Box office bonanza gives modern movies an extra dimension

It's easy to pinpoint where mild interest turned into a full blown frenzy.

In December last year, Avatar was released and a few months later, the blue aliens had won director James Cameron three Oscars and bumped his 1997 movie Titanic off the top spot as the highest-grossing film of all time. To date, it has made $2.7bn worldwide.

Combining live action and ground-breaking digital effects, the epic 155-minute film was 10 years in the making and turned 2010 into "the year of the 3D movie", with studios desperate to hang on its coat-tails.

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While Avatar wasn't universally loved, its impact on modern culture and the future of cinema is undeniable. However, the decision to re-release the film with an extra eight minutes of never before seen footage has re-ignited the debate over whether 3D is a genuine improvement to the cinema experience or little more than a cynical marketing ploy.

Film critics remain divided on the thorny issue, but those desperate to wind back the clock fear it will lead to a rash of films with an awful lot of style, but very little substance. Tightly written scripts and plot driven films will they say, be sacrificed on the altar of 3D as directors attempt to produce movies each more visually impressive than the last.

Ian Nathan, executive editor of the film magazine Empire, has grown used to hearing the argument against 3D, but it's not one he has much time for.

"Avatar was a success because of a number of things," he says. "There was a sense that it was an event we all had to take part in. Partly that was the technology and the 3D element, partly the return of a film-maker after such a long time, but partly because it was such an emotional, traditional film experience in many ways.

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"For all its state of the art special effects, it was cleverly a story that played very broadly. A lot of higher-brow people have complained it was simplistic, but I think that was deliberate. The emotional beats are hugely familiar – it's just classic mythological storytelling that everyone loves. Cameron's so good at tapping into that collective desire thing and he does it with such detail, skill and passion that it works."

Avatar certainly opened the 3D floodgates and a quick glance at this year's releases is evidence of the new blueprint it introduced. From Alice in Wonderland to Toy Story 3, the studios have launched an assault to persuade cinemagoers that while it may cost a little more, 3D is the future.

These efforts have not cut much muster with film critic Mark Kermode, one of the fiercest and most vocal opponents of the craze.

"As far as I'm concerned, 3D is nonsense and is not the future of cinema," he says. "There's a reason why 3D has failed in the past. Have you ever seen a movie and gone: 'Oh, that was great, but I just wish it wasn't so flat?'"

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However, for every one of those convinced the technology is simply a digital version of the emperor's new clothes, others remain hopeful that it will inspire a generation of original filmmaking.

"Avatar has certainly defined what and how far you can go with 3D motion capture, but in fairness it had the budget and schedule to do so," says Nathan. "Ultimately, others will follow and endeavour to hit the same level in less time for less budget.

"However, there is definitely a positive side to what's happened. The best thing about Avatar was that it was an original idea. It wasn't a sequel or based on a comic book, so there's a real possibility it will fire up movie studios to think we can invest in spectacular, original film-making, rather than things that have a ready-built market. People don't want pre-knowledge of everything they go and see.

"Technologically, Avatar has changed the game. We are now in a 3D age, and if you look into next year, there are a lot of stories that involve space travel and alien invasions, but regardless of how good they look, the reality is they will only do well at the box office if they have a good story to tell."

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