The Next Big Thing

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It’s not 3-D, and here are the reasons why.

Jun 13, 2011, Vol. 16, No. 37 • By JOHN PODHORETZ

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The truth is that 3-D can’t save Hollywood, because the technique doesn’t add anything to the moviegoing experience. All movies are 3-D in the sense that we already perceive what we are watching in three dimensions. The rules of perspective, and its effect on our cognitive faculties, have long seen to that. So 3-D doesn’t add; it bashes you over the head. That is the message audiences are delivering. Hollywood, like everyone else, will have to live with shrinking profit margins.

John Podhoretz, editor of Commentary, is The Weekly Standard’s movie critic.