Sound was introduced in 1927.
Color was introduced in 1938.
3-D will be introduced in 2009.
I know what you’re about to say.
Sure, 3-D has been around for some time now, but it’s still only a gimmick.
Current “3-D movies” are not movies made in 3-D, there are movies made for/with 3-D.
If you’ve ever been to Disneyland’s Honey, I Shrunk The Audience, or, hell, even any 3-D IMAX movie, you know what I’m talking about.
Also, sound in movies already existed prior to The Jazz Singer, same goes for color with the Wizard of Oz and Gone with the Wind.
So when the technique was first used/invented doesn’t really matter in the grand scheme of things.
Avatar isn’t “gimmicking” its way into 3-D.
It is thought, made, shot, edited, and shown in 3-D.
“What has that gotta do with us?” you may ask dear wannabe screenwriter.
Well it probably for now won’t change anything script-wise, but just think about it.
IMAX didn’t change the way people write scripts, when 8mm became 16mm and then transformed into 35mm and 70mm (28K next?), that didn’t change the way people write scripts.
Before sound there were no dialogues in scripts.
Before color there wasn’t any real vivid description in scripts.
I am talking about real, profound, no-way-back changes here.
True 3-D movies have to be thought and created in 3-D.
Again, you can’t just “gimmick-up” standard movies.
Disney is going to do that with all the Toy Stories (and now Beauty and the Beast), but you and I both know those are not true 3-D movies.
If they were, something huge would have been missing from the first time we laid eyes on them.
A real 3-D movie must be thought out from the beginning in 3-D, and that means from the script.
3rd Rock from the Sun, Medium, and now Chuck, proved that 3-D could be successfully shown on TV.
Now think about where we will be 20-30 years from now in the entertainment industry.
No-glasses 3-D TVs are being made as you’re reading this.
It’s just a matter of time.
3-D will catch on as did sound and color before it.
Even on TV.
Obama made American history, Avatar will make entertainment and cinematic history.