3D Needs More 3D Blu-ray Releases

Don’t call me for any more 3D demos if you’re going to show the same two movies again.

I saw “Avatar” and “Monsters & Aliens” again at Panasonic’s 3D display areas at the Billie Jean King National Tennis Center in Flushing Meadow, N.Y., site of the U.S. Open championship until Sept. 12. As you know, Panasonic is sponsoring the first-ever 3D broadcasts of the event, which is why the media was invited.

Of course, I’m a spoiled member of the media, but that’s not the point.

One of the difficulties in creating more consumer interest in 3D this year has been the lack of 3D Blu-ray movies.

That’s what Shiro Kitajima, president of Panasonic Consumer Electronics, told me that day when I asked him about comments made in Japan that Panasonic would not meet its 1 million 3D TV sales worldwide goal for this year. “We expected that software [3D Blu-ray movie] support would be very high, but that hasn’t happened.”

Now it’s a coup for Panasonic that it will have “Avatar” as an exclusive beginning in December, and its primary sponsorship of DirecTV’s new “n3D” channel is fine. But just do a search on any of your favorite sites for 3D Blu-ray movies, and you’ll see the few quality titles that are available.

Kitajima took the words out of my mouth when we spoke on Wednesday when he said, “You need software to sell the hardware.”

Hopefully Hollywood will provide more titles sooner rather than later.