Oh what I would have paid to be a fly on the wall when theater exhibitors around the country got the e-mail/fax of Sony Pictures’ letter informing them that the studio would no longer be footing the bill for RealD glasses. (The added cost of proving the glasses for theaters can cost studios $5 million to $10 per blockbuster release, whereas smaller releases range from $1.5 million to $2 million.)
In a letter that went out on Tuesday, Sony Pictures Entertainment notified theater owners that it will no longer pay for 3D glasses as of May 1, 2012. What’s interesting is that the studio picked May to implement its new practice. Interesting in the fact that May kicks off the summer blockbuster season, of which Sony has two big tentpole features coming out – MIB 3 and The Amazing Spider-Man. Both will be promoted to the hilt as being in eye-popping 3-D.
At a time when the percentage of money earned from 3-D showings continue to decline, this new policy isn’t going to gain any support from movie watchers or theater exhibitors. The theaters have been in a transition period of converting old screens to 3D and digital, and now they’ll have to incur the cost of supplying glasses. So this will be extended to the consumers, for if they want to see a movie in 3D, they’ll pay a ticket, a 3-D surcharge, and the glasses.
While the system may be already in place in countries like the U.K. and Italy, it’s going to be a tough habit to break for American audiences. Already moviegoers know going in they’ll have to pay a $3 or $4 surcharge to see a movie in a 3-D. Imagine how they’ll react when they discover that they have to pay extra for glasses.
The extra player in all of this is RealD, the company that controls most of the 3D market domestically. RealD should be unaffected, because one way or another it will still receive payment for its mass production of 3D glasses. Though, what’s to prevent somebody from keeping their own pair of RealD glasses or buying them in bulk through eBay? I can only imagine the situation theater exhibitors will run into if after a customer buy a ticket and the surcharge but reneges the purchase of the 3D glasses because he has his own.
If other studios start to follow in Sony’s footsteps and begin similar practices for next summer let’s see how the films Madagascar 3, Prometheus, Ice Age: Continental Drift and Abraham Lincoln: Vampire Hunter perform.
