将于7.22登陆大银幕的《唐山大地震》是冯小刚第一部用Imax制式拍摄的影片。不过，这并非意味着该片是一部3D（立体）电影。在接受采访时，冯小刚特意声明：“《唐山大地震》是 Imax，也就是巨幕电影，但它不是3D（立体）电影，我看最近有媒体把他列入3D电影了，在这里说明一下。”

既然《唐山大地震》是伪3D，不知道它能不能像《阿凡达》一样创出票房新高？现如今3D电影大行其道，搭上3D顺风车的电影都能票房飘红。3D火爆是昙花一现吗？未来大银幕会是3D的天下吗？

The technology is suddenly everywhere--heralded as the future of television and transforming cinema-goers' experience. Meanwhile James Cameron's Avatar is proving the most successful 3D movie ever made, with takings that have topped over $1bn, and Pixar's Up took $680m globally. In 2010 around 20 out of 170 movies will be made in 3D, double the number from last year.BSkyB plans to launch a 3D channel later this year.
3D技术突然无处不在——预示着它将成为电视发展的未来并颠覆影迷们的观影体验。詹姆斯卡梅隆执导的《阿凡达》票房收入已超过10亿美元，证明它是有史以来最卖座的3D电影，而皮克斯公司的《飞屋环游记》则赚取了6.8亿美元的全球票房。2010年，170部影片中约有20部将采用3D制作，数目比去年翻了一番。英国天空广播公司则计划于今年晚些时候推出一个3D频道。

3D technology has been around for almost as long as cinema. In 1922, The Power of Love was the first feature film to be screened in 3D at the Ambassador Hotel Theatre in Los Angeles. The effect was achieved by projecting two films strips--one using reds, one using greens--on top of one another. Viewers watched the film using glasses with different-coloured filters in their lenses. The golden age of 3D was in the early 1950s, and began with 1951's Bwana Devil, an action-thriller set in Africa. Two prints were projected through polarising filters at the cinema screen, before being separated by glasses with differently-polarised lenses. The trend declined due to its expense. As well as duplicate prints, it required two projectionists.

3D技术问世时间几乎和电影一样长。 1992年，《爱的力量》是首部以3D形式在洛杉矶的大使饭店剧院放映的故事片。其立体效果是通过放映一红一绿相互叠加的两条胶片实现的。观众在看电影时要佩戴有分色滤光片的眼镜。1951年上映的以非洲为故事背景的动作惊悚片《非洲历险记》开启了上世纪50年代初3D电影的黄金时代。这部电影在放映时使用两个拷贝通过偏振光滤光镜投射到银幕上，然后通过镜片偏振方向不同的偏光眼镜将两个图像分开。这股潮流后因费用问题而衰落下去。因为它不仅需要成对的拷贝，而且还需要两个放映员。

It was only a matter of time before the technology reached TV. In 2008 Samsung launched a £700 3D TV which requires glasses; specialist TV manufacturers like Alioscopy and Magnetic also already make glasses-free 3D screens.
这项技术后来被应用到电视上也不过是个时间问题。2008年，三星公司推出了一款售价700英镑、需佩戴眼镜观看的3D电视机，Aliocsopy和Magnetic等专业电视机厂商也已制造出无需佩戴眼镜观看的3D电视剧。

So what's different now?
如今的技术有何不同？

Digital technology. Instead of using film, digital cinemas project images from a computer's hard drive. Special adapters are fitted to conventional digital projectors that rotate the light several times per second, mimicking the effect of two projectors.
数字技术。数字影院放映影像使用的不是胶片，而是电脑硬盘。只要在传统的数字放映机上安装特殊的转换器，使光得以每秒转动数次，就能模仿出两台放映机的效果。

