3-D movies are nothing new. They have been around for more than 50 years. But some movie moguls are beginning to see the future of movies in 3-D.Dreamworks Animation CEO Jeffrey Katzenberg recently called the latest wave of 3-D technology — digital projectors — “the greatest innovation to occur in the movie business in 70 years,” according to an article published in [email protected] companies like Dreamworks Animation are looking to a future of new 3-D animated films, many theater companies including AMC, Regal, Carmike and Cinemark are installing digital projectors into their theaters in the next year.Mass communication professor Emily Erickson CQ said digital projectors allow theaters to project films in 3-D while also allowing them to do away with traditional 35mm reels of film, which tend to be expensive.”It’s possible that for blockbusters [3-D] will be the wave of the future,” Erickson said.Erickson said in the past, movies that have been released in 3-D have generated higher revenues.”That’s also because ticket prices are higher,” she said. “I don’t know if we really see evidence that they are actually boosting the number of people going to the theaters, but that’s clearly what the studios are hoping for,” she said.Erickson said the main reason movie theaters are moving toward 3-D movies is to boost box office sales.”This is exactly the same thing movie theaters tried to do when TV came out,” she said. “Try to create a unique experience that distinguished movies.”She said movie theaters won’t want to make movies 3-D on Blu-ray discs because they want to be able to offer something people can’t get at home.”The point is to get you to the theaters,” Erickson said. “The studios and the theaters have stake in getting the box offices up because opening weekend box office numbers dictate the success of a movie in all other vehicles.”The manager of the Cinemark in the Perkins Rowe shopping center said the theater is scheduled to get a digital projector but couldn’t provide further information.Christina Persaud, mass communication sophomore, said she thinks watching movies in 3-D makes them more entertaining.”It’s like you are actually there,” Persaud said. “I think for a while it will help the movie industry because people will be interested in 3-D movies, but it also depends on what the movie is.”Johnathan House, architecture sophomore, said movies that are already entertaining are better in 3-D.”It puts you into them,” House said. “But it probably would make bad movies worse.”- – – -Contact Blake Stephens at [email protected]