HOLLYWOOD pushes 3-D even as profits fall

Not all 3-D movies have succeeded,and 2012 may see a smaller number as studios complete projects approved in the glow of Avatar and become more selective.

Hollywood will continue to push 3-D movies to bolster box-office revenue even if profits arent what the studios envisioned when Avatar ignited widespread enthusiasm for the format. Studios will release at least 26 films in 3-D next year,up from 22 in 2010,according to Hollywood.com Box-Office. 3-D winners include James Camerons Avatar,the No. 1 film of all time,and Walt Disneys Toy Story 3.

Cameron showed how it can be done well, Bill Mechanic,the former chairman of Twentieth Century Fox and producer of the 2009 3-D release Coraline,said in an interview. A lot of it depends on how you use it.

For many of this years releases,the typical $3 to $3.50 surcharge for a ticket to a three-dimensional film more than covered added production costs of $5 million to $20 million per movie,studios say. Still,not all 3-D movies have succeeded,and 2012 may see a smaller number as studios complete projects approved in the glow of Avatar and become more selective.

Its simply not going to be acceptable or successful to ask our customers to pay a premium price for a bad experience, DreamWorks Animation SKG chief executive officer Jeffrey Katzenberg said.

Executives are discussing the success and the future of 3-D films on Thursday at the 3-D Entertainment Summit in Los Angeles. Speakers include Katzenberg and director M Night Shyamalan.

The biggest cost factor is the added time needed to set up scenes to accommodate the depth that 3-D allows,Mechanic said.

In the stop-motion animated Coraline,3-D added $5 million to $6 million to the budget,Mechanic said. The film,based on the Neil Gaiman book,was made for about $60 million and generated $124.6 million in worldwide ticket sales,according to Box Office Mojo,an industry website.

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If you get a 10 per cent or 15 per cent boost in your box-office,its completely worth it, Mechanic said.

3-D is among the most profitable investments DreamWorks Animation has made,Katzenberg said in July. The Glendale,California-based company spends about $15 million extra to make its computer-generated films in 3-D,Katzenberg said in a May 2009 conference call.

3-D viewings have generated sales of $1.49 billion this year,or about 20 per cent of the total domestic box office,according to Bloomberg Research. For all of 2009,3-D films generated $1.1 billion,or 11 percent of the total,according to the Motion Picture Association of America.

Avatar has taken in $2.77 billion in box-office sales,including $2 billion since January 1,on production costs of $230 million,according to Box Office Mojo. The movie was released on December 18. Toy Story 3 cost about $200 million and has had sales of $1.04 billion following its release on June 18.

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Toy Story 3 helped lift third-quarter operating profit in Burbank,California-based Disneys film division to $123 million from a loss of $12 million a year earlier. Avatar and the 3-D Ice Age: Dawn Of The Dinosaurs increased fiscal- year operating income in New York-based News Corps movie unit to a record $1.35 billion,the company said on August 4.