A spate of films have ridden the 3D wave over the last year--among them Ice Age 3D and Journey to the Centre of the Earth 3D--re-igniting interest in cinema during a difficult economic climate. At CES, Panasonic unveiled a 152-inch plasma screen that produced a better image than many cinemas.
去年，一大批电影都迎3D热潮而上，其中包括《冰河世纪》和《地心历险记》，它们在经济萧条之际重新燃起人们对看电影的兴趣。在国际消费电子展上，松下公司推出了一款152英寸的等离子屏幕，其影像效果比很多电影院还要好。

DreamWorks Animation chief executive Jeffrey Katzenberg has described 3D as "the greatest innovation in film since colour" while Intel CEO Paul Otellini told crowds at CES that, "I think that 3D... is the next thing that's poised to explode in the home." Cupit, who is helping to develop the technology to be used to broadcast the Six Nations, says: "3D creates a richer, more engaging experience than a D flat image. I think it will become the new standard. As the technology sorts itself out it will become more prevalent."
梦工厂动画制作公司首席执行官杰弗里·卡琴贝格将3D描述为“自彩色电影以来电影史上最伟大的创新”，而英特尔公司首席执行官保罗·奥泰里尼则在国际消费电子展上对公众说：“我认为3D……势将成为下一个炙手可热的家用技术。”正帮助开发这项技术用于转播六国赛的库皮特说：“3D技术能营造出比数字平面影像更丰富、更迷人的体验。我认为它将成为新的标准。随着这项技术日臻完善，它将更加普及。”

Ironically Cameron, who has necessarily been one of 3D's most ardent standard bearers, recently merely issued a guarded approval of 3D TV technology. "As 3D starts to come into the living room, and come in at higher frame rates, then we're gonna have to up our game again. Cause movies can't look worse than what you're getting at home," he told Variety magazine.
具有讽刺意味的是，无疑是3D最积极的领军人物之一的卡梅隆本人，最近只不过表示了对3D电视技术有保留的认可。他对《综艺》杂志称：“随着3D开始走进客厅，并且实现更高的帧率，那么我们势必要再次提升我们的游戏级别。因为电影不能比你在家看的效果差。”

The British film critic Mark Kermode is also outspoken in disliking 3D, saying that "all the things that were impressive about Avatar had nothing to do with 3D...unless you're making a movie about sky-diving spear-chuckers there's a limited use of 3D." Kermode says that the 30 per cent colour loss involved with wearing 3D glasses during the film was not worth the 3D effect. "Avatar shows us exactly what stereoscopic cinema is capable of. And the answer is nothing."
英国影评人马克·克莫德也毫不讳言对3D电影的反感。他认为“《阿凡达》中所有那些令人印象深刻的东西都与3D无关……除非你是在拍一部有特技跳伞时互投梭镖镜头的电影，否则3D的用途是很有限的。”克莫德说，看这部电影过程中因戴 3D眼镜造成的30%的色彩流失让3D效果得不偿失。“《阿凡达》向我们完完全全地展示了立体电影能做什么。答案是什么都做不了。”

So where does 3D technology go from here?
3D技术将走向何方？

BSkyB has not confirmed an exact launch date for its 3D channel but says it plans to first launch its 3D service in pubs before marketing it to domestic users. Long-term developments are less clear. "It will probably be the technology that doesn't require glasses coming through," concludes Cupit. "It's the latest in a long line of incremental steps. First it was black and white, then colour, then HD. Eventually we'll have holographic images bursting out of your TV. But not so radical that you think it's science fiction."
BSkyB公司尚未确认其3D频道推出的确切日期，但是说它计划在推向国内用户之前，将首先在小酒吧推出3D服务。长期的发展计划就更不明确。库皮特总结说：“未来的技术很可能是不需要佩戴眼镜就可以观看，这是逐步向前发展的漫长过程中的最新阶段。首先是黑白片，接着是彩色片，然后是高清。最终，我们将使全息影像在电视屏幕上喷薄而出。但不会突飞猛进到你以为是科幻那样的程度。”