Is 3-D trend a passing fancy or here to stay?

ANYONE SEE THAT prediction last week by George Lucas about 3-D taking over the movie world?

The Associated Press reported that Lucas compared 21st century 3-D to the advent of color, which bloomed in the 1930s and blossomed in the 1960s. "When you're watching a movie and it's not in 3-D," Lucas said, "it's like watching in black and white."

Lucas called 3-D "a better way of looking at a film," adding, "I totally believe now that 3-D will completely take over just like color did."

To which I can only say, "Yikes!"

The "Star Wars" guru was speaking to theater owners at the CinemaCon convention in Las Vegas, holding court with fellow filmmakers James Cameron ("Avatar," "Titanic") and former Disney/current Dreamworks animation honcho Jeffrey Katzenberg, all in apparent agreement about the power of 3-D.

The discussion began with digital filmmaking, which they believe is quickly supplanting 35mm film. No argument there. As digital exhibition technology takes over, it will obviously be cheaper and more efficient for moviemakers and theater operators.

But 3-D? That's another matter.

Putting this into perspective, let's acknowledge that Lucas and friends were playing to their audience. After all, theater owners want to hear that movie houses will continue to be a viable entity as high-tech innovations rapidly reshape the movie landscape.

With competition from home-theater systems (including 3-D TVs), various portable and handheld devices and free movies all over the Internet, there was no doubt a great deal of fear in the room — just as there was in the 1950s and '60s, when television came on the scene.

Back then, movie theaters armed themselves with widescreen formats and stereo sound, and color gradually became the standard as fewer and fewer black-and-white movies were being made.

And an array of short-lived "event" gimmicks surfaced, including lengthy big-budget epic pictures with intermissions, low-budget fright flicks that offered rigged seats or insurance policies against being scared to death — and yes, 3-D.

None of these gimmicks lasted long, but 3-D did resurface from time to time as technology nominally improved. There were revivals of the 1950s 3-D movies for special showings, and in the 1980s, a few new efforts popped up, cheapjack pictures such as the spaghetti Western "Comin' At Ya!" and a number of horror movies, from "Amityville 3-D" to "Jaws 3-D." But none was successful enough to keep it going.