Disney has confirmed that its upcoming Avengers film will receive post-production 3D treatment – with the movie hitting theaters this summer in both 2D and 3D.
As you may recall, the process was not originally planned for The Avengers. Fortunately, the latest developments will not affect the currently planned release date.
Personally, I don’t really care if some theaters will be showing the 3D version, as I’m going to be sticking to 2D.
Quite a number of the problems associated with 3D giving people headaches originate from the post-production method, and I’m one of those sufferers.
If the film had been shot in 3D, I would be all over it. It does improve the immersion of already great films when they are presented in native 3D. This ‘fake’ 3D studios often do in post production is simply not the same, simply because one cannot simply create a third dimension where there is none.
Meaning, the information is not there on the film, and the whole thing ultimately ends up looking like a cardboard puppet show. Forget it.
Interestingly enough, director Joss Whedon thinks the 3D option is a positive decision, commenting to online geek film-enthusiast blog JoBlo that it wont be overly gimmicky, mostly because the film was not shot with 3D in mind.
“There’s no, ‘Oh look, we’re going to spend 20 minutes going through this tunnel because it’s in 3D!” explained Whedon… And no one is pointing at the screen the entire time. But it’s an action movie. Things tend to hurtle toward the screen anyway.
“Yeah, it’s fun,” he continued. “I’m not a big fan of extreme long lens, talky movies – I like to see the space I’m in and relate to it, so 3D kinda fits my aesthetic anyway. And the technology has advanced so far in the past couple years.”
While I have a lot of respect for Whedon and confidence in his abilities, I’m not going to trust him on this one. It may be true that it won’t be too gimmicky, but I still don’t see the point. I’m going into this film expecting to love it, but I’ll love it from the comfort of only two dimensions.
The Avengers hits theaters May 4, 2012.
