Just when you thought it was safe to go back to the movies…or why you need to see Jaws and Avatar in 3D
Improved technology gives us new reasons to revisit these updated Steven Spielberg and James Cameron classics on the big screen
Film Features Jaws
It wasn’t so long ago that Hollywood decided 3D was going to be a “thing”—not simply a gimmick or a fun addition to moviegoing, but a defining format for all films, regardless of their suitability for it. One of the biggest reasons was James Cameron (who’s proven repeatedly that you should never bet against him), whose Avatar became the top grossing film ever to that point. Cameron not only shot Avatar in 3D, but he utilized new technology (which he pioneered, of course) that minimized eye strain. This inspired a lot of filmmakers and studios to shoot or convert films into 3D, leading to higher ticket costs and a lot of lousy experiences for moviegoers, which may explain why those versions of films are less frequently produced, and certainly no longer promoted as aggressively as their 2D counterparts.
Thirteen years later, as Cameron finally prepares to release the Avatar follow-up The Way Of Water, his original film is scheduled to return to theaters on September 23 to rekindle the magic of Pandora—and remind audiences that 3D is going to keep being a thing, whether or not they want it. That follows the September 2 re-release Steven Spielberg’s remarkable Jaws in 3D—not to be confused with the 1983 sequel Jaws 3-D—which brings one of the most entertaining movies ever made (in any format) back to the screen.
The good news is that both of the new versions look terrific. Exhibition technology has only improved since the original release of Avatar, and so have the tools for conversion. Jaws is likely the bigger attraction, and Spielberg’s muscular, effortless direction translates perfectly to 3D presentation: from the opening beach party to Chief Brody’s (Roy Scheider) final showdown with the great white, the depth enhances the frame without becoming obtrusive. In fact, the subdued approach to the film’s conversion makes the 3D almost unnoticeable, which is good for people who may not be interested in the format but haven’t seen the film on the big screen. The picture and sound quality are vibrant and beautiful, and old Bruce the shark seems more alive than ever.
Avatar, meanwhile, will be shown in 4K high dynamic range, a change that reflects the current state of digital projection. The website Collider hosted a screening of Tron: Legacy back in 2017, and director Joe Kosinski spoke afterward about the fact that, when the movie was first released in theaters in 2010, the light levels of projectors could barely meet the needs of the film. He explained that the screening room in which the new version was being shown exhibited the film at a light level two and a half times brighter than its original theatrical run. Digital projection has continued to improve in the five years since, and the arrival of 4K on streaming services has further acclimated viewers to its level of brightness and detail.
It seems unlikely that either the re-released Jaws or Avatar will substantially increase demand for 3D moviegoing. Even Marvel, which has released most or all of the MCU films over the last decade in 3D, hasn’t been able to gain much traction with the format. Cameron has further refined his high frame rate camera technology to create more lifelike and believable images on screen and will be releasing The Way Of Water in 3D, and there’s no doubt that it will look even brighter and more beautiful than the first film. But he remains more an outlier than a proponent of 3D as an essential part of the moviegoing process; even filmmakers who have released films in 3D (including Denis Villeneuve, with Dune) have largely deprioritized the format.
And yet there is question to ask in an era when movies released on streaming services can be just as expensive and star-studded as those in theaters: What makes the moviegoing experience special anymore? There are more films released on a weekly basis than ever before—and they’re competing with channel after channel after streamer after network of television shows—but only a few can seize or define a cultural moment. So how does a moviegoer, much less a filmmaker or studio, make a movie an event? No one, except for Cameron and maybe Tom Cruise, seems to know the answer. But for better or worse, 3D can make going to a theater feel unique—or, at the very least, something most people cannot experience at home.
Of course, that isn’t even true for the few people who still own 3D TVs, although few if any manufacturers have made them in several years. But films like Dune, or this summer’s Top Gun: Maverick, exemplify moviegoing experiences that feel more magical in a communal experience in front of the biggest screen possible. That still can’t be replicated in anyone’s living room. Jaws in 3D is not just entertainment; it recaptures a moment when movies were cultural rallying points rather than routine exercises in distraction. And Avatar is the same kind of touchstone for one generation of moviegoers that Jaws was for another. The days of Friday The 13th Part III and Jaws 3-D, when 3D simply meant images leaping off the screen, are long gone. But now, when that sense of experience and sensation—not just immersion, but true escapism—is in short supply it feels only feels fair, not to mention fun, to meet them halfway.
