When James Cameron released "Avatar" in 2009, it heralded a new era of cinema, in which 3D would become the de facto format for any tentpole flick looking to make a fortune at the box office.
In the initial rush of enthusiasm, some studios resorted to gimmickry, hastily converting movies that had originally been shot in 2D, but a few filmmakers began to explore the full potential of the format.
Ang Lee was one of them. The Taiwanese director had already won Oscars for "Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon" (2000) and "Brokeback Mountain" (2005) when he took on the task of adapting Yann Martel's "Life of Pi," a magical realist novel about a teenage boy who gets stranded in a lifeboat with a Bengal tiger. The resulting film, released internationally in 2012, was a technological marvel, shot in 3D and using immersive visual effects to bring the book's dream-like imagery to life.
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