Ang Lee is moving on from 3D filmmaking after a trio of hit or miss releases: “Life of Pi” (2012), “Billy Lynn’s Long Halftime Walk” (2016) and “Gemini Man” (2019). The former title was an acclaimed blockbuster that won Lee the Oscar for best director, while the latter two releases, also distributing in high-frame rate at 120 frames per second, were mostly critical misfired and big financial disappointments. Lee hasn’t made a movie since “Gemini Man.”
“I tried higher frame rate and I tried 3D,” Lee recently told IndieWire. “I tried new ways of making movies. Those pictures are really sharp. That’s a lot of pressure. Everything is difficult, so that is always a great pressure. I cannot get into detail on how to make those movies. People have not tried even one minute of that scale. I did two feature films. That’s great pressure. Of course, that brought in economic pressure, studio pressures, doing something nobody really knows. That’s a lot of pressure. It’s quite complicated [in ways] that audiences don’t see.”
“In general, not only my two movies, 3D in general … [is] so bad,” he continued. “The filmmakers are bad. The theaters are bad. The whole ecosystem is bad. It’s not made for [3D]. I refuse to complain, to blame it on the medium… it’s the audience, and the industry, [who] were not prepared.”
Lee cited movie theaters’ inability to properly project 3D filmmaking as one reason he’s retreating from it for his next movie, which he hopes is a Bruce Lee biopic.
“The theaters are stingy. It’s really dim, you can’t really see it. It’s flickering, and the 3D,” Lee said. “People do a poor job, [it] gives you a headache, it’s purely bad. You can’t blame the audience for not liking it because it’s bad. And they’re asked to pay more money. When it gets good, people like it. It’s simple. 3D is different than 2D. Your mind works differently. You cannot compare the two. One is sophisticated and the other is like a baby. That’s why I developed new projectors. It’s four times brighter. It’s a new language a filmmaker has to pick up, audience has to get used to it, it just takes time.
“There are bad filmmakers, it’s that simple. Audiences only see what they see. It’s dark, and they get a headache. Filmmakers don’t know what they’re doing with the images. It’s just the beginning,” he continued. “[But] the 3D is just too hard. I’ll go back to the regular way, the old way of making movies.”
“You cannot compare the two. One is sophisticated and the other is like a baby.”–Ang Lee.
I’m with Ang Lee 100% except for giving up on 3D.
We all start with crayons. As we get older we move on.
When I first took my 16mm programs to theatres across Canada the projection in the theatres was terrible.
The second time I did it I brought my own 16mm theatrical projector plus two people who answered directly to me.
My programs filled venues that could seat thousands which regularly pulled around 80 people.
They did that at a premium price.
Part of the reason for that price was and is that it properly allows me to blow the horn, to promote.
“Life of Pi” (2012) hit all the marks. It is an incredible picture. Seeing it in 3D is a powerful experience.
“Billy Lynn’s Long Halftime Walk” (2016) is a good film but nowhere near as powerful as LIFE OF PI.
“Gemini Man” (2019) is a big budget B movie with nothing in it that causes it to rise above the market for films of that type.
All three are superbly done.
If after having used the sophisticated tools of an artist Ang Lee chooses to go back to crayons, well, even crayons can be used with sophistication.
The motion picture industry is dead.
The people who run it ran it into the ground.
Yes, 3D is sophisticated.
That is not a fault.
–Reg Hartt
Motion Picture theatres once sat thousands who paid Legit theatre prices to see movies. Why? Because the movies were exciting. Today with all the bells and whistles available to film makers that excitement is gone. It left when film makers rose out of the classroom instead of out of the art and the industry.
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