The gravy train is over as studios begin making you pay for 3-D glasses
Moviegoers hoping to be occasionally not disappointed by 3-D will have to pay a little extra for that privilege come May 2012, when Sony Pictures becomes the first of what’s expected to be many studios who will stop paying for the 3-D glasses required to sort-of enjoy them. Right now the cost of supplying said glasses for a major tentpole movie (such as Sony’s upcoming The Amazing Spider-Man or Men In Black 3-D) can fall anywhere between $5 and $10 million. As that sort of exorbitant figure is typically reserved for craft services and subway posters, studios are now in favor of passing the burden along to theater owners—and thus, to audience members, who have been getting a free ride for too long, give or take a $3 or $4 additional fee.