Yes, 3D's Cool, but Who Can Afford It?

The 3D movie trend is about to go into hyper-mode -- and the price for the family moviegoing 3D experience is also reaching stratospheric levels.

Let’s take the recent Jonas Brothers in-your-face extravaganza.

In our neck of the woods, it cost a family of four a whopping $60 to sit in a comfy chair, wearing the innocuous plastic glasses we seemed to pay for thrice (and which ended up in the trash soon after the movie was over) to watch the boys cavort -- no popcorn or drinks, dinner afterwards, or gas included.

Sure, concert movies are the next best thing to being there -- front row and center -- if you can’t muster the energy and expense it takes to purchase a ticket for the real thing. But for families cash-strapped by the recession, watching a 3D concert movie will have them double-dipping in their wallets to afford these high tech flicks.

At $15 a pop, you could just as well purchase an amphitheater lawn ticket for around $20 and see the live performance of your kids’ favorite singers instead.

According to Variety, comparing the opening box-office take between the “Jonas Brothers: The 3D Concert Experience” film and “Miley Cyrus: Best of Both Worlds Concert Tour" was tough. The Jonases opened to a paltry $12.7 million, compared to Miley with $31.1 million a year ago. Of course, the economic climate was very different a couple of years ago -- home foreclosures and job-loss reports were not front page news, and overall disposable income was readily available.

“Some are speculating that parents may not have wanted to shell out the extra money for a 3D ticket, which can cost $3-$4 more on average” noted the Variety article.
However, while Disney’s latest foray with the 3D concert movie didn’t enjoy the spoils of an overheated economy, having the movie’s own celebs show up unexpectedly at theaters was a genius twist for cinema enthusiasts. It also may have kept the movie from completely tanking.

Who knows? But, I’m sure glad movie companies are racking their brains to come up with ways to keep us digging deeper into our silt-filled wallets.

Disney recently came up with a unique two-for-one deal that might lure families to spend a little more at the box office to watch both 3D and movies in general. No, I’m not referring to the “2Fer” park passes -- rather to the clever mouse’s Opening Weekend Surprise Program.

People might line-up to see stunts like Dwayne “The Rock” Johnson popping in on opening week-end at a San Diego Cineplex showing “Race to Witch Mountain,” throwing T-shirts and sweatshirts at moviegoers, and giving the entire audience two tickets to Disney’s theme parks.

Hey, when is Disney’s next movie opening? We’re getting in line pronto!