Does anyone like 3-D?

Roger Ebert believes not, and that its use in films is an annoyance and a distraction

Now, though, 3-D is back from the grave as the object of a campaign to market digitally projected animation. It is most prevalent here in the States, but it is being pushed worldwide. Its supporters cite recent box-office numbers: Up ($291 million in America), Monsters vs. Aliens ($198 million), Ice Age 3 ($195 million), G-Force ($117 million). But let’s be clear: a majority of those tickets weren’t sold for 3-D screenings; all four films grossed more in 2-D, because of the limited number of 3-D projection facilities.

Never fear, though. That is being remedied. Jeffrey Katzenberg, the high priest and snake-oil salesman of 3-D, has announced that all animation at his DreamWorks studio will be in 3-D. Pixar, the leader in animation, is apparently following. To promote his (pretty bad) Monsters vs. Aliens, Katzenberg barnstormed North America for a month, meeting personally with film critics and exhibitors. Two weeks ago, he keynoted an animation summit conference in Los Angeles to encourage cinema owners to upgrade to expensive new projectors and silvered screens.

Katzenberg knows animation. It is his infatuation with 3-D that is suspect. He masterminded the modern rebirth of animation at Disney in the 1980s with such titles as The Little Mermaid, Beauty and the Beast and The Lion King. Disney later purchased Pixar, which will 3-D versions of its Toy Story movies this month. Most worryingly of all, Pixar has technology that can convert any 2-D movie into 3-D from scratch; an ominous development, like the outrage of colorisation, that threatens existing films.