There is, apparently, a market for 3-D pornography. This is the gamble that a firm in Hong Kong is taking as it produced new films like “3-D Sex & Zen: Extreme Ecstasy” according to a report from Reuters.
The latest 3-D versions of films like “Batman” and other high-action movies have done relatively well at the box office. It is hard to imagine that the same will hold true of softcore romances and comedies which still make up a very large portion of studio production. Wall St. is worried enough that it has cut the price of 3-D technology firm IMAX (NASDAQ: IMAX) to $14 from its post-IPO high of over $21. Perhaps it is the funny little glasses that people have to wear for 3-D movie viewing and video games that makes the experience less than ideal. Or it may be that 2-D movies are fine. Viewers have become used to then over the last century and that could be a habit that cannot easily be broken.
The troubles with 3-D pornography are fairly simple and not unlike those for less racy content. Do people really want to wear glasses to watch nude people on film? Do porn aficionados really think that 2-D content is inadequate for movies made up of people having sex?
Of course, 3-D movies are more expensive to view, and the porn consumers may end up being cheap skates.
Douglas A. McIntyre
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