New dimension

A decade ago, no one could have predicted that a new generation of 3D film technology would be bringing in cinema audiences many times larger than those of their less eye-popping flat-screen variants. After the early 1950s ’golden era’ of 3D, where audiences notoriously thrilled to big studio horrors, the 1980s resurgence left bad memories of flimsy glasses, giddy headaches and plots seemingly written solely around making viewers duck from objects leaping towards them.

But modern equipment has overcome these problems. And with Hollywood’s finest directors clamouring for their slice of the action, 3D cinema is firmly back in the audience’s affections.

Now RealD, the company behind some of the biggest titles, including Monsters vs Aliens, Bolt and the concert film U2 3D, believes that the technology could be ready to make the leap from the cinema to the living room and that with the right support, 3DTV could become huge.