Question of the day: Would Piranha 2D have performed better than Piranha 3D?

Piranha, with $3.5 million on its opening day, is a textbook example of how 3D could end up killing theater-going. Piranha is the very definition of something that could be enjoyed as a cheap afternoon matinée. However, thanks to the 3D surcharge, there is no available cheap matinée, with the cheapest tickets in LA running around $10, those being AMC's before-noon screenings. Anything after noon anywhere runs you at least $13. In all of the LA/Hollywood area, I found two theaters showing Piranha in 2D (the Universal Citywalk 19 and the Pacific Winnetka 21). Once a large majority of big (or small) genre films exist only in 3D, then you lose a large chunk of the casual moviegoers who either don't like 3D or just don't want to pay $30 to take their date to an afternoon showing of something like Piranha. Theaters can charge whatever they want for 3D as long as audiences have a viable 2D option. Take away that, and it becomes that much easier to just spend $20 to buy the DVD/Blu Ray in four months.

Scott Mendelson