Costs at 3D Movie Theaters Keep Rising, But What About Quality?

Just as uneven box-office results have the industry reconsidering the value of 3D at the box-office, Sony is picking a fight with theater owners, declaring that it will stop paying for 3D glasses as the 2012 summer moviegoing season begins, according to The Hollywood Reporter. That means the cost of those glasses — which The Wrap estimates hits about $5 million for a $100-million release — has to be picked up by the exhibitors.

Sony’s The Amazing Spider-Man will be the second film released under the new policy.

That puts theaters in a tough spot, since they already enforce a surcharge on every 3D ticket sold. Consumers assume that money is going directly to pay for the glasses, and they’re not happy about it, so another buck or two at the box-office could be a powerful disincentive that drives them toward the 2D screens. It’s not great news for RealD, either, which saw its stock tank 14 percent today. The AP cited previous statements from the company that indicated its revenues were already falling this summer as international moviegoers got in the habit of reusing their 3D glasses.

Theaters may push back, and that’s their right — but it will be hard for them to pass up engagements of Men in Black III and The Amazing Spider-Man, which is the only leverage they have to kick Sony in the pocketbook. Business is business, and with the price of popcorn and soda being what it is I’m going to assume the big theater chains, at least, can launder the cost of glasses through their concession sales. It’s the ticketbuyers who will pay, one way or another.

Smaller exhibitors might have a hard time making the numbers work, especially single-theater companies or regional chains that can experience more dramatic revenue fluctuations on both a seasonal and per-movie basis that can make it harder to budget for extra expenses. Furthermore, a story in today’s Chicago Tribune looked at how the ongoing digital conversion is already putting some mom-and-pop operations in a tough spot. When you need a business loan to install digital projection, and you see your per-attendee costs increasing every time you take advantage of that digital projector by running a 3D movie, you might eventually decide that your third-tier market can’t support a Main Street movie theater in the 21st century. It might not make a huge difference to industry profits these days, but a lot of 20th century film fans learned how to love movies in theaters like that.

Back to the subject of 3D glasses. You know what would be great? If the studios took that $5-million-plus per movie and, instead of buying glasses with it, poured it back into quality 3D, either financing 3D production, giving the 3D conversion companies a little more time and money to do the job right, or looking at ways to improve 3D exhibition, as industry blogger David Poland suggested today. Why do I doubt that’s on anybody’s fiscal agenda right now?