Is it Real 3D or Fake 3D
While film studios are cashing in on 3D films, many are "faking it" by converting 2D films into 3D post-production. Worse, they're not being upfront in their advertising, and many people feel ripped-off after paying extra fees for the "3D Experience." It's been claimed that conversions are now just as good as the real thing, but there's a limit to what can be done post-production. If you only have one-eye's worth of content, you can't just make up the content for the second eye. It's not as simple as the re-colorization that happened to classic movies.

And so here is a list for separating the real 3D films that were shot or rendered natively in 3D from the fake ones that weren't. Happy watching!

- Phil Dhingra from 3D Porch
Updated April 21, 2013

If you email me, please include sources. To view my sources, click here or go to View > Source in your browser for hidden HTML comments.

This site has been cited by Slate, The Independent, and countless movie critics.

Real 3D

2014
The Hobbit: There and Back Again
Hunter
Jurassic Park 4
X-Men: Days of Future Past

Fake 3D

2014
n/a

2013
47 Ronin
Amazing Ocean 3D
Battle of the Year
The Croods
Despicable Me 2
Dorothy of Oz
Epic
Escape from Planet Earth
Frozen
The Great Gatsby
The Hobbit: The Desolution of Smaug
Jack the Giant Slayer
Jerusalem: Filmed in Imax 3D
Metallica Through the Never
Monsters University
The Mortal Instruments
Mr. Peabody & Sherman
One Direction Concert Movie
Oz: The Great and Powerful
Postman Pat
Spiders 3D
Texas Chainsaw 3D
Twist
Turbo
Walking with Dinosaurs
2013
G.I. Joe: Retaliation
Gravity
Hansel and Gretel: Witch Hunters 9-Hybrid
Independence Day
Iron Man 3
Jurassic Park
The Little Mermaid
Mad Max: Fury Road
Man of Steel
Pacific Rim
Percy Jackson: Sea of Monsters
R.I.P.D
Star Wars: Episode II & III
Star Trek Into Darkness
Thor: The Dark World
The Wizard of Oz
The Wolverine
2012
The Amazing Spider-Man
Bait 3D
Brave
Cirque du Soleil
Dead Before Dawn 3D
Dr. Seuss' The Lorax
Dredd
Finding Nemo 3D
Flying Swords of Dragon Gate
Hellbenders
The Hobbit: An Unexpected Journey
Hotel Transylvania
Ice Age: Continental Drift
Journey 2: The Mysterious Island
Katy Perry: Part of Me
Life of Pi
Madagascar 3
Monsters Inc. 3D
Nurse 3D
Ocean Circus 3D
ParaNorman
Piranha 3DD
Pirates! Band of Misfits
Prometheus
Resident Evil: Damnation
Resident Evil: Retribution
Rise of the Guardians
Silent Hill: Revelation 3D
Step Up Revolution
StreetDance 2
Underworld Awakening
Universal Soldier
Wreck-It Ralph
2012
Abraham Lincoln: Vampire Hunter
The Avengers
CZ12
Frankenweenie
Ghost Rider: Spirit of Vengence
I, Robot
John Carter
Men in Black III
Star Wars: Episode I
Titanic 4
Wrath of the Titans

2011
The Adventures of Tintin
Arthur Christmas
Born to Be Wild 3D
Cars 2
Cave of Forgotton Dreams
The Darkest Hour
Dolphin Tale 3D
Drive Angry
Fields of Valor: The Civil War
Final Destination 5
Flying Monsters 3D
Fright Night (in 3-D)
Glee: The 3D Concert Movie
Gnomeo & Juliet
Happy Feet 2 in 3D
Horrid Henry
Hugo
Kung Fu Panda 2
Mars Needs Moms!
A Monster in Paris
Nova Zembla 3D
Pirates Of The Caribbean: On Stranger Tides
Puss in Boots
Rio
Sanctum
Sex & Zen 3D
Shark Night 3D
The Three Musketeers
Torrente 4
A Very Harold & Kumar 3D Christmas

2011
Beauty and the Beast 2
Captain America
Conan the Barbarian
Don 2
Ghost in the Shell: S.A.C. Solid State Society
The Green Hornet
Green Lantern 5
Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows: Part 2
Hoodwinked Too! Hood vs. Evil
Immortals
Justin Bieber: Never Say Never 8
Lion King 3D
Priest
Ra.One
Sleepless Night
The Smurfs
Spy Kids 4
Thor
Transformers: Dark of the Moon 6-Hybrid
Turtle: The Incredible Journey
Valhalla Rising 3D

