The “Return” of 3-D: On Some of the Logics and Genealogies of the Image in the Twenty-First Century

Elsaesser discusses Hollywood's 3-D revival. It cannot have escaped anyone's notice that the most remarked-upon phenomenon of mainstream cinema in recent years has been the publicity effort orchestrated by the film industry to launch digital 3-D cinema as a new attraction. For future film historians, the 2009-10 film seasons will be remembered as the years of the "return of 3-D" and James Cameron's Avatar (2009) as its culmination: a film that made instant history as the biggest and fastest box office success ever, when it opened on 18 December, having earned close to three billion dollars worldwide within less than six weeks of its theatrical release.