Possible Bad News for 3D TV
Avatar’s Blu-ray success may be bad news for 3D TV, you decide. Are consumers really going to shell out more money for the 3D version of Avatar when it becomes available? Let’s have a closer look at what PCWorld had to say about it.
Hollywood moviemakers and TV manufacturers should file this item under Good News/Bad News. First, the good: The blockbuster movie Avatar is apparently a blockbuster on Blu-ray as well. Released just yesterday in stores–Earth Day, in case you missed the symbolism–Avatar racked up record sales of 1.5 million copies in the Blu-ray format. According to the Hollywood Reporter, an early industry estimate places overall disc sales (DVD and Blu-ray) of Avatar somewhere north of 4 million.
And while Avatar director James Cameron and Fox Home Entertainment, which released the disc, are no doubt popping champagne corks today, there may be a downside to the movie’s record-breaking disc sales–at least for TV makers. You see, the initial Blu-ray release of Avatar isn’t in 3D, but in plain old two dimensions. The millions of buyers who’ve already snapped up Avatar discs are aware of this, naturally, and there’s a good chance they’re drawn more by film’s action, characters, and plot than by the (admittedly cool) visually gimmickry of 3D. Fans who want Avatar 3D on Blu-ray will have to wait until early next year, according to Fox.
3D @ Home
Now the potential bad news: Since Avatar is a smashing success in Blu-ray 2D, does this mean that consumers are blasé about 3D entertainment in the home? After all, content drives adoption of new consumer technologies, at least most of the time. If shoppers are snapping up Avatar discs now, it is quite possible they’ll pass on the 3D version–well, aside from a relatively small number of home theater buffs who want to recreate a theatrical experience.
To be fair, 3D TVs are new and expensive, and few consumers own one today. But wouldn’t Avatar, not only the highest-grossing film of all time, but also one that’s integrally linked with 3D entertainment, be the killer app (or killer disc, in this case) that spurs people to drop big bucks on a 3D-ready HDTV, a 3D Blu-Ray player, and at least two (and likely more) pairs of 3D glasses?
I’m not saying that 3D TV will fail. But Avatar’s early disc sales may provide a clue as to what consumers think of 3D at home. If you’re a TV manufacturer, it’s too soon for the vomit bag. But do keep one handy–just in case.
Thanks PCWorld!
AVATAR 3D Blu-Ray Disc and DVD World Release Dates Announced
Twentieth Century Fox Home Entertainment today announced that it will launch director James Cameron’s history-making motion picture AVATAR on Blu-ray Disc and DVD on Thursday, April 22.
AVATAR on Blu-ray presents the ultimate high definition experience for home viewing audiences. Fans around the world will soon be able to discover every detail and relive every moment of James Cameron’s AVATAR in the comfort of their own home. Blu-ray is recognized for presenting optimal picture and sound, and now AVATAR’s masterful cinematography, art direction and visual effects will lend itself to awe-inspiring clarity when you become absorbed in the extraordinary all-encompassing experience in the living room.
Since its global theatrical release last December, AVATAR has continued to make motion picture history. Written by James Cameron and produced with his long-time collaborator Jon Landau, AVATAR stars Sam Worthington, Zoë Saldana, Sigourney Weaver, Stephen Lang, Michelle Rodriguez, Giovanni Ribisi, Joel David Moore, CCH Pounder, Wes Studi and Laz Alonso.
Oscar® and Golden Globe® winning epic is the highest grossing film of all time, taking in over $2.6 billion in worldwide box office. Director James Cameron takes audiences to a spectacular world beyond imagination, where a reluctant hero embarks on a journey of redemption and discovery as he leads a heroic battle to save a civilization. AVATAR delivers a fully immersive cinematic experience of a new kind, where the revolutionary technology invented to make the film disappears into the emotion of the characters and the epic nature of the story.
AVATAR will be available on Blu-ray Disc and DVD everywhere in the United States and Canada on Earth Day, April 22. Please see below for additional release dates around the world:
FRANCE – April 21
BELGIUM – April 21
NETHERLANDS – April 21
SPAIN – April 21
CHINA – April 22
BRAZIL – April 22
RUSSIA – April 22
NORTH AMERICA – April 22
GERMANY – April 23
JAPAN – April 23
SWITZERLAND – April 23
MEXICO – April 23
UK – April 26
DENMARK – April 27
NORWAY – April 28
SWEDEN – April 28
NEW ZEALAND – April 28
AUSTRALIA – April 29
FINLAND – April 30
ITALY – May 6
About Twentieth Century Fox Home Entertainment
A recognized global industry leader, Twentieth Century Fox Home Entertainment LLC (TCFHE) is the worldwide marketing, sales and distribution company for all Fox film and television programming on DVD, Blu-ray Disc (BD) and Digital Copy as well as acquisitions and original productions. The company also releases all products around the globe for MGM Home Entertainment. Each year TCFHE introduces hundreds of new and newly enhanced products, which it services to retail outlets — from mass merchants and warehouse clubs to specialty stores and e-commerce – throughout the world. Twentieth Century Fox Home Entertainment LLC is a subsidiary of Twentieth Century Fox Film Corporation, a News Corporation company.
