The Third Eye

Cinema has never felt this real and India's waking up to the magic of it. Sunday MiD DAY takes a close look at the fuzzy logic of 3D films

Close your eyes or you may be assaulted by a hurtling screw, a flying human tooth or a splash of blood. Leave them open and you'll end up buoyed by the feeling of a house floating on hundreds of colourful balloons. 3D technology is revolutionising movie-watching the world over, but Indian cinemas and audiences are waking up to the magic of it, bit by bit.u00a0

This week, Disney's Up releases in 3D screens as well as 2D, but it already got a celebrated bunch of eyeballs when it became the first 3D animation film to premiere at Cannes this year. This meant that a theatre-full of critics solemnly put on thick black spectacles and leaned back to drink in old man Carl Fredrickson's wonderful, soaring adventure.

Eyeing a revolutionu00a0u00a0
Despite the multiplex strike this summer in Mumbai, Paramount's Monsters Vs Aliens got in audiences with the novelty of 3D animation, followed by 20th Century Fox's successful sequel Ice Age 3. Shravan Shroff, owner of Fame multiplexes all over India, says, "There's been a resurgence in the audiences coming to theatres, thanks to 3D and that's why exhibitors are investing in creating more such screens." Adds PVR cinemas CEO Amitabh Vardhan, "3D films have really taken off with the kids. There's at least 20 per cent higher occupancy in these cinemas."

20th Century Fox India CEO Vijay Singh adds, "We grossed Rs nine crore, with Ice Age 3 being second only to Hanuman in box office for animation films in India. Of the 100 screens that showed Ice Age 3, only 12 were in 3D and yet, just those screens contributed 40 per cent of our revenue. So you can see how 3D is adding value."

Warner Bros seconds this. Their Harry Potter and the Half Blood Prince had 3D moments in one version that played at Imax theatres, but they just released Final Destination 4, the first 3D horror to play in India. The incredibly cheesy, gory film is entirely elevated by the 3D experience.

You can't imagine yourself laughing through such macabre situations where death stalks the film's lead characters where each of them ends up in pulpy mass, but the technology lends itself to it. The spectacles are over-large and the screen looks slightly blurry without them perched on your nose, but most of all, the 3D feels like pure nostalgia (remember Chota Chetan?). You're giggling as flames burst near your eyes, blood splatters on your face and cars and tyres spin off the race track and plonk right onto you it isn't so much what's coming your way, but the exhilaration of cinema that you can almost touch.

The technology obviously feels far superior to the Chota Chetan days. Says Shravan, whose Shringar Cinemas re-released India's 3D film in 1997, "I remember watching it for the first time when I was still in school in the Ambar Oscar theatre in Andheri. When we re-released Chota Chetan in 1997, it did rocking business, but the technology seems so horrible then compared to what it is now. Our eyes used to water; now the 3D is clear and has so much depth."u00a0

Watching in 3D is a visual ride. Deputy Managing Director of Warner Bros India, Denzil Dias says, "You literally get the feeling of things flying at you. The audience reacts like an army, in complete unison, going back when something comes at them."

Propping the story
Evidently, 3D is taking off. Denzil points out, "We've had a phenomenal response because this is the first real 3D live action release; it's mainly been animation before this. In the case of Harry Potter, it didn't make much of a difference to box office because that's already a popular franchise, but we think things will change by the time the next two Harry Potters come out.

"We released Final Destination 4 in 85 screens across India, of which 14 were 3D. Those 14 screens contributed to 45 per cent of Final Destination's box office!"

That's pretty clear. The blood fest that it is, this Final Destination sequel is a cipher without the 3D. Disney's Bolt, a so-so movie about a dog who thinks he's a super hero, in 3D too did much better than its other version.

But in the case of Up, a film that has already got the thumbs up from critics, the technology merely uplifts a great story. Says Disney marketing head in India, Divya Pathak, "3D adds depth to Up visually, but its story is already beautiful we've had wonderful reactions from both audiences. The visual appeal lies in scenes such as the one in which the house is floating or where there's a thunderstorm."

