Are 3-D Movies Evidence of Creative Thinking in the Studios?

3-D movies are back. After fads that died off in the 1950s and 70s (memorialized only in revivals of House of Wax or Lollipop Girls in Hard Candy) there has been a spate of recent 3-D cinema releases: Meet the Robinsons. Beowulf. U23D. The upcoming Hannah Montana.

Maybe it's just a perennial fad making a reappearance. But Mitch Golden, guest-blogging at Ed Felton's Freedom to Tinker thinks something else might be going on:

Could it have something to do with the fact that a 3d movie cannot be pirated? ...

Isn’t it just possible that the studios were thinking: Hey guys, I know you could just download this fantasy flick and see it on your widescreen monitor. But unless you give us $11 and sit in a dark theater with the polarized glasses, you won’t be seeing the half-naked Angelina Jolie literally popping off the screen!