Ang Lee Quits 3D Filmmaking: “3D is Bad. The Filmmakers Are Bad."

It used to be everywhere.

James Cameron’s “Avatar” boosted the 3D market for a period of time, until it lost all steam, due to an incalculable amount of films trying to take advantage of the fad by upgrading their non-3D shot movies into 3D movies.

Ang Lee, much like Cameron, is another filmmaker that was at the forefront of 3D technology. It worked well on his 2012 Oscar-winner “Life of Pi,” but he struggled mightily with “Billy Lynn’s Long Halftime Walk” and his last film, 2019’s “Gemini Man.”

When asked by IndieWire, Lee confirmed that he’s done with 3D and that he’ll be shooting his upcoming “Bruce Lee” in normal format:

It’s too hard, especially after the two movies. The 3D is just too hard. I’ll go back to the regular way, the old way of making movies [..] There’s a great story to be told, a lot to explore. I’m still working on it. But it won’t be in 3D.

Lee has soured on the technology. He’s given up in trying to be at the forefront of film advancements. He not only blames himself, but also his fellow filmmakers and the current state of theaters:

In general, not only my two movies, 3D in general … [is] so bad,” Lee said. “The filmmakers are bad. The theaters are bad. The whole ecosystem is bad. It’s not made for [3D]. I refuse to complain, to blame it on the medium… it’s the audience, and the industry, [who] were not prepared […] Audiences only see what they see. It’s dark, and they get a headache. Filmmakers don’t know what they’re doing with the images. It’s just the beginning.”

The filmmaker admits that with ‘Billy Lynn’ and “Gemini Man,” he “tried new ways of making movies” and that the end results didn’t justify all of the hard word he had put into these two projects. He does add that “there have to be new ways of expression. 500 years from now, they’re looking back and saying, ‘70s is the peak of cinema? I don’t think so.”

I can count in just one hand the amount of films that have come out, since "Avatar," that have actually benefited from the 3D treatment. Otherwise, it’s been a major studio scam whose potential didn’t materialize as planned. Only James Cameron truly mastered the way to shoot a film in 3D.

The fact of the matter is, that in the 2010s, and banking on the ‘Avatar’ success, studios wanted to take advantage of the 3D medium by releasing every mediocre effort with an extra pair of $3 glasses included with your ticket. The problem was that most of these films were not meant for 3D viewing.

It was a fad, one which delivered only a handful of films that actually worked, wonderfully well, with 3D glasses: “Avatar,” “Gravity,” “Hugo,” “Life of Pi,” and “The Walk.” These are the 3D movies that remained the most memorable. Almost everything else was a cash grab.