An expensive affair
The hitch is that 3D is limited to select cinemas in India. The best part of it is that the tickets aren't marked up yet, even though the exhibitors have spent a bomb getting the few 3D screens in place. Denzil says that more screens will add to the potential, while Vijay hopes that by the time Fox's biggest release comes up in December, James Cameron's futuristic epic Avatar, the number of screens will increase from 14 to 40.

But there are reasons why the exhibitors aren't rushing to change the screens to 3D just yet.

The technology itself is quite complicated and changing by the day. There are the one projector, two-projector or colour wheel equipment and it's difficult to keep abreast. "We're using the dual projector in India, but the technology is changing so rapidly worldwide that we don't want to invest in something that becomes obsolete immediately," explains Amitabh, "The screens are high definition and quite expensive." Amitabh also alludes to the fact that technology gets more reasonable in price over time look at how plasma TV screens have come down to nearly Rs 35,000 today.

The spectacles too are another investment. Amitabh states that they import them from the US, at about Rs 400 a piece. "We're now looking at getting them from Europe or China."

At the show we attended, a Rs 100 deposit was collected at the door before giving us our specs and the attendant ran in during the closing credits with the refund as we handed them back. So do the theatres get people trying to sneak out the black frames? "It's of no value; they're not even sunglasses and you're likely to look like a joker wearing them on the streets," says Amitabh laughingly, "But we use the Rs 100 as a deposit so that people don't absentmindedly carry them out."

Shravan says that while it's encouraging that 3D is bringing back audiences to theatres the world over, the reality is that in India, Hollywood forms only 10 per cent of nationwide cinema audiences. "It's only when Hindi, Tamil, Telugu and other languages start making movies in 3D themselves, that we'll see big profits. The exhibitors have taken the first step in investing in the expensive screens. I'm in touch with filmmakers in the industry and I tell them that they need to make those films first," explains Shravan.

Meanwhile, Bollywood director Ram Gopal Varma, obsessed with the supernatural, has announced that he will soon make a 3D horror titled Warning.

Coming attractions
3D is becoming a rage worldwide, at a time when 2D tickets sales are falling. You hear of exciting news, like Steven Spielberg patenting a technology with 3D screens that won't require glasses or of George Lucas pondering over whether to re-release his Star Wars franchise in 3D.

Spielberg's touted screen version of The Adventures of Tintin: Secret of the Unicorn is also expected to have the carrot-top detective, Captain Haddock and Thomson and Thompson close enough to touch.

Most movies in animation are going in for the 3D option and many will hit India soon. Disney has their massive sequel Toy Story 3 in 2010, but before that comes their global hit G-Force, with star credits like Nicholas Cage, Penelope Cruz and Sam Rockwell.

Fox already unveiled 16 minutes of Cameron's ambitious Avatar at a premiere last month and Vijay says there's massive buzz for the December release. "We had filmmakers like Vidhu Vinod Chopra and Mahesh Bhatt asking us about the 3D technology."

Warner Bros has the live action Cats And Dogs coming up, as well as the screen version of the children's fantasy novel Guardians Of Ga'Hoole. We caught the 3D trailor of Sony's animation flick Cloudy With A Chance Of Meatballs. With the hilarious story of a scientist who tries to convert water into food and ends up having giant club sandwiches land on the Eiffel Tower and corncobs roll down the Wall of China, it's a gastronomical delight you can almost savour on 3D.

Once you've got the taste for it, you'll go back for more. Vijay puts it down to 3D being such "an immersive experience". You feel like you've actually lived in that world. Cinema attendant Punit Gupta says 3D films are hugely interesting and big draws, while college student Tamara D'Souza points out that it ends up as a great buddy outing. "We were grinning when we came out... we had a ball!"

It's cinema that almost physically pulls you in, and as theatre owners and filmmakers concur, it's also the cinema of the future.