3D TV Fad or Fabulous?
The big box-office returns scored by 3D films like Avatar and Up have led the showbiz moguls to foresee that the next giant leap will involve taking 3D to television. It has been foreseen that couch potatoes around the world will be wowed by the entry of 3D small screens into their homes. It’s an aspiration that the shift to 3D home systems will be just as much of an upheaval, if not more so, than high definition pictures and digital audio in home theaters. Before you start lining up at your corner appliance shop, however, you may want to check out the status of the 3D world currently, and what it means for home 3D TV.
Broadcasters are starting to race each other to create the next generation of 3D TV programs. A number of content producers are gearing up to provide 3D features over a diverse variety of genres, from public events to musical events. 3D cinema features will now be just as watchable and enjoyable in one’s house as in the theater.
Favorite television offerings once broadcast in 2D can be translated into a 3D format. The ultimate result is a much more immersive experience that should, hopefully, have individuals across the globe immersed in the 3D technological breakthrough.
This isn’t to say that the 3D small screen is certainly going to be the future of home entertainment. Rather, it might share the same fate as that of the Laserdisc. Honestly, how many of us really need to see programs like CSI, Mad Men or even the evening news in 3D majesty? Moreover, features like Avatar and Up are demonstrative of the finest examples of the innovation – most other works may well fall far short of these parameters of quality. Also, while cinema patrons may be willing to suffer with cumbersome 3D glasses for a few hours, TV audiences may be significantly less appreciative of the requirement to wear glasses. What’s worse, 3D televisions will certainly be much more pricy, and the program producers may not be able to adequately supply the outcry by viewers to make it worthwhile upgrading. Likewise, experiencing 3D can induce headaches, even in a movie theater, and compressing 3D into a TV-sized screen could be even more uncomfortable. Home-based 3D technology is still in a prototype phase, so it could take some years for the revolution to gather momentum. For now, it may be more reasonable just to wait and see.
3D TV’s In US Sold Out In First Week
Panasonic Corp. said its 3-D TVs sold out in the U.S. in their first week, raising optimism the technology that helped “Avatar” break records at the box office will extend to living rooms and help boost profits.
The shortage is prompting the world’s largest plasma TV maker to take back-orders from retailers, Hitoshi Otsuki, the senior managing director heading Osaka-based Panasonic’s overseas operations, said in an interview yesterday in Tokyo. He declined to specify figures. “It’s a great opportunity to turn around our TV business,” he said.
TV makers are betting movies such as James Cameron’s “Avatar,” the highest-grossing film of all time, and sports events such as the 2010 FIFA World Cup will help drive demand for 3-D sets using improved technology. Still, a lack of programs and the need to use special eyewear, a reason that thwarted previous attempts to push adoption, may deter consumers.
“There are always people who want to buy high-end products,” said Kazuharu Miura, an analyst at Daiwa Securities Capital Markets Co. in Tokyo, said by phone today. “That’s probably what’s driving sales.”
Panasonic became the first major TV maker to sell 3-D sets in the U.S. when its 50-inch full high-definition plasma TV went on sale at outlets of Best Buy Co. with a pair of glasses and a 3-D Blu-ray player for $2,899.99 on March 10. Samsung Electronics Co., the world’s largest TV maker, began offering a 55-inch 3-D model there for $3,299.99 on March 14, while Sony Corp. plans to start selling 3-D Bravia TVs from June.
Unprofitable TV Operations
Samsung hasn’t yet tracked its 3-D TV shipment figures, said Hwang Eun Ju, a spokeswoman at the Suwon, South Korea-based electronics maker.
Panasonic’s TV operations had a loss of more than 10 billion yen ($111 million) in the quarter ended Dec. 31. The business may turn profitable in the year ending March 2011, President Fumio Ohtsubo said March 3.
Panasonic rose 1.7 percent to close at 1,343 yen in Tokyo trading, erasing its loss so far this year. Japan’s benchmark Nikkei 225 Stock Average gained 1.2 percent. Samsung advanced 4.3 percent in Seoul.
“Avatar” in January passed “Titanic” to become the top- grossing movie worldwide and has taken in $2.64 billion since its release, according to Box Office Mojo.
Box Office Winner
Walt Disney Co.’s “Alice in Wonderland,” the Lewis Carroll tale directed by Tim Burton, made $116.1 million in U.S. and Canadian ticket sales on its first weekend, the best opening for a 3-D film and the sixth-biggest debut ever, according to Hollywood.com Box-Office.
The biggest draw to 3-D for customers after the success of movies in the format “will be sport broadcasting,” Otsuki said.
TV makers are counting on 3-D broadcasts of major sporting events to stoke demand. FIFA said in December it agreed with Sony to deliver 3-D images from as many as 25 matches of this year’s soccer World Cup in South Africa.
Disney’s ESPN 3-D will start in June and broadcast 85 live events the first year, the Bristol, Connecticut-based sports network said in January. Discovery Communications Inc., Sony and Imax Corp. announced a venture at the time to introduce a 3-D channel in 2011.
