendered with a second virtual camera.
This page was last updated January 24, 2012.
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