Boxoffice - March 2016

3D UPDATE
We had a great year at the box office in 2015.
How was it overall for 3D titles?
I think it was a fantastic year at the box office. One
of the big takeaways, and it probably started back with
Avengers: Age of Ultron, was that the focus got put back
on just how impactful 3D can be for movies. We had
a very strong summer for 3D when you look at Mad
Max, San Andreas, Jurassic World. 3D was contributing
from the low to the high 40 percent of the total box
office for these big event movies. That took people
a little bit by surprise, and I’ve been in the industry
for 30-plus years. That was one of the key things that
happened over the summer, the resurgence of 3D, and
people seeing the role it’s playing in these blockbusters.
Star Wars: The Force Awakens was such a big
success story. How did it perform in 3D?
That was the movie that everybody was talking
about for 2015—how big is Star Wars going to be? It
didn’t disappoint anybody. I don’t think anyone expected
the film could do $900 million in the U.S. We
knew that it had a shot at the Avatar record, but to get
to $900 was a phenomenal feat. And again, 47 percent
of the opening weekend came from 3D ticket sales.
What is your outlook on 3D in 2016?
There are more movies in 3D coming out this year
than we had last year. There are 8 to 10 more movies
than we had in 2015. When I look through the slate
and what my crystal ball tells me, I’m not sure that
2016 has the same mega-blockbusters that we had in
2016. To me, a mega-blockbuster is one that makes
over $1 billion worldwide, and in 2015 we had five of
those movies, which is unprecedented. When I look
to 2016, I’m not sure I see one movie that’s over $1
billion, but I see a lot of them that are above $750
million. There are a lot of movies we can call blockbusters,
but we might be missing the mega-blockbusters
from 2015.
Outside of the U.S., what markets are the ones
to watch in terms of growth in this sector?
China is certainly the standout. I’d say that at least
90 percent of the Hollywood imports are 3D movies.
They have a huge appetite for 3D. When a movie runs
in 3D, it can do 90-plus percent of its business in
the format—the Chinese audiences really embrace it.
That’s the standout territory when we look at growth
around the world. They’re still building a ton of
theaters, something like almost 20 screens a day in the
country. A lot of the indigenous product is in 3D as
well. Last year their big animated domestic blockbuster,
Monster Hunt, was in 3D.
And apart from China?
Russia is a very strong 3D market; Brazil and
Germany are as well. And when I say strong, I’m
talking about take rates of 60 percent and north of
that. When we talk about 40 percent plus here in
North America, we’re talking about 60 percent plus in
those markets.
In your opinion has 3D reached a level of
maturity in the North American market?
It’s been 10 years since Chicken Little came out in
2005 and RealD has little more than 15,000 systems
in this country, so I think we’re reaching a mature
level. I think what’s happening now is that the studios
and exhibition are really learning how to exploit 3D
better. And this is something we do as a company at
RealD—we work really closely with all of our exhibitors
and talk about programming, we work with them
in terms of how to program properly, and we work
very closely with studios
INTERVIEW
WITH ANTHONY
MARCOLY
PRESIDENT, WORLDWIDE
CINEMA, REALD
in marketing the films,
in determining how to
message 3D. So I think
what has changed now
is that exhibition has
learned how to program
3D better and distribution
has learned how to
promote it better. I think we’re going to see a national
uptick in 3D just because we’ve all learned how to do
it right.
What are some of the latest projects that
RealD is working on?
We have a screen technology coming out that we
call the Ultimate Screen. Screens have been made
for more than a hundred years, and wherever you
go today, whether it’s a white screen or silver screen,
they’re all made of vinyl. We’ve come up with a new
screen technology that is a bit harder, more a unique
plastic-rubber mesh material. And since we’re able
to engineer the screen now, we’re able to get higher
brightness on the screen, higher contrast ratio, better
stereo contrast, which means the 3D looks even
deeper and broader, and that’s something we’ll be
talking about at CinemaCon. We’re looking forward
to introducing the screen to the industry, and I’m sure
they’ll be fascinated by what this newly engineered
screen can do for light levels, uniformity, and 3D
stereo contrast.
We’re also going to put on a program at Cinema-
Con called “Demystifying 3D,” where we’re going
to get some people
involved in the actual
3D moviemaking industry
to talk about
3D conversion versus
native shooting. It’s
going to be sort of
a symposium panel
on what makes 3D
work. n
MARCH 2016 BoxOffice ® 37