Back in the 1980s, several Hollywood studios authorized release of the 3-D versions of their movies on VHD discs in Japan. (VHD discs were a format akin to laser discs that was sold in Japan only.) Among these movies were Warner Brothers' "House of Wax," Universal's "Jaws 3D," and Paramount's "Friday the Thirteenth Part III." The 3-D format was field-sequential, requiring the viewer to wear liquid crystal shutter glasses wired to the disc player. This is the ONLY format which can produce professional-quality playback of 3-D video on a television or computer monitor.
To date, the only theatrical movies released in this format on commercial DVDs are several IMAX movies ("Encounter in the Third Dimension," etc.). None of the Hollywood studios have released field-sequential 3-D versions of their old movies, apparently believing that the market would be too small to justify the cost.
Warner Brothers is about to release "House of Wax" on DVD. It would be easy for the studio to include a 3-D version of the movie on one side of a double-sided disc, but I would be very surprised if they do so, despite a stated interest by many 3-D enthusiasts. There is an on-line petition to Warner Brothers requesting this 3-D version, and it currently has 800 signatures --- probably too few to persuade the studio. However, pirated DVD-R copies of the old VHD disc 3-D version of "House of Wax" and other 3-D movies are being sold openly (but illegally) at a brisk pace. (I will not state where and DO NOT condone this practice.) So Warner Brothers may be wrong about the appeal of a high-quality 3-D version on their upcoming DVD.
Are other members of this forum also interested in the prospect of high-quality stereoscopic versions of the old Hollywood 3-D classics for home theater use? If so, how can forum members use their influence to convince Warner Brothers and the other studios that this would be a viable market?
To date, the only theatrical movies released in this format on commercial DVDs are several IMAX movies ("Encounter in the Third Dimension," etc.). None of the Hollywood studios have released field-sequential 3-D versions of their old movies, apparently believing that the market would be too small to justify the cost.
Warner Brothers is about to release "House of Wax" on DVD. It would be easy for the studio to include a 3-D version of the movie on one side of a double-sided disc, but I would be very surprised if they do so, despite a stated interest by many 3-D enthusiasts. There is an on-line petition to Warner Brothers requesting this 3-D version, and it currently has 800 signatures --- probably too few to persuade the studio. However, pirated DVD-R copies of the old VHD disc 3-D version of "House of Wax" and other 3-D movies are being sold openly (but illegally) at a brisk pace. (I will not state where and DO NOT condone this practice.) So Warner Brothers may be wrong about the appeal of a high-quality 3-D version on their upcoming DVD.
Are other members of this forum also interested in the prospect of high-quality stereoscopic versions of the old Hollywood 3-D classics for home theater use? If so, how can forum members use their influence to convince Warner Brothers and the other studios that this would be a viable market?
). The Software forum has an extensive thread for Kiss Me Kate and the troubles with the current release, which extend beyond lack of 3D; I've made some of these comments there as well, but I do hope that WB will choose to lead the way for major studio 3D support (just as they seem, thank Heaven, to be doing for silent films at the end of this year, if current reports hold true) and reissue 3D versions of Kiss Me Kate and House of Wax (the upcoming DVD of that picture also contains Mystery of the Wax Museum, though, so while House is 2D, the disc should still be well worth owning -- I'm very eager to see it), perhaps in 3D only editions for collectors, or perhaps in dual 3D/2D releases on the same disc to please all audiences. If Dial M for Murder comes and goes in 2D only, it will be a third wonderful opportunity missed for this studio to do what no other major studio is yet doing and offer fans these lovely pictures in the visual realm they were intended to occupy -- one composed of three, not two, dimensions.
Their upcoming silents line is a marvel that cannot arrive soon enough, and their classic film releases continue to set standards against which most other studios pale (their upcoming Adventures of Robin Hood, Casablanca: 60th Anniversary Edition, and others will undoubtedly continue this run of tremendous, and well-deserved, successes). A studio with such respect for the classic film fan must, I hope, come to see the market for, and indeed the artistic necessity of, presenting films intended for 3D exhibition in 3D form for home viewing.