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But films like Dune, or this summer’s Top Gun: Maverick, exemplify moviegoing experiences that feel more magical in a communal experience in front of the biggest screen possible. That still can’t be replicated in anyone’s living room. I dunno, I live most of the time with a two year old and a four year old, so I’m confident that I can recreate pretty easily the experience of being in a theater full of American adults. In all seriousness, the “communal experience” of film is overrated. People have realized this and it’s part of why the gimmick of 3D rolls back around every few years in hopes it will draw people back because it’s something most don’t have in their homes. The thing about 3D, for me, is that to this point it has been very prescriptive. It dictates where and how the viewer looks at the frame, whereas 2D lets the viewer decide what they’re paying attention to. When I watch a movie, I often look away from the main action for a moment to explore some other part of the cinematography or the direction. Watching in 3D makes that more difficult and is mostly unnecessary to me because with 2D your brain creates a depth of field when watching that is more than sufficient. A well done 2D movie will have depth of field just through how it’s made. Maybe 3D is approaching the point where it is seamless and it will start to be more widely adopted, but I’m not convinced yet that it offers a more satisfying overall viewing experience, and that’s more important to me than the communal experience or whatever.
“In all seriousness, the “communal experience” of film is overrated”Counterpoint:
Depends on the movie. Comedy and horror work great in a crowd. Other stuff. Not so much. While that YouTube of Endgame looks fun as hell. Chances are half those assholes were hooting and hollaring through the whole damn movie and just talking during the non-action scenes. I actually really enjoying seeing a movie at a movie theater and I’m a crazy man with a 120” projector screen theater in my basement. But I hit weekday matinees purposely to avoid other people
Chances are half those assholes were hooting and hollaring through the whole damn movie and just talking during the non-action scenes.100%, and I’m not a crowd hype person so I would have probably been too burnt out at that point to enjoy it. Hell, most of what I remember of my first Endgame viewing was a guy browsing his phone full brightness during the whole film.Jealous of your setup, that’s an eventual goal of mine.
I’m the same way, pre covid, I would do the first IMAX showing of a new movie usually the Saturday or Sunday after it came out. When I watched Spider Man Far from Home I was the ONLY person in the entire theater until a minute or two before it started when 2 other people came in. I prefer seeing movies by myself and don’t really “get” the whole communal thing.
Yeah, I watched the clip and that guy hooting was super annoying.
Speaking of that clip, is anything real? So much CGI makes my eyes hurt when on the big screen. (Ready Player One was the last time I went to one of those kinds of movies. Never again.)
Nah, generally people don’t do it through the whole movie, just at the exciting bits. I’m really sensitive to distractions during movies—people talking, using phones, &c.—but I can say without a doubt that seeing No Way Home in a theater full of fans just as invested as I was was an experience I’d never want to have missed.
I saw this in a packed theater at 11am on Saturday of opening weekend. I’m not sure anything I experience in a theater will ever be as awesome and as emotionally overwhelming as that 10 minute span, but damn, I will never forget it.
Fair point on the Endgame clip, although I think for me these experiences are rare and are far outnumbered by the times in which the average audience runs roughshod over the moviegoing experience with their horrible behavior. And like Nilus, I would have probably tired of the yelling after a minute or two.
My showing went insane when Spidey showed up.
In all seriousness, the “communal experience” of film is overrated.Nah. If anything, it’s underrated. This time two years ago, people were swearing up and down that movie theaters were (absolutely for real this time) dead, no cap. The pandemic just accelerated an existing trend, thanks to the prevalence of streaming and big-screen 4K TVs and home theater systems that everyone has lying around at home.What happened? Did everyone’s big-screen TV break? No. Some people like watching movies in a big theater with a crowd of people. And some people prefer watching movies at home. Different strokes for different folks.
It looks like you’re trying out “no cap” and I’d like to let you know it’s not working
I like watching them in an empty theatre. No home experience can match the visual and audio experience but I hate the sound of people eating popcorn as loud as they can
“It dictates where and how the viewer looks at the frame”. Yes. Depth of field. Yes.Moving my visual focus away from the emphasized 3D-y(tm) area and back is what causes mild headaches/nausea for me.
Whenever some idiot’s cell phone goes off in the theater, or worse they answer it, I’m reminded that I more often than not hate the communal experience. I’ll still occasionally go to the theater but I’ll try to go to the earliest possible showing to minimize the number of idiots in the theater.
Shot scale, focus, color design, and camera movement all direct your attention for you. Watching a movie is manipulation of your viewpoint from beginning to end. (And that doesn’t even take into account editing, which also controls how long you’re allowed to look at something, at least in a theater setting). You don’t have any more “decision” in 2D, you just aren’t noticing the choice being taken away from you as obtrusively.
