“Reduce, Reuse, Recycle” has become a common phrase in the last few years, but do the three R’s only apply to garbage?
Studios have always tried recycling their tried-and-true characters in sequels, but the more recent movie fad is the 3D remake.
Some big title movies recently re-released in 3D are the Lion King, Beauty and the Beast and Star Wars: Episode I—The Phantom Menace.
You probably noticed that two of those three are from Disney, and lucky for us avid Disney lovers, there are more on the way. Between now and September of next year, Disney is supposed to re-release three more classics: Finding Nemo (September 2012), Monsters, Inc. (January 2013), and The Little Mermaid (September 2013).
According to Rotten Tomatoes, Disney made $29.3 million from the Lion King 3D. Other companies have 3D releases coming out too (notably Top Gun and Titanic), but Disney has had the most success thus far. So what does Disney have going for them that no one else has? According to Alan Bergman, president of the Walt Disney Studios, they have characters.
“Great stories and great characters are timeless,” Bergman said in an interview with Mashable.com. “At Disney, we are fortunate to have a treasure trove of both.”
I would probably think Bergman was stuck up if he worked for any studio besides Disney, but it’s Disney! Last summer, I went through and watched every old Disney movie I had, and I could do it again this summer. They’re all classics!
I know what you might be thinking, “If they’re classics, why mess with them?” But they’re not messing with them. They aren’t changing anything; Simba still runs away from home so he can learn to sing “Hakuna Matata”, Scar is still the most hated antagonist of my childhood and Rafiki still draws random things on the wall.
Bergman and Disney are simply re-releasing the old classics in beautiful quality so that the next generation has the opportunity to love Simba and share the experience that we all cherished as children.
And I’d like to repeat, 3D is beautiful quality. If it hurts your eyes, I’m sorry—take a break, buy some popcorn, go out to Candy Crossing and smuggle some decently- priced candy back into the theater.
Many people say that RealD (the most widespread technology for projecting 3D) movies are not much better than regular movies, and they’re right, but it’s a step forward, just like Blu-ray and the old 3D movies. People expect the difference from 2D to 3D to be as monumental as the change from black-and-white to color,
but it’s going to take some time.
RealD is the next step towards whatever lies ahead, and for that reason I’d like to say that everyone should support the industry. Unfortunately, at $13.50, I too find it troubling to purchase 3D tickets.
Because theaters have to give glasses to everyone, they are able to charge extra for 3D movies (they would probably charge extra anyway, but now they have a good excuse for it). But many people simply don’t want to pay the extra cash. In an Oracle-conducted survey of 186 students, only 33 percent said that 3D was worth the extra price.
However, there is hope for 3D: in that same survey of 186 students, 47 percent said that they have or were planning to attend a 3D remake. If more people are planning to attend than think that it’s worth it, I have to ask what’s going on. The one word answer: Cameron.
James Cameron, the man who holds the record for highest grossing film with his 3D movie, Avatar, is releasing a 3D remake of the Titanic for the 100th anniversary of the sinking of the actual Titanic. And from what I see, Titanic 3D is creating the most buzz out of any other 3D movie (even more than the Lion King).
Though image quality has gotten better, for the most part, films have not changed for a long time. It’s hard to get a bunch of people who are used to watching movies a certain way to all of the sudden change the way they watch. That’s probably why Disney has reached so much success; they appeal to a younger generation.
That being said, it is the gems like Cameron that can get audiences young and old into the theaters. I’m not sure if 3D will make it, but I do know that if it does, it will survive because of people like Cameron and companies like Disney.
