I love watching movies in the cinema, I have loved it
ever since my dad took my brother and I to see the Lion King at 20th Century
Cinema in the CBD. It has been a long time since then and movie theaters in
Kenya have changed. We now have multiple 3D movie theaters in the country.
Ideally this should be great by I recently had an experience that made me
realize the truth of the old saying that 'all that glitters is not gold'.
It
was this past Madaraka day, Iron Man 3 which I had been anticipating had just
come out and I had some extra cash so I decided to go see it. I did the basic
preparation, I went online to see the times it was showing and the nearest
cinema. I discovered that Iron Man 3 was showing at Century Cinemax at the Junction from
12:50pm. Online it stated that tickets were Kshs. 450 on weekdays and Kshs. 550
on weekends.
I
was at the Junction by 12:30pm, but I always forget how popular it is on
weekends and public holidays so I spent 15 minutes looking for parking and
finally was forced to park on the rooftop near Kentucky Fried Chicken. I rushed
to the ticketing counter and was relieved to make it with 5 minutes to spare. I
asked the lady at the counter for one ticket for Iron Man 3 and was shocked
when she asked me for Kshs. 900. I replied that I only needed one ticket
thinking that she didn't hear me properly and seeing my look confusion she told
me that Iron Man 3 was showing in 3D. This was my first experience with a 3D
movie in Kenya, having not had any time recently to go see any movies in the
cinema. I thought about it for a while; I'm a big fan of the Iron Man franchise
and loved watching Iron Man and Iron Man 2. The thing that made my decision was
the fact I had the cash on hand and was curious what the movie experience would
be like. I paid the lady, got my 3D glasses in a nice looking pouch and went in
for the movie.
I
decided against buying snacks this time around because of the surprise of the
ticket price and made my way to my favorite section in any movie theater; the
center seat in the 3rd last row. The major difference apart from the wearing
the 3D glasses were all the reminders before the screening to put on the 3D
glasses. Two and a half hours later the movie was over and I had some really
mixed feelings about the whole experience. The movie was great, Iron Man 3 was
not as good as Iron Man and but in my opinion better than Iron Man 2 so
definitely worth watching. My problem was that I did not feel that it was the
real 3D experience. I had watched 3D movies in the US and Germany years ago and
the one thing those experiences had in common was that when watching the movie
you felt like you were part of the movie but watching Iron Man 3 in 3D was
definitely not like that.
There
were some scenes in the movie that looked great in 3D but overall it did not
feel that different from a 2D movie. The reason for this I later discovered is
that Iron Man 3 was not filmed using 3D cameras. The 3D effects were added
later in a process called post-conversion after the movie was finished filming.
So what is the point of watching it in 3D apart from wasting your money. Okay
the quality is better in 3D but is it really worth the extra cost if it is not
the real 3D experience. Those who have watched Avatar in 3D know what I'm
talking about and if you haven't then believe me there is a big difference.
However
I couldn't blame anybody but myself for wasting my money as I found out later
on. Another movie I was eagerly waiting for Man of Steel, came out and I was
determined to watch it but not make the same mistake as with Iron Man 3. This
time round I called Century Cinemax and confirmed that Man of Steel was showing
at 12:55pm in 2D for a ticket price of Kshs. 450. I showed up at the ticket
counter at the Junction on time and got my ticket. Man of Steel was great and I
didn't mind that I didn't watch it in 3D. Man of Steel as I later discovered
was also not filmed with 3D cameras but post-converted. On my way out of the
cinema I picked up a pamphlet which listed the movies showing for the next
week. To my surprise the pamphlet also listed when the movies were playing in
both 3D and 2D. This went a long way to improving my impression of Century
Cinemax. Before reading the pamphlet I believed they were forcing customers
into paying for 3D tickets for movies that were not the real 3D
experience.
So
the cinema is not at fault they are just profiting from the ignorance of their
patrons. The burden is on the moviegoer to find out for themselves if the movie
they want to watch was filmed in 3D and thus would constitute a real 3D
experience. The danger is that the more you research a movie the more likely it
is you will inadvertently learn the details of the movie and defeat the purpose
of going to see it in the first place which is to be amazed and entertained. I
would suggest the cinemas enact a policy of informing their customers of when a
movie is the real 3D experience and when it is just an attempt by the film
producers to attract the audience by advertising the movie as 3D. Of course I
don't really expect them to do this because they charge double from 2D to 3D,
and no business would abandon such profit even if it is at the expense of their
customers.
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