If you’re constantly scanning around the frame for other stuff, its probably because of two reasons, in varying degrees: 1) you’re not as invested in the movie as the filmmakers would like you to be and 2) you seem to have trained yourself to do so
I’ve have found that watching movies in 3D, at least for me, takes away from the experience of watching the movie. I spend more time noticing the effect and less time watching and enjoying the movie. I’ll see Jaws this weekend in IMAX, but not in 3D. The IMAX rereleases of ET and Rogue One over the last few weeks were fantastic, and I don’t expect any less from Jaws.
I don’t do IMAX. It may just be my experience but it always just feels like I’m just sitting in the front row of the theater. Plus every time I’ve done it the sound has been insanely loud. After seeing one of those stupid ass Transformers movies, my ears were ringing for a week
I did have issues with sound on Dunkirk in IMAX 70mm. I believe it’s dipshit managers that were jacking the volume too high. Maverick was perfect for me though.
In fact, the subdued approach to the film’s conversion makes the 3D almost unnoticeableTo me, this would be fine if tickets for 3D screenings didn’t cost extra and require wearing a pair of goofy glasses. It’s hard to justify that mark-up if you leave the theater going, “Wow, I didn’t even notice the thing I paid extra for!”
Yeah, if it’s almost unnoticeable, just let me watch regular Jaws in a theater.
The imax screenings are in 2D
Do people really care about wearing ‘goofy’ glasses for 2 hours while watching a movie in a dark theater?I even wear prescription glasses under the polarized Real3D ones and it still doesn’t bother me…
They feel goofy.
3D? 4K? No, sorry, these aren’t the droids I’m looking for.
Jaws is likely the bigger attraction, and Spielberg’s
muscular, effortless direction translates perfectly to 3D presentation:
from the opening beach party to Chief Brody’s (Roy Scheider) final
showdown with the great white, the depth enhances the frame without
becoming obtrusive.This was my experience with the Jurassic Park 3D rerelease a decade ago. The conversion was very well done and, rather than make things jump out at you constantly, subtly enhanced the choices Spielberg and Dean Cundey had made in staging the shots originally. (In fact, the thing that struck me most on that viewing had nothing to do with the visuals, it was more about how tightly constructed the film is on a script level. No second of film is wasted and no major moment feels unearned, but its setups and payoffs are smooth and natural rather than forced or double-underlined for the audience.)
This was something that either AVClub or Gizmodo/io9 brought up in discussing how the original JP compares to the sequels.They actually cut a lot of dinosaur sequences out of the film that were scripted, because they didn’t serve the overall story. Things like a T-rex chase down the river and other dino-heavy moments were excised.Whereas in the sequels it was all about how much dino chaos you could cram into the run time.
The 3D Jurassic Park rerelease is the only 3D film I’ve seen, conversion or otherwise, that felt truly worth the experience, probably owing to the subtlety you described. I remember going in expecting a cheap-to-average rerelease and came out impressed with how the effect deepened the feel of the space and the world in a film that still held up anyway.I don’t know how many 3D filmmakers go in with the intent to add depth rather than “jumps” but it was wonderful to see it happen.
Does 3D actually work for everyone. My only real experience is the 3D movies at Disneyworld like The Muppets short movie. With those, I found that even with the 3d glasses over my regular glasses I could not get the stuff flying out of the screen to focus. So I am curious if actual 3D movies would be the same, although I have no interest in spending $15+ to find out.
To be fair, that is 30 year old technology at Muppets 3D.
My wife has that condition that 3D is almost impossible for her. I say almost because for one brief second she saw the bear floating in Captain EO.
Most modern 3d movies use the effect as depth and layers vs “here’s some shit flying at you” so your experience will likely be tons better.
Gravity, Avatar, Life of Pi, some of the Disney re-releases were all very good 3D experiences for me. Of course those were also good movies. A lot of stuff released in 3D isn’t something I want to watch.I really liked 3D sports too on ESPN 3D. I wish it had caught on.
“Even Marvel, which has released most or all of the MCU films over the last decade in 3D”
I feel like it’s probably a known quantity.
Mrs. F. has never seen Jaws. It’s not that she’s opposed to it, and she knows she thinks she would like it. This might be the trick to getting her to see it. I’ve never seen it on the big screen; my parents wouldn’t let me see it. So if it plays around here, we’re probably in!
