WHY EVEN 2D MOVIES MAY NOW SEEM DARKER

With the proliferation of digital 3D projection systems throughout the U.S., some theater owners are leaving the special polarizing devices, nearly all of them made by Sony, on the lenses of their projectors even when they’re using them to show 2D movies, resulting in “drastically darker” screen images, according to the Boston Globe. A projectionist for one Boston-area theater told the Globe, “When you’re running a 2-D film, that polarization device has to be taken out of the image path. If they’re not doing that, it’s crazy, because you’ve got a big polarizer that absorbs 50 percent of the light.” Audience members, the Globe explained, can determine whether the 3D lens has been removed simply by looking at the light coming out of the projection booth If they see two beams, it means that the polarizing device has not been removed. In an interview with the newspaper, Peter Farrelly said that last February he attended promotional screenings of Hall Pass, which he co-directed with his brother Bobby, at two Boston theaters, one of which had not removed the 3D device. “The first screening looked spectacular and the second was so dark, it was daytime versus nighttime. If they’re doing this for a big screening, I can’t imagine what they do for regular customers. That’s no way to see a movie.”