3-D Is Coming At You


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3-D Is Coming At You
By: Tama Swan, Associate Editor
Issue: 2010apr

The president and first lady, along with family and friends, wore 3-D glasses made by American Paper Optics during the 2009 Super Bowl. Photo by Pete Souza

An old technology is new again thanks to Hollywood blockbusters and high-profile events.

Once relegated to horror flicks and B movies, 3-D technology is becoming more mainstream and less campy by the minute. Avatar, a 3-D movie by director James Cameron released late last year, has already earned more than $601 million in the U.S. Due to its dramatic commercial and artistic success (it was nominated for nine Oscars), insiders say 3-D is here to stay.

“The general interest in 3-D began in the last four years, starting with Chicken Little and leading up to Avatar,” says John Jerit, president of Bartlett, Tennessee-based supplier American Paper Optics (UPIC: 3DAPONO1). “At the movie studio level, there have been nice, successful baby steps with each movie. There have been very few failures.”

Jerit’s company is one of Hollywood’s biggest suppliers of 3-D products and technology. His firm provided 3-D viewing glasses for this year’s Michael Jackson tribute at the Grammy Awards and the 2009 Super Bowl. It’s also a go-to source for movie studios producing 3-D movies in theaters and on DVD and Blueray.

“Hollywood is 100 percent behind 3-D,” says Jerit. “That’s why there is so much money behind it.”

And like aviator shades in a Tom Cruise flick, what’s cool in Hollywood eventually sweeps the nation. “We’re doing promotions for other businesses that want to jump on the 3-D bandwagon,” says Jerit. “It isn’t just movies, it’s business in general that’s interested in 3-D.” He adds that American Paper Optics has recently worked on 3-D campaigns for publishing companies, game and toy manufacturers and direct-mail initiatives.

In campaigns such as these, 3-D is serving to attract younger generations. Hobart and William Smith Colleges in Geneva, New York, commissioned a 3-D version of the schools’ admissions brochures for high school students. The books come with a pair of 3-D glasses and underscore the marketing message that the schools will “change the way students see the world.”

Consumers in general are more open to the 3-D experience as well. “In the past people thought 3-D meant goofy glasses,” says Mark Margolis, president of marketing and sales for Reseda, California-based supplier Rainbow Symphony (UPIC: RAIN007), which makes 3-D and other specialty eyewear. “Now they think of it as the optical device they need to interpret the stereo, or 3-D, images. There’s a greater acceptance of the medium.”

However, American consumers aren’t the only ones opening up to 3-D. “We did a 10-million piece promotion in England in November for a grocery store chain and a TV network. They were doing two weeks of 3-D programming,” says Jerit. “The Michael Jackson Grammy tribute was only about three minutes.”

The technology also appeals to higher-end markets. In February, British luxury brand Burberry debuted its 2010 fall and winter collection in a 3-D fashion show, the first ever for a major label. The event was simulcast to style-conscious, 3-D bespectacled guests in New York, Paris, Dubai, Tokyo and Los Angeles.

With higher-profile companies using 3-D, the opportunities are getting bigger too. “We’ve certainly seen an uptick at a time when other companies have fallen down in the economy,” Jerit says. “The dollars are getting bigger because the projects are getting bigger.”

Is 3-D so popular that it will become the norm and no longer be a novelty? Margolis says no. “They’re not going to release a movie only in 3-D because some people are not going to want to see a movie in 3-D,” he says. “If you have a bad movie it’s not going to be better because it’s in 3-D.”

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