2010
Alpha and Omega
Animals United
The Child's Eye
Despicable Me
How to Train Your Dragon
Jackass 3D
The Last Reef
Legend of the Guardians
Megamind
The Mortician
Natalie
Resident Evil: Afterlife
A Turtle's Tale
Saw 3D
Shrek Forever After
Space Chimps 2
StreetDance 3D
Step Up 3D
Tangled
Toy Story 3
Tron Legacy
Yogi Bear

2010
Alice in Wonderland
Cats & Dogs
The Chronicles of Narnia: The Voyage of the Dawn Treader
Clash of the Titans
Daybreakers
Dune
Gulliver's Travels
Hubble 3D 1
The Last Airbender
My Soul to Take
Nutcracker in 3D
Piranha 3-D
Running Man
Shrek 3D Starter Kit
Super Hybrid

2009
Astro Boy
Avatar
Coraline
A Christmas Carol
Cloudy with a Chance of Meatballs
Dark Country
The Final Destination
The Hole
Ice Age: Dawn of the Dinosaurs
Jonas Brothers 3D
Journey to the Center of the Earth
Monsters vs. Aliens
My Bloody Valentine 3D
Shock Labyrinth
Toy Story (re-release)
Toy Story 2 (re-release)
Under the Sea 3D
Up

2009
Besouro
Dawn of the Dead
G-Force
Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince

2008
Bolt
Dolphins and Whales
Fly Me To the Moon
Hannah Montana
Scar
Wild Ocean

2008
InAlienable
Kung Fu Panda

2007
Battle for Terra
Beowulf
Meet the Robinsons 3
U2 3D

2007
Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix

2006
The Ant Bully Deep Sea 3-D
Monster House
Night of the Living Dead 3D
Open Season

2006
Flirting with Flamenco
The Nightmare Before Christmas
Superman Returns

2005
The Adventures of Sharkboy and Lavagirl
Aliens of the Deep
Chicken Little 7

2004
The Polar Express

2003
Ghosts of the Abyss
Spy Kids 3-D

1986
Captain EO

1983
Amityville 3-D
Jaws 3-D
Spacehunter: Adventures in the Forbidden Zone

1982
Friday the 13th Part III

1973
Andy Warhol's Frankenstein

1954
Creature from the Black Lagoon
Dial M for Murder

1953
Hondo
House of Wax

1952
Bwana Devil

 
^ 1. "The IMAX 3D camera contained a mile of film, though this allowed for only 8 minutes 30 seconds of footage to be recorded." (wikipedia)

^ 2. Since new 3D models are being created to extrude the original 2D objects, this counts to me as new content, and so Beauty and the Beast will technically be "Fake 3D." However, Disney has all the original artwork saved in separate levels, so there may not be much "filling in the blanks" done by the new animators. Instead, the conversion may be more like the process used in Meet the Robinsons (see note 3) which I categorized as "Real 3D." Plus, unlike the other "Fake" films, Beast is neither live action nor 3D animation, and so moviegoers are not being sold an inauthentic experience.

^ 3. According to this YouTube they appear to have original 3D models. I also talked to a friend of some of the crewmembers, and apparently they projected the original 2D image onto the 3D models because it was faster than re-rendering with a second camera. This is why it appears like a longer conversion process in this article. If you have the original 3D geometry, that's real enough.

^ 4. James Cameron said, "It's never going to look as good as if you shot it in 3D. But think of it as a sort of 2.8D."

^ 5. The stereoscopic supervisor mentioned to me that the CGI effects were done with real 3D (about a third of the film).

^ 6. Transformers should really be classified "Hybrid," given how much people are raving about the 3D in the film. However, between one-third to one-half of is converted, with 78 minutes converted from Legend3D. All of the CGI was converted, which may not be a problem in most movies, but considering the transformers are the stars of the film, if they're not rendered natively in 3D (which should be the case with all 3D CGI), then viewers are kind of not getting the real deal.

^ 7. Disney gave Chicken Little to a 3rd-party to convert the film into 3D. However, they provided original 3D models, so it's nearly a native rendering. This is similar to Meet the Robinsons. Ideally, they would've re-rendered with a second virtual camera.

^ 8. While the concert footage that is supposed to be in 3D was filmed with real 3D cameras, it's such a miniscule part of the entire film, that it's a lie to say that this is 3D.

^ 9. "We shot half of it in real 3D and they other half was post converted."

Creative Commons License