Sony to stop paying for 3D glasses in 2012, watchers to foot bill

Sony is pulling a douche bag move that fans of 3D films at the theater will not like one bit. The company has sent letters out to theaters that show its 3D films to tell them that it will no longer pay for the 3D glasses that are required for viewers to see the films it produces as of May 1, 2012. That means next summer when the blockbusters are out in 3D like Men in Black III and The Amazing Spider-Man the cost of your 3D ticket will go up if Sony doesn't change its mind.

Apparently the cost of 3D glasses alone is in the $5 million to $10 million range for a top blockbuster. The movie studio apparently pays for the 3D glasses after the movie leaves based on the amount of glasses used. I can't imagine that the theater owners will be happy about this move. They paid significantly to update screens to handle the glut of new 3D films. Sony is arguing that the glasses can be a new revenue stream for the theater.

Considering we pay about $4 more to watch a flick in 3D already the cost of the glasses should be included. Each pair of glasses accounts for about 50 cents of the movie ticket price. You can bet if the watchers have to foot the cost of those glasses it will add more than 50 cents to the movie ticket price. The part that really gets me is that these blockbuster films make a huge amount of money well into the hundreds of millions. The original Spider-Man movie that hit in 2002 made over $821 million globally and Sony wants to whine about $10 million in glasses. Maybe we should watch Sony flicks in 2D if at all to prove how dumb a move this is.

[via Hollywood Reporter]