Here comes summer! But it's not in 3-D.

Welcome to the beginning of "family movie season," folks!

We're heading into summer, so that means our screen
will be covered with movies the whole family can enjoy. Of
course the occasional adult thriller will figure into the mix --
I'm particularly excited to see John Travolta's new remake
of "The Taking of Pelham One Two Three," one of my favorite
"old" movies.

This weekend we're featuring "Monsters vs. Aliens," the latest
film from Dreamworks, who most recently gave us "Kung Fu
Panda" and the Shrek movies.

All of the advertising for this movie has trumpeted the fact
that it's in 3-D. So it would be a fair question to ask, "Is it
going to be in 3-D at the Roxy?" Well, no it isn't. Here's
why:

3-D requires digital projection. We are still using good ol'
film projection. While we plan to convert our projection to
digital at some point, the 3-D option is wildly expensive.
(Digital projection is expensive enough as it is, but 3-D adds
another 20% or so to the price tag.) We would have to sell
tickets at $10 or more to recoup our cost.

The added fact is that, despite what the media might say,
many people simply don't like 3-D, and since we only have
one screen we wouldn't be able to offer a "2-D alternative"
like theatres with more screens can.

Having explained all that, it's worth reminding you that a
good movie is a good movie, and 3-D (in our opinion at least)
is largely a gimmick. We predict that once you are absorbed
in the story, you won't mind the fact that you aren't wearing
uncomfortable cardboard glasses.