In the latest sign of Hollywood studios’ growing ambivalence over converting movies into 3D, Warner Bros. on Friday said it canceled its planned 3D release of “Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows, Part I,” saying it ran out of time to properly convert the film into a 3D format.
Warner Bros., a unit of Time Warner Inc., will now only release the penultimate “Potter” installment on Nov. 19 in a 2D version, as opposed to releasing it in both 2D and 3D.
The film’s final installment, however, will appear in 3D when it hits theaters next summer.
After James Cameron’s 3D blockbuster “Avatar,” which opened last December, became the highest-grossing film of all time, Hollywood studios rushed to produce 3D movies to take advantage of audience enthusiasm for the new medium—and the higher ticket prices it allows theater owners to charge. But that rush also created a divide in the Hollywood community over the best way to produce 3D films—and the quality of 3D needed to satisfy audiences hungry for films in the flashy format.
Earlier in the year, industry champions of 3D, including Dreamworks Animation SKG Inc. Chief Executive Jeffrey Katzenberg, criticized Warner Bros. for what they viewed as a sloppy, last-minute conversion of “Clash of the Titans.” Despite the criticism, the movie performed well at the box office.
Those critics argued that films like “Clash” would turn audiences against the format because the 3D was of such poor quality.
To release a 3D movie, studios can either “author” a film in 3D, where they produce and shoot it in 3D, or they can convert a 2D film into 3D after it is finished. The former is more expensive and requires significant planning and expertise on the part of the filmmaker, while converting a film after it is finished can cost as little as $5 million.
“Avatar” was authored in 3D, for example.
Even in the wake of “Avatar’s” outsized success as a 3D movie, the recent box-office performance of some 2D films over the summer has proved that movies don’t need to be in 3D to strike a chord with audiences.
The latest “Twilight” installment hit theaters this past June in 2D format, but it has since taken in almost $700 million world-wide. And Chris Nolan’s psychological 2D thriller, “Inception,” became one of the biggest box-office hits of the summer. Warner Bros and Mr. Nolan, in fact, briefly considered converting the film into a 3D format, but decided against it because they couldn’t achieve results deemed good enough in tests.
In a statement Friday, Warner Bros. said quality issues stood at the forefront of canceling its 3D release of “Potter.”
“Despite everyone’s best efforts, we were unable to convert the film in its entirety and meet the highest standards of quality,” the statement read. “We do not want to disappoint fans who have long anticipated the conclusion of this extraordinary journey.”
Director David Yates added that the decision “underscores the fact that Warner Bros. has always put quality first.”
Write to Lauren A. E. Schuker at lauren.schuker@wsj.com
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