A couple of weeks ago, I told you to keep an eye on the cat. Actually, you had to keep two eyes on DreamWorks Animation SKG's (Nasdaq: DWA ) Puss in Boots, and then he'd tell you how healthy the market for 3-D movies really is.
The thesis was, strong second and third weeks would mean that people still care about 3-D visuals. The usage of the third dimension is a selling point for an otherwise forgettable cookie-cutter film, so strong kitty legs should mean that word of mouth for that aspect is actually pulling more people into the theater.
The numbers are in, and it looks like this newfangled revenue booster is here to stay after all. Though the Shrek spin-off's debut was thoroughly unimpressive, the following weeks tore up the script.
Sophomore weekends typically see a huge attendance drop. However, audiences flocked into theaters in the third week as well, nearly taking another crown from Time Warner epic Immortals.
And before you write this off as a lack of screen-time competition for family movies, consider this: 51% of opening-week ticket sales came from 3-D screenings. According to DreamWorks Animation spokeswoman Shannon Olivas, the 3-D take hardly dropped at all with 48% of the second-weekend box office and 46% in the third.
Consider that Immortals stole thousands of the cartoon's 3-D screens this weekend, and that minuscule drop becomes even more impressive. This was also the first movie since the record-breaking Avatar run to pull in more IMAX (Nasdaq: IMAX ) money in the second week than the first.
So yeah, the premium presentation struck a chord with audiences this time. Love it or hate it, but I think that top-shelf cinema experiences from IMAX, RealD (NYSE: RLD ) , and Dolby Labs (NYSE: DLB ) are here to stay after all.
If nothing else, the high-tech cinema sector is always entertaining and well worth keeping on your watchlist. Get started:
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