3D film craze in China abruptly cooling off
Both the cinematographer Cao Yu and I are very opposed to 3D. If (we used) 3D, we would not be able to present the real beauty of the Tang Dynasty, which we spent six years working on.
BEIJING: The obsession for 3D movies in China has suddenly veered off from Monster Hunt to a witch hunt.
In a surprising turn of events, Monster Hunt 2, the sequel to the 2015 box-office-busting Monster Hunt, will only release in 2D when it premieres on Feb 16.
This follows closely to the trend set by Chen Kaige’s Legend of the Demon Cat.
When it bowed in last December, conspicuously missing was a 3D version of the film.
“Both the cinematographer Cao Yu and I are very opposed to 3D,” Chen said during a recent film forum. “If (we used) 3D, we would not be able to present the real beauty of the Tang Dynasty, which we spent six years working on.”
Chen made reference to 3D films’ inability to show off certain details because the glasses audiences must wear make the film seem darker than 2D films.
“I do not dislike 3D films. Recent 3D films such as Wolf Warrior 2 and Kong: Skull Island were great… but if I take my child to the cinema for a film like Kung Fu Panda 3, I prefer seeing the 2D version, since children find wearing 3D glasses uncomfortable. Sadly, I couldn’t find any theatres that had a 2D version of that film,” a mother in Beijing complained.
While it was estimated in 2017 that by the beginning of 2018 the number of 3D screens in China would reach more than 43,000, “some cinemas have invested in this to a limited extent… 3D projectors vary and so the quality of experience is not fixed from theatre to theatre,” said a cinema manager, without disclosing his name.
The growing preference for 2D films among studios, even for big-budget commercial productions, can also be traced back to the overall good market performance these types of films saw last year. For example, 2D films such as mainland director Han Han’s Duckweed made a total of 1.04 billion yuan (RM648 million), Hollywood action film Logan brought in 732 million yuan and Hong Kong filmmaker Wong Jing’s crime action film Chasing the Dragon earned 576 million yuan.
According to China Box Office, while only one 2D film, Operation Mekong, made it into the top 10 list of the highest earning films in China in 2016, three 2D films managed to break into the top 10 in 2017 - Never Say Die, Youth and Indian film Dangal. The Ex-File: The Return of the Exes, which premiered on Dec 29, 2017, also a 2D film, was the highest earning film of the New Year Day holiday weekend.
The first 3D film to screen in mainland China was actually a domestic film. In 1962, Moshushi de Qiyu (Adventure of the Magician) decided to give 3D try. In 2008, Hollywood scifi adventure film Journey to the Centre of the Earth came to the Chinese mainland. It earned 67 million yuan at a time when
Chen Kaige, award-winning director
there were only 139 3D screens, providing a hint of the coming 3D era.
When James Cameron’s Avatar debuted in China, there were about 800 3D screens in the Chinese mainland, but by the end of that year, that number had bulged to 1,000.
In 2012, China and the US signed a Memorandum of Understanding which increased the number of imported films in the Chinese mainland from 20 to 34, while requiring that the additional 14 films had to be 3D or IMAX versions.
While Chinese filmmakers seem to have lost their taste for 3D, that doesn’t mean these films have no future in China. Cameron, who is now working on Avatar 2 and Avatar 3, is also working on 3D films that do not require audiences to wear glasses. If he succeeds, this is sure to reignite a fresh round of 3D craze for the film industry in China.