Ever since “Avatar” was such a huge hit in 3-D, more and more movies have been released in this style. In little less than a year, more than 10 movies have been featured in 3-D, including “Alice in Wonderland,” “Step Up 3-D,” “Saw 3-D,” “Toy
Story 3-D,” “Megamind” and “Jackass 3-D.” While it is all fine and dandy that some of these movies were successful, Hollywood is saying 3-D is the new big thing, and frankly, I am tired of hearing about it.
Like I said: Only some of these movies have been extremely successful, and those are “Avatar” and “Jackass 3-D.”
Reviews of “Avatar,” such as the one written by CNN Entertainment, said that ‘‘‘Avatar’ stretches the bounds of the cinematic imagination. It shows us something we’ve never seen before: an entire alien world, a new and complex ecosystem rendered in three dimensions with dazzling fluidity and detail.”
Although CNN makes a point to recognize the 3-D aspect in “Avatar,” some have argued that “Avatar”’s success is not because it was 3-D; it was simply a great movie.
The same can be said about “Jackass 3-D.” According to portfolio.com, it brought in $50 million during its first three days in the U.S., and took the No. 1 spot in the box office. Even though it was an obvious success, it is not necessarily because the movie was in 3-D. In fact, “Jackass” was already prominent in popular culture before it became 3-D.
Besides these two movies, none of the other ones received as much positive feedback or hype. This means money was wasted in the filming process to make them 3-D.
Speaking of money, why would I want to pay the extra cost to see a mediocre 3-D movie? Ticket prices for 3-D movies have already risen 20 percent during this year alone and range anywhere from $8 to $16 depending on the type of theater you view it in.
Movies in 2-D are expensive as it is. So it is just a waste of money (money a lot of people do not have to waste during this difficult economical time) to spend even more on the same movie in 3-D.
Besides the extra cost, wearing special glasses to watch 3-D movies is also a pain. It is hard on the eyes, and it is difficult for people who wear prescription glasses to see the movie when they have to wear the 3-D glasses.
Now I am not saying that the film industry should stop making 3-D movies altogether, but it should definitely cut down on them, and it should stop trying to make every 3-D movie the next big hit like “Avatar.”

Jessica Prokop/Culture Editor
Jessica Prokop can be reached at [email protected]>