Dolby 3-D glasses

[Marcel Birgelen]

Unless Mike invested into bringing back 3D to Forsyth between the last time he mentioned in this very topic that they don't have any 3D capabilities anymore since they upgraded to the Barco SP4K machine, all his shows will be in 2D. But part of the discussion was about the fact that cinemas have different interests and obligations than the preferences of their audience.

My point was just that people will buy the first class seat JUST because of the legroom, the convenience etc. without caring about a lot of the perks. I suspect the same might be happening for Avatar in 3-D -- some people want the biggest screen but they'd really prefer to see it in 2D. There's not really a way to quantify that, I guess.

I remember one of our local cinemas recently gave everybody a questionnaire when exiting the show. One of the questions was if you prefer 2D or 3D. Maybe I'll ask them what the answer was. It's obviously not really representative, but it's better than nothing. Doing such questionnaires might be a worthwhile way to collect information anyway, especially if you convince your customers that it will be used to adapt your services more to what they actually want.

[Ian Puffenberger]

My point was just that people will buy the first class seat JUST because of the legroom, the convenience etc. without caring about a lot of the perks. I suspect the same might be happening for Avatar in 3-D -- some people want the biggest screen but they'd really prefer to see it in 2D. There's not really a way to quantify that, I guess.

There would be if Disney reported the box office percentages from PLF 2D. It might not add up to much just because of a lack of relative volume, but for example every Harkins Ciné Capri and Ciné XL is 2D only, as are most if not all Alamo Big Shows. A lot of Dolby Cinemas have been playing one 2D show per day since it opened, and the Cinemark near me which has 2 XD screens played it in 2D on one and 3D on the other for the first three weeks, and Cinemark has multiple XDs at a lot of locations.I never bothered to do any seat map comparisons to see how 2D was playing on any of these screens, but the demand for PLF 2D definitely isn't zero as Disney implies with their numbers.

[Marcel Birgelen]

I remember one of our local cinemas recently gave everybody a questionnaire when exiting the show. One of the questions was if you prefer 2D or 3D. Maybe I'll ask them what the answer was. It's obviously not really representative, but it's better than nothing. Doing such questionnaires might be a worthwhile way to collect information anyway, especially if you convince your customers that it will be used to adapt your services more to what they actually want.

I actually got some results back, those are only for the 3D part. Keep in mind this is a small, local cinema. The population of this research was about 1100 in the timespan of roughly three months earlier this year, but months before Avatar hit the theaters. I think that the questions are pretty reasonable and the results are mostly in line with what I'd expect. I've translated both questions and answers, so some information might also be lost in translation...

What's your age?
- 12 or younger - 12%
- 12 - 16 - 14%
- 16 - 24 - 17%
- 24 - 35 - 15%
- 35 - 45 - 13%
- 45 - 55 - 11%
- 55 - 65 - 8%
- 65 - 75 - 5%
- 75+ - 5%
- I prefer not to say - 5%

If a movie is available in both 2D and 3D, what show do you prefer?
- Always 2D - 34%
- Always 3D - 8%
- The show that runs in the biggest theater, no matter if it's 2D or 3D - 31%
- No preference - 20%
- I don't know what 3D is - 7%

Would you skip a visit to the theater if a movie is only available in 3D?
- Yes - 20%
- No - 54%
- Depends on the movie - 17%
- I don't know - 9%

Would you skip a visit to the theater if a movie that's available elsewhere in 3D.is only available in 2D?
- Yes - 15%
- No - 65%
- Depends on the movie - 11%
- I don't know - 9%

Do you keep the 3D glasses after the show or do you buy new ones?
- I always buy new ones - 36%
- I sometimes buy new ones - 22%
- I always use my previously bought glasses - 17%
- I never attend 3D shows - 10%
- I don't know - 15%
(Over here in Europe, it's common to buy your own 3D glasses, at least for the polarizer-based systems.)

Do you wear glasses when visiting the cinema?
- Yes, always - 30%
- No, never - 47%
- Sometimes - 21%
- I don't want to share that information - 2%

[Ryan Gallagher]

Always 2D edging out Always 3D (even if it's on the bigger screen) is about where I expected that to land too. The skip numbers are similar, more likely to skip if only available in 3D.

I guess the lesson (if we pretend that sample size is representative) is that 3D is fine if you are able to accommodate a mix of screens and 2D offerings. If you are single screen though, the survey suggests sticking with 2D, unless you have a capacity to mix formats on that one screen for different show times?

Having a mix but doing predominantly 3D also seems like a mistake... it should be like a 50/50 mix at most, more likely a 70/30 mix.

[Marcel Birgelen]

It's a bit dangerous to see those numbers as representative, also because markets vary regionally. But I think it does substantiate the hunch that most people don't give a crap about 3D.