3D films not made for U.S.

        The 3D film market has taken a lot of heat from real film buffs over the years (including this guy) since its reintroduction to modern cinema. Their argument is that up converting a film to 3D takes longer to produce and increases the production cost and prolongs the release of certain films, such as GI JOE Retaliation which was pushed back almost a whole year, and that the reason given for the 3D conversion was that the lucrative ticket price could maximise foreign box office revenue and make the film more profitable  http://goo.gl/NYbQc. It also detracts from the quality of the film and that it is used as a marketing gimmick that tacks on an added fee to the already high movie ticket prices. But as much as we yell and scream it isn’t going anywhere, it seems that 3D is inevitable with any big budget, wide audience type of film.

         A problem that we have here in the US is that we think everything revolves around us the reason 3D films are having such an explosion right now is not because we are going to to see them, it’s that the foreign film markets are really booming in the 3D film space. Foreign films are what’s really driving sales of films that generally don’t do well stateside http://goo.gl/FJDWa.  China is now the second biggest international film market after Japan. Markets like China are leading the way in pushing this emerging technology into the mainstream having had a 212% average annual growth on 3D screens since 2007, which then had only nine in the entire country http://goo.gl/3tFmO. We have to understand that what we may like is minimal compared to a market that has a fast growing middle class with discretionary income to spend in a country that has 1 Billion people. Our U.S. population is probably equal to the population of the Chinese middle class, it’s only smart business to go after the growing foreign market.

Well Done Ben Affleck!!!

  

As anybody who knows me, well knows that I am a devoted fan and follower of director Christopher Nolan. What he has been able to do in the short time he has been in Hollywood is nothing short of remarkable. After last week’s Oscar Ceremony I have to add another name to my list of directors that I follow adamantly…Ben Affleck.  Unlike Nolan, Affleck’s rise to prominence was not without its share of failures. He did however start on top and then get dragged down and then rose back up to distinction. He was a child star who after meeting up with Matt Damon made ”Good Will Hunting” and won his first Oscar. Then started dating Jennifer Lopez and his career just tanked, doing bad movie after movie. Which ended up putting him in rehab. Then after a almost 6 year hiatus he returned to film his directorial debut Gone Baby Gone (http://goo.gl/W4j5o).

Like Nolan each subsequent film he directs is better than the last. In that respect Affleck has yet to make a misstep. His second film the Town was nominated for an Oscar and was panned as one of the best films of the year. In that film he clearly borrowed many elements from other films but what he did borrow was the best of each film culminating in a tour de force. In his latest effort Argo, which he used some of his Middle Eastern Studies major from college http://goo.gl/9N90D; he told a wonderful story that was shrouded in secrecy for years. What I’m getting at is that in the short time that Affleck has been behind the camera he has done no wrong and like Nolan he commands a certain power in Hollywood with such a short time in the hot seat for that he gets my utmost respect and to that I have to say…Well Done Ben Affleck!