After Avatar Success: 3D Going Mainstream

Although the technology has existed since the 1920's and many films have tried to use it to create a more realistic movie experience, 3D has never been a hit with viewers.

All that has changed with the success of Avatar. The film is only the second movie ever to gross over $1 billion in ticket sales. Before it even hit the screens, the movie was being hailed as the future of cinema. As it turns out, it may be the future of television and video games too, as well as other still unforeseen media.

According to Jen-Hsun Huang, chief executive of graphics chipmaker Nvidia (Nasdaq: NVDA), "It is now absolutely clear that 3D is a global movement across all industries."

ESPN, a unit of Walt Disney Co. (NYSE: DIS), plans to create a new 3D channel as well as broadcast the World Cup, the most viewed sporting event in the world, in 3D.

ESPN was an early adopter of HD technology and was instrumental in the success of that technology.

Satellite provider DirecTV (Nasdaq: DTV)is another company that helped bring about the HD revolution, leading many television manufacturers to phase out their analog television lines in favor of HDTV. DirecTV plans to introduce several channels dedicated to 3D content.

Dreamworks (Nasdaq: DWA) and IMAX (Nasdaq: IMAX) have already signed on to produce 3D content to help fill the time slots of the upcoming 3D channels and other content providers are sure to follow.