A study released by the International 3D Society would like you to believe that that people just love the format. But a critical look at the numbers that they are presenting reveal a different story.
According to their survey conducted by the Opinion Research Corporation, 52% of 1,011 Americans 18 years old and older surveyed (or 526) had seen at least one 3D film in the past year. And out of that group 71% reportedly prefer 3D films to 2D ones. Additionally 31% of that 52% stated that seeing 3D films is “incredible.”
But then again, of course a study paid for by an organization calling itself the International 3D Society would have this kind of result. According to the group’s website it is a group “founded to advance the art and technologies of stereoscopic 3D content and its professional innovators.” It doesn’t really get into specifics as to how founded it, but considering that their chairman is Jim Mainard, head of Production Development at Dreamworks Animation and that several members of their Executive Committee and Board of Governors are all highly placed studio and filmmaking technology executives, it is kind of hard to look at them as completely non-partisan.
But let’s break that down a bit. A quick bit of math reveals that out of those 1011 surveyed, only 373 (or 37% of the total surveyed) prefer 3D to 2D with just 163 (16%) people found seeing a 3D movie “incredible.” Not as rosy as their presentation of the facts would lead you to believe.
It is certainly not in keeping with Variety’s headline of “Moviegoers surveyed say 3D pics are better” with which they report this story. But then again, Variety, who basically just ran a rewritten press release, has a vested interest in keeping the industry happy and reporting what they would like to be reported.
I think that what has been said about the inflated numbers that Hollywood usually offers about piracy losses can be applied here as well – Never trust numbers offered by an industry whose main product is fiction.
