Proof that 3D is a waste of money?

The Guardian reveals something that may or may not surprise you:

Hollywood's 3D revolution has changed the shape of the modern blockbuster and helped boost box office income for studios in an era of financial uncertainty, but not everyone thinks they're getting their money's worth and a minority complain of dizziness and headaches. Now, new research has for the first time supposedly offered proof that 3D offers no measurable improvement in enjoyment for the vast majority of film audiences.

According to a study of 400 filmgoers by L. Mark Carrier, of California State University, 3D movies do not allow viewers to experience more intense emotional reactions, are no more immersive, and do not offer any advantage over their 2D counterparts in terms of enhancing the ability to recall a film's details. Carrier's study did, however, suggest that watching films in stereoscope increased threefold the risk of eyestrain, headache or trouble with vision.

"All other things being equal, I would say you're increasing your chances of having some discomfort," said Carrier at the America Psychological Association's annual meeting on Sunday. "There aren't going to be any benefits in terms of understanding the movie better or making the movie more meaningful, as far as we can tell," he added.

Box Office Actuals (7/8/11 - 7/10/11) - "Transformers" Keeps Competition At Bay...

Via Box Office Mojo, The Numbers, Deadline, and other sources:

"Transformers: Dark Of The Moon" retained its lockdown on the top spot of the North American Box Office totals, dipping 51.9% and grossing another $47.1 million. Overall, the third "Transformers" film is rolling along strong with a 12-day gross of $261.1 million thus far.

As impressive as that number is, the film is still lagging a distant second behind the pace set by 2009's "Transformers: Revenge Of The Fallen", which had earned $293.4 million in that same stretch. 2007's "Transformers" film had banked $212.3 in its first 12 days.

Paramount executives are not only pleased with the fact that they have a massive hit on their hands domestically, but worldwide the film is delivering staggering totals. Overseas, "Transformers: Dark Of The Moon" has grossed $395 million and has tallied more than $662 million thus far. Within a week, the film will move past the first entry in the series, in terms of worldwide gross ($709 million), and the $836 million+ hauled in by "...Revenge of the Fallen" is well within reach. The only thing standing in "Transformers" way? A pesky little wizard named Harry Potter, who could potentially re-write some history books beginning this weekend.

In 2007, the first "Transformers" held the top spot for two weeks and narrowly was defeated in Week 3 by the Adam Sandler/Kevin James comedy, "I Now Pronounce You Chuck And Larry". In 2009, "...Revenge Of The Fallen" fell from the top after a two-week run when "Bruno" opened to the tune of $30.6 million for Sacha Baron Cohen.

Unlike the terrible 62% drop of "...Revenge of the Fallen", "...Dark Of The Moon"'s decline of slightly more than half of its opening audience was better than expected. Both films have held decent in their respective third weekends, but they have never faced the likes of a "Harry Potter" film. The "Harry Potter" series finale has the potential to surpass this year's biggest opening weekend of 2011 - the $97.8 million opening for "Transformers: Dark Of The Moon".

Can raunchy R-rated comedy continue to deliver big numbers? Can Kevin James overcome the worst reviews of his career? And which documentary had a massive opening weekend per-screen average? You might be surprised with the answers and the Top 40...after the cut!

Box Office Actuals (7/1/11 - 7/4/11) - "Transformers" Demolishes Everything In Its Path...

Via Box Office Mojo, The Numbers, Deadline, and other sources:

"Transformers: Dark Of The Moon" decimated the Independence Day weekend box office records, delivering a massive $115.9 million 4-day weekend, which raised it's 6-day cumulative gross to an impressive $180.7 million in domestic figures. Even more impressive is the worldwide haul of the third film in Michael Bay's extraordinarily successful "Transformers" franchise, with figures climbing up to $418 million thus far.

As thrilled as Paramount is with those figures, this third "Transformers" is tracking rather significantly behind the sequel "...Revenge Of The Fallen", which had grossed more than $214 domestic in its first 6 days. When factoring in the initial film in the series in 2007, Michael Bay's "Transformers" films have grossed just under $2 billion worldwide. That figure will be passed imminently.

With most entities aggregating 4-day weekend totals, the 3-day figures on a typical Friday-Sunday analysis would still provide "Transformers" with the largest 3-day Independence Day opening ever. Banking $97.9 million over those three days eclipsed 2004's "Spider-Man 2" and its $88.2 million start. Incidentally, the original "Transformers" ranks third on the list with its $70.5 beginning in 2007.

As analysts dug through the numbers, opinions were largely in line with the theory that this was a staggering opening for the film on many fronts. Although reviews were better here than with the dismal second offering, critics weren't exactly standing up for the film either (36% via Rotten Tomatoes), but Bay has always succeeded despite, or in spite of, what the critics say about his work. And clearly, "Transformers" is bullet-proof entertainment.

In addition to the Independence Day 3-day and 4-day weekend records, "Transformers: Dark Of The Moon" scored the largest opening for IMAX exhibitions globally, amassing more than $22 million from those ticket receipts. Michael Bay's begging fans to see it in 3-D, also paid off with 60% of its ticket sales coming from that presentation. Recent 3-D offerings (Cars 2, Pirates...On Stranger Tides) were bringing in approximately 40% of its opening numbers from 3-D showings.

With CinemaScore showing audiences ranking the film with a solid "A", "Transformers" has one more guaranteed huge weekend coming before the long-awaited and much anticipated finale to the biggest grossing film franchise of all time, "Harry Potter And The Deathly Hallows - Part II" comes to a close on July 15.

Paramount also made mention that with "Super 8" moving north of $100 million in receipts, they are the only studio who can boast of five consecutive $100 million grossing films (Transformers, Super 8, Thor, Kung Fu Panda 2, and Rango).

Tom Hanks and Julia Roberts fail to make the grade, Bollywood makes a splash, and a Disney superstar struggles to open a movie once again. All of this and the Top 40 after the cut!

Circuit Round-Up, 07/03

* Last week, Joey Magidson closed the book on the first half of 2011. Let us know what you thought were the best (and worst) films of the year so far in the comments.

* Joey also chose one of his favorite films of 2010 for his DVD Pick of the Week.

* I previewed the new releases of the weekend...well, Transformers: Dark of the Moon was technically a Wednesday release…

* John H. Foote celebrated the upcoming return of Warren Beatty.

* Joey listed some of his favorite trailers of all time. What are some of your favorites?

* Our esteemed Editor Clayton Davis continued to update his Oscar predictions, this time for Best Director.

* Finally, time is running out to vote for ACCA 2001. Today is your last chance!

Today's Posters: Melancholia, A Good Old Fashioned Orgy, and Transformers: Dark of the Moon

The rest after the cut...

The 'Transformers: Dark of the Moon' trailer looks...good?

Judge for yourself:

-Joey's Two Cents: Keep in mind that the last movie had a good trailer and that turned out even worse than the original, so I remain incredibly skeptical...thoughts?