| 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 DhingraPS. If you want to see my notes, go to View > Source in your browser for hidden HTML comments. | |
Real 3D2012Ice Age: Continental Drift Mad Max: Fury Road Men in Black III Spider-Man 4 The Avengers |
Fake 3D2012Titanic 4 |
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2011 Drive Angry Hugo Cabret Journey 2: The Mysterious Island Kung Fu Panda 2 Pirates Of The Caribbean 4 Shark Night 3D The Three Musketeers Tintin Transformers 3 Underworld 4 Yogi Bear |
2011 Beauty and the Beast 2 Captain America Green Lantern Harry Potter and the Deathly Hollows: Part 2 Priest The Cabin in the Woods The Green Hornet The Smurfs Thor |
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2010 Despicable Me How to Train Your Dragon Jackass 3D Legend of the Guardians Megamind Resident Evil: Afterlife Sanctum Saw 3D (Saw VII) Shrek Forever After Space Chimps 2 Step up 3D StreetDance 3D Tangled The Last Reef The Mortician Toy Story 3 Tron Legacy |
2010 Alice in Wonderland Cats & Dogs: The Revenge of Kitty Galore Clash of the Titans Harry Potter and the Deathly Hollows: Part 1 Hubble 3D 1 Gulliver's Travels My Soul to Take Piranha 3-D The Chronicles of Narnia: The Voyage of the Dawn Treader The Last Airbender |
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2009 A Christmas Carol Astro Boy Avatar Cloudy with a Chance of Meatballs Coraline Ice Age: Dawn of the Dinosaurs Journey to the Center of the Earth Monsters vs. Aliens My Bloody Valentine 3D The Final Destination The Hole Toy Story (re-release) Toy Story 2 (re-release) Up |
2009 Dawn of the Dead G-Force Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince |
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2008 Bolt Fly Me To the Moon Hannah Montana Scar Wild Ocean |
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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 Monster House Open Season The Ant Bully |
2006 Superman Returns The Nightmare Before Christmas |
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2005 Chicken Little The Adventures of Sharkboy and Lavagirl 2004 The Polar Express 2003 Spy Kids 3-D 1986 Captain EO 1983 Amityville 3-D Jaws 3-D 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 Philosophistry. 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."
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