Can home media afford 3D conversion?

As shared in a number of previous posts, we've noticed a steep decline in sales of 3D Blu-rays/downloads over the last couple of years and, regardless of the factors involved, the only conclusion you can draw is that producing 3D solely for the home media market is not financially viable.

The majority of the 3D blu-ray market is made up of films shot (rarely now) or converted into 3D for theatrical release in which case the "3D budget" in financial terms is covered in the overall film production/release budget. After this the studio has a 3D asset which they can further exploit with a home release if they wish to do so. The sad fact of the matter is even owning the 3D asset doesn't guarantee its release into the dwindling 3D home media market any longer.

Streaming equally presents a tough market with no major players remotely interested in 3D, and alternative funding models like YouTube Ad Sharing, simply produce too little income until you are creating & streaming substantial amounts of new content on a daily basis.

Cracking into the theatrical market is an equally difficult proposition for a number of reasons. Regardless of the glowing reviews we've received, we are still a VERY small team with no "proven" track record of theatrical releases. We can't simply call up The Walt Disney Company, ask to chat to whomever manages 3D conversions and tell them how good you are and expect them to ask us to convert their next multi-million dollar blockbuster; sadly big business doesn't work that way. (Although we would have done a better "Lilo & Stitch" conversion I'm sure.)

This leaves us with the conundrum: converting to 3D for home media alone is unsustainable, but breaking into theatrical conversion is near impossible without luck intervening and helping us along our way... so maybe if you could all join us in crossing our fingers and wishing like crazy, then it'll happen. ;)

In the meantime I do hope you continue to enjoy the 3D delights of our ever expanding catalogue and don't worry there's definitely a few more to come, perhaps not at the same pace as previously but our passion for 3D has not diminished and we'll keep going until AI replaces us. (That might be later this year though with the pace of AI development!)

EYEPOP - Keeping it 3D!