3-D,we've been hearing for decades, is the future of movies. Finally, the future is here, with 7,000 3-D screens expected to be up and running worldwide by the end of the year and Hollywood frantically ramping up production of 3-D films, both animated and live-action.
One leader in the 3-D revolution is "Titanic" director James Cameron, who announced his intention of opening his new sci-fi epic "Avatar" only in 3-D theaters in the United States. He won't get his wish — the poor economy and the high cost of 3-D projection systems have made many theater owners hesitate. But "Avatar" promises to be for 3-D movies what "The Jazz Singer" was for talkies: A game changer.
In Japan, the first director to make a 3-D live-action film is Takashi Shimizu, the horrormeister who has spent much of the past decade in Hollywood making and remaking installments in his "Ju-on" ("The Grudge") franchise. The budget of his new film, "Senritsu Meikyu^ 3-D" ("Shock Labyrinth"), wouldn't pay for the catering on "Avatar," but this lost-in-a-spookhouse shocker is a 3-D film for all that, with ghostly hands that grab at audience throats and a creepy doll that floats in the air just out of reach.