DreamWorks Animation CEO Jeffrey Katzenberg reconfirmed his belief in 3D movies, adding that it hasn’t lived up to its potential because it’s being used in ways that let greed triumph over artistry and storytelling.
Executives are making the short-sighted decision to dismiss quality considerations in the interests of making a quick buck, he said.
“With time we’ll get back to success here, but it’ll only come by embracing [3D] as a storytelling tool and using it to enhance the film experience,” Katzenberg predicted, adding that producer Steven Spielberg was one of the few already doing this.
Meanwhile, theater goers are unconvinced that 3D is worth paying a premium for, because the movies they’re going to see are not inspiring them to do so. Current movies aren’t even very good, according to Katzenberg.
He was remarkably candid on that point in comments he made during his appearance at Fortune’s Brainstorm Tech Conference in Aspen, Colorado. “Let me have a show of hands of people that would say the last seven or eight months of movies is the worst lineup of movies you’ve experienced in the last five years of your life,” Katzenberg asked the audience. When many hands were raised, he nodded, “They suck. It’s unbelievable how bad movies have been … right now, today, it’s a particularly dreary moment.”
Studios are struggling with the fact that movie lovers increasingly opt for their home entertainment systems rather than going to a theater. This threat to their business model is causing them to make ill-advised decisions.
“There is this sort of unholy alliance that has existed forever between art and commerce, show and biz,” Katzenberg said. “And today it’s out of balance and it’s too much on the biz, and it’s too much on the commerce and it’s too much on the marketability.”
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Fortune’s full video and transcript: http://tinyurl.com/3ce9tuo
