In depth - The good old movie theater is ready for a big step into the future. We haven’t seen dramatic innovations in years and even if high-definition is on its way and some believe that theaters can be transformed into classy dining places, people always have been attracted to a special movie experience they can’t get at home. TG Daily recently met with Dolby to find out how the much anticipated transition to 3D is coming along – and found that this technology has all the potential to keep movie theaters from becoming entertainment dinosaurs nobody will remember.     

Now, to be clear, we don’t think the movie theater is going away. There is still reason to go to your local theater for a nice evening out with your spouse or to spend some time with friends. Some years ago, technology firms pushed the idea of dropping the visit to a cinema in exchange for a movie that would download from the Internet and watch with your family and friends on a sofa in front of a big screen TV. Intel was a big promoter of this idea, especially when it announced its ClickStar movie joint venture with Oscar winning actor Morgan Freeman. Clickstar appears to be history and despite recent financial turmoil in the movie theater industry, there are plenty of ideas to add value to your average movie theater visit.

Muvico, for example, operates 14 “luxury” theaters around the country, which (for about $15 per ticket) offer “VIP” features such as loveseats and complimentary popcorn, as well as an upscale restaurant within the theater. Yesterday, we learned that a new group believes that you will spend up to $35 for a movie ticket, if there is a special experience such as smaller rooms with only 40 comfortable chairs involved.

But what about movie technology? We recently heard about Sony’s 8.8 megapixel projectors, but for this article we were actually interested in the status of generally available 3D. Jeff McNall, Cinema Product Manager at Dolby Laboratories and Joshua Gershman, Dolby's PR head, were nice enough to give us an update on the company’s Dolby 3D Digital Cinema technology.          

When this product was announced at NAB 2007 in Las Vegas, Dolby claimed that it will reignite the theater experience with a new take on the 3D movie experience that we've known for decades. Marketing phrases aside, unlike many previous attempts to relive golden age of 3D, it seems that Dolby 3D actually has a chance for broad mass market adoption: Within one year, more than 75 cinemas in 30 countries were equipped with Dolby 3D. This number is expected to climb above 100 shortly.

Beowulf 3D was the first major title that hit the cinemas taking advantage of this technology. As it turned out, multiplexes that showed both the 2D and 3D version said that viewers of the 3D version brought in 40% of revenue, even though this movie was shown in only 25% of the screens. Read: Every showing was sold out or almost sold out. So, there is clearly some excitement behind a 3D version when compared to the regular 2D movie.

U2 3D, described as the first 3D concert movie, has been in theaters for almost two months now with ho apparent downturn in popularity. And then there was a slight controversy with Disney’s 3D version of a Hannah Montana concert - which was originally planned to remain in theaters for only one week, but had to be quietly expanded by another week due to high demand. To us, it looks like Disney is already run by Steve Jobs.

Read on the next page: Technology, cost, glasses and effects