‘Real’ Television
Global shipments of 3-D TVs may reach 4.2 million this year and more than triple to 12.9 million in 2011, according to El Segundo, California-based researcher ISuppli Corp. this month. Revenue from the sets may more than double to $20 billion next year, according to ISuppli.
Samsung has said it aims to sell more than 2 million 3-D TVs this year, while Panasonic expects to sell as many as one million globally in the year starting April 1. LG Electronics Inc. has said it’s targeting sales of 400,000 3-D TV sets in 2010.
“Finally we have real televisions,” Bob Perry, a U.S.- based senior vice president at Panasonic’s audio-visual products marketing unit, said in a March 10 Bloomberg Television interview. “3-D makes TV real.”
Sony, which said last week it plans to sell at least 25 million TVs in the year starting April, predicts sales of 3-D sets will probably account for about 10 percent of the total.
Glasses a Deterrent
“It will probably take a long time for 3-D TVs to expand broadly, maybe about three years” said Ichiro Michikoshi, an analyst at electronics research firm BCN Inc. in Tokyo. “There isn’t enough content and consumers dislike wearing the glasses. Those issues will take time to be solved.”
3-D material has been produced for decades without turning into an enduring success. The world’s first commercial 3-D movie was “The Power of Love” in 1922, according to the Internet Movie Database. The lack of technology and the inconvenience the audience felt while watching the films made the popularity of 3- D short-lived in the 1950s, according to Lee Seung Jin, an analyst at Tong Yang Securities Inc. in Seoul.
Samsung has said improved technologies such as enhanced glasses and better flat-panels with improved picture quality will help viewers watch 3-D TVs more comfortably.
Porn to drive adoption of 3D consumer hardware
For the first time ever, a company is offering consumers a turnkey digital 3D viewing system and a 3D content subscription service for in-home digital HD 3D entertainment. Southern California’s Bad Girls in 3D will be unveiling its complete in-home digital 3D system at Booth 7032 at the AVN Adult Entertainment Expo January 7-10, 2010 at the Sands Expo Center in Las Vegas, NV.
As Hollywood celebrates its latest digital theatrical event, it is at home that most people will really experience the 3D revolution … and its happening now.
“For several decades, the adult entertainment industry has driven adoption of every significant new entertainment delivery system — the VHS home-video craze in the 1980s, the satellite television mania in the 1990s and the present day internet,” said Lance B. Johnson of Bad Girls in 3D. “2010 and beyond will be all about 3D. Society’s enthusiasm for 3D films is largely responsible for the record $10 billion in box office revenues in 2009.”
“We want to bring this technology into the home and we will do this via a hardware “bundle” that will work with streaming 3D porn. We are offering a complete turnkey in-home solution as well as a monthly subscription service. You can log onto to Badgirlsin3d.com to purchase the complete hardware package and subscribe. From there, simply turn on your PC, log on to badgirlsin3d.com and put on the active 3D glasses. It’s that simple!”
“We’ve partnered with the best active 3D shutter glass supplier for home theater because active technology has been embraced by the world’s leading display manufactures like Panasonic, Sony and Mitsubishi,” explained Johnson. “We believe, the in-home delivery system we’ve put together is the very best of today’s available digital 3D technology. The system provides a truly astonishing immersive 3D experience at a very affordable price.”
The potential of 3D pornography was established long ago with the 1969 release of The Stewardesses. The soft core film played in theaters for over two years and grossed an astonishing $27 million.
Just last week it was reported that James Cameron’s ground-breaking 3D film Avatar grossed over $1 billion in its first 17 days … and it continues to sellout theaters around the globe. The film’s anticipated and actual success is having an immediate impact on mainstream 3D film and television. On January 5, 2010, ESPN announced it will be begin 3D broadcasting in June.
The 3D market is expected to be worth tens of billions in the next couple of years. LG Electronics recently announced it plans to sell 400,000 3D TVs in 2010 and 3.4 million in 2011 and Sony is targeting revenue from 3D related products of more than US $11.3 billion in its fiscal year ending March 31, 2013. A recent report entitled 3DTV Market Analysis: Transition From Cinema to Living Room suggests that in just four years there will be 46 million 3D TVs in existence.
On December 17, 2009, the Blu-ray Disc Association announced the release of “Blu-ray 3D” standards. This paves the way for widespread production of 3D Bluray DVD equipment by the major electronics manufacturers in 2010. Johnson stated, “The Bad Girls in 3D equipment bundle is compatible with the Blu-ray specifications and we plan to release our content on 3D discs when the consumer equipment becomes available in the next few months.”
“We feel our content and delivery system creates a virtual voyeuristic and participatory reaction from viewers.” said Johnson. The available Bad Girls in 3D content currently includes solo girl and boy/girl scenes but the company plans to expand its available content to satisfy a variety of tastes particularly for the European and Asian markets. “With our content we are aiming to create an immersive reality for all of our customers,” stated Johnson.
For more information contact: Lance B. Johnson at lance@badgirlsin3d.com and visit www.badgirlsin3d.com. Bad Girls in 3D will be demonstrating its products at Booth 7032 at the AVN Adult Entertainment Expo January 7-10, 2010 at the Sands Expo Center in Las Vegas, NV.