I love 3D.I enjoyed it in the theater and am also one of the rare 3D TV owners.While watching Dune or Blade Runner 2049 in 3D at home won’t compare to seeing them in IMAX, it’s still a cool experience, plus it doesn’t have the same brightness / color issues theaters did.I wish the media hadn’t dried up. Phase 1-3 of the MCU 3ds were mainly only available to order from the UK, Phase four (except for No Way Home) are only available from Japan for the low price $80-$90… which sure, for Shang Chi is ok, Black Widow not so much. Free Guy and Encanto were both movies that would have been awesome to have available in 3DI still go to see movies in theaters, except I have the curse of somehow ending up near the worst assholes… people having casual conversations or IDGAF phone usage, so a lot of times watching a movie with a couple of friends or having one of the younger nephews over to be amazed at a movie in 3d is far better than any potential communal experience.
Me too. It’s the main reason I got one of those Oculus Quest 2 headsets. I love being able to watch things like Gravity and Cave of Forgotten Dreams the way they were intended. And for a lot of things, like much of the MCU output, it’s often the best feature. I didn’t care for Shang Chi, but holy shit were the fight scenes in that glorious to watch in 3D. The two Ant-Man movies made maybe the best use of it since Avatar, and there were whole sequences in the Doctor Strange movies that if you didn’t see them in 3D then you may as well have not even bothered at all.I’ve got a neighbor with a 10 year old I babysit for frequently. I take her to see the new releases, and watching the look on her face is often the best part. The theater experience here is much better than when I was living in the US so the communal experience can actually still be fun like when I was a kid back there before cell phones existed and people would shut the fuck up during the movie.
It’s the main reason I got one of those Oculus Quest 2 headsets.Me, too! I literally bought it during the pandemic lock down so I could simulate watching movies on a giant screen. Games like SuperHot and Walkabout Mineature Golf were bonuses.
Same. Saw some refurbished ones come up for sale and grabbed one. Ended up getting two more for the kid and her mom. I pair mine up with a set of Skullcandy Crusher headphones which you can control the sound profile with and have a teeth-rattling potential level of bass if you want it. It’s great for the movies with the big explosions. Like having that IMAX booming sound. But I love being able to just lay down in bed and still feel like sitting in front of a giant screen. I was impressed by the resolution, though I’m still looking forward to the next generation. Haven’t messed around with the games much, but there’s a few I want to try when I get around to it.
I have the Rift CV1, I’m cheap and it’s still pretty awesome.Dr. Strange was the first 3d movie I showed my 10 year old nephew, he was beside himself. His mom was watching the MCU movies with him up to that point… the rest are going to be watched at my place. We’re watching Pacific Rim this weekend, it’s going to be amazing.The older one (12) doesn’t like violence in movies so we watched Inside Out and Wreck-It Ralph and he loved both in 3D.I saw Shin Godzilla at an Alamo Drafthouse and it was the perfect experience. I wish more theaters had a “we will throw you out, no refunds” policy. I would pay extra for that.Comedies don’t bother me and it’s hard to be salty at noise seeing a Pixar movie… but a stoned guy reacting to every reference / call-back at Rogue One makes for a pretty awful experience.3 older black women reacting at a Tyler Perry movie was more of an added feature, especially “Mmmm-hmmm”-ing when Madea is talking about weaponizing grits against an abusive cheating husband. If I didn’t already know that was a thing, it would serve as verification to know it is a thing.
Me too, and it’s not ALL bad, at least the Oculus CV1 sill used a ‘proper’ OLED screen, rather than the LCDs on newer models…
I’m still pissed that I missed James Bond No Time To Die in 3D at the theater, and it seems the film will NEVER be released on home 3D BluRay…
FYI, you can see Jaws in 3D for $3.00 this Saturday, which is National Cinema Day. At least I can where I live . . .
National Cinema Day
Oops, didn’t notice the AVC already shared this bit of news . . .
I’m an adult. I don’t need to have a bunch of shit thrown at me to enjoy a film.
I’ve always wondered if someone asked Spielberg what would he change, if he could/would, of the original Jaws. I know I’m in the minority but the shark jumping onto the sinking Orca would benefit from a little digital tweaking just to make it more realistic. Before 1975, most people had very little knowledge and exposure to footage of white sharks. Nowadays we Shark Week every year and that shot does look fake. Would he consider ever fixing that?
After seeing the reaction to Lucas’ revisions and his own on E.T., I doubt it. Also, I think that it’s clear in other ways it came out when it did; a photorealistic CGI shark would be jarring
It might, but one can’t unsee how fake it looks, even those who see it for the very first time, decades after it was first released.