Francis Ford Coppola: 3D Is Just A Way 'To Make You Pay More Money'

Roger Ebert has been one of the most outspoken critics of 3D movies yet, blasting it as "a waste of a perfectly good dimension" and "juvenile abomination"

Now Oscar-winning director Francis Ford Coppola has chimed with his own critique of 3D, a technology he describes as "tiresome" and little