AI cuts 3D movie conversion costs from $5M to pennies

3D cinema is experiencing a notable resurgence, with North American ticket sales jumping 34% year-over-year from May through July 2025, according to RealD’s analysis of comScore data. The revival is being fueled by audience willingness to pay premium prices—averaging $18.51 for 3D tickets versus $14.51 for 2D—and emerging AI technology that could dramatically reduce conversion costs from $5 million to a fraction of that price.

The numbers: Seven of the top ten new releases from May to July generated $222 million on 3D screens, representing 13% of all tickets sold during that period.

• Premium formats like RealD 3D, 4DX and IMAX 3D are dominating exhibition, with moviegoers paying around $4 more for the enhanced experience.
• IMAX president Mark Welton notes particularly strong demand in international markets, especially Asia-Pacific.

What’s driving the comeback: Studios are investing more strategically in 3D releases, moving beyond the franchise-heavy approach that dominated the format’s previous peak.

• James Cameron’s “Avatar: Fire and Ash” arrives December 19, following his $2.3 billion-grossing “Avatar: The Way of Water” from 2022.
• Late 2025 releases include “Tron: Ares,” “Predator: Badlands,” “Wicked: For Good,” “The SpongeBob Movie: Search for Squarepants” and “Zootopia 2.”
• Immersive venues like Cosm in LA and Dallas and the Sphere in Las Vegas are creating new exhibition opportunities for both new and classic films.

The AI factor: Machine learning technology is poised to revolutionize 3D conversion economics, potentially making catalog revivals financially viable at scale.

• Outsyders CEO Paul Becker, whose company co-founded in early 2024 focuses on AI-powered conversions, believes costs can drop to “a small fraction of current pricing.”
• The technology has already been tested on IMAX’s “The Blue Angels” documentary and Disney’s “Lilo & Stitch” remake, which earned $55 million in 3D revenue from May to July in North America alone.
• “A studio’s value is not the current films they’re making; it’s their archives,” Becker argues, suggesting AI could make every film in studio libraries available in 3D.

In plain English: Converting 2D movies to 3D currently requires teams of artists to manually add depth to each frame—like having people paint layers onto thousands of individual photographs. AI can now automate much of this painstaking work, potentially making it affordable to convert entire movie catalogs that were previously too expensive to touch.

Industry resistance: Not everyone embraces the format expansion, particularly when it involves retrofitting existing works.

• Werner Herzog, the acclaimed German filmmaker whose 2010 documentary “Cave of Forgotten Dreams” received a 6K 3D restoration, firmly opposes converting his other films: “For God’s sake, don’t touch my movies! Let them be 2D.”
• Director Kent Jones jokes about the commercial motivations: “Why stop at film? Why don’t they grab images of every painting in the world and make those three-dimensional, too?”

The challenges ahead: Despite growing ticket sales, significant obstacles remain for widespread 3D adoption.

• Home video 3D systems and Blu-ray releases have virtually disappeared in the streaming era, eliminating crucial ancillary revenue streams.
• Film festivals show minimal 3D presence—Toronto’s lineup includes only one experimental short, while fall festivals feature just Herzog’s restored documentary.
• Job displacement concerns arise as AI reduces manual labor requirements in post-production, though Becker emphasizes his company is actively hiring talent.

What they’re saying: RealD CEO Elizabeth Frank sees untapped potential in the premium format business model.

• “[3D is] the most profitable premium format that exhibitors and studios have, because consumers are willing to pay almost a third more for a ticket,” Frank explains.
• AMC Theatres senior VP Ryan Wood notes improved studio strategy: “They’re putting more thought behind [3D]. For example, when ‘How to Train Your Dragon’ was coming, a lot of 3D was in their initial marketing.”