After all, none of the big Hollywood studios seems to have any faith in the films they release any more. Alice In Wonderland is just one of dozens - if not hundreds - of 3D films that have been released in the past few years. In most cases these films aren't filmed in 3D, but were post-converted in order to jack up ticket prices and have punters pay more for some crummy plastic glasses. The post-conversion process invariably pales in comparison to films shot in 3D, barely adding anything to the proceedings besides some increased revenue. That films are having to resort to these sorts of gimmicks speaks volumes. These sorts of cheap ploys were originally employed in the fifties, the era of the classic red-and-blue, cardboard 3D glasses. These films were more often that not B-movie genre fare, the sorts of movies that needed the extra draw of 3D to get people to watch them in the first place. They were part of a bag of tricks employed by producers like William Castle, who pioneered things like releasing a cardboard skeleton into theaters during showings of House On The Haunted Hill. Except now gimmicks are being used to get people to watch films that cost millions of dollars, rather than horror flicks made on a shoestring. It's not just 3D, either - there's IMAX, which more and more blockbusters are getting filmed in, or even the trend of American theatres offering "fake IMAX" (ie a slightly bigger-than-usual screen for $5 more). Studios are getting so desperate to drag in punters that it's resorting to the sorts of promotional tools used by the producer of The Tingler. Now that's scary.
Tom Baker is the Comics Editor at WhatCulture! He's heard all the Doctor Who jokes, but not many about Randall and Hopkirk. He also blogs at http://communibearsilostate.wordpress.com/
