While the game industry has struggled to get gamers to adopt 3D games, the global 3D movie business continues to take off.
3D theaters show growth in both revenue and number of new screens
The number of 3D screens worldwide has grown dramatically in three years, rising by more than a factor of four from approximately 9,000 screens at the end of 2009 to 43,000 by the third quarter this year. The U.S. continues to have the lion’s share of 3D screens, followed by China, France, the United Kingdom and Germany.
Meanwhile, global 3D box-office revenue hit $7.0 billion in 2011—the last full year for which full figures are available—up 16 percent from $6.0 billion in 2010. 3D accounted for 22 percent of total world box-office receipts in 2011, up from 19 percent the previous year.
In particular, 3D is stabilizing in mature cinema markets like the U.S., where its share of the overall box office is no longer growing as rapidly compared to the earlier years of the format or in other countries where 3D cinema is just taking off. Increasingly, 3D revenue prospects rely on the quality of the 3D film slate, and the wealth—or relative dearth—of titles during a particular period could spell a big difference in 3D revenue prospects in the mature cinema markets.
3D screen growth is also slowing dramatically in the developed regions, where exhibitors have already made a significant investment in 3D screen infrastructure. The opposite is true in China and other emerging international markets, where the continued expansion of new-cinema screen infrastructure as well as the subsequent up-conversion rate from 2D to 3D is pushing further growth of 3D screens.
Overall, international markets continue to account for a rising share of the worldwide 3D box office—73 percent in 2011, up from 66 percent in 2010 and 54 percent in 2009, with the balance held by North America.
