a collection of monsters walking down a street Monsters vs. Aliens: DreamWorks Animation has reason to believe audiences are at least interested in 3D technology; how long will their interest last? Paramount Pictures
 

by Linda Holmes

Monsters vs. Aliens made enough money this weekend to keep DreamWorks throwing things directly at you for years to come.

(I, for one, would like to see DreamWorks return to live-action films and produce them in 3D also, because I doubt anyone could resist A Beautiful Mind 2 in 3D, in which Russell Crowe could seem to be drawing math problems in grease pencil directly on your forehead.)

At any rate, Monsters vs. Aliens made a plush $58 million according to current estimates, and a little more than half of that came from 3D tickets, which cost about five bucks extra.

(The surcharge covers the rad plastic glasses, which I learned this weekend make small boys look like Tom Cruise and small blonde girls look a little like the Old Navy lady, even though they're flat on top rather than round.)

The 3D receipts will certainly be good news for the DreamWorks animation outfit, which has committed to releasing everything in 3D from now on. At the same time, we are still in the very early stages of widely released 3D animated films. Coraline wasn't as mass-market as this, and both it and Bolt opened in substantially fewer 3D theaters than this.

Of the two kids with whom I saw Monsters vs. Aliens, one announced that the 3D was only okay and it gave him a headache, and the other got frustrated with her "uncomfortable" glasses halfway through and ditched them. This is one of the first hugely nonthreatening 3D kids' movies to punch the 12-and-under zeitgeist right in the breadbasket. The numbers certainly show audiences want to try it; whether they'll continue to pay a $5-per-ticket surcharge (which is pretty hefty when you're hauling a family) once the novelty lessens remains to be seen.

Speaking for myself, I'd pay an extra dollar; maybe two. But five? Not regularly. Not until they add Smell-O-Vision.

categories: Movies

7:48 - March 29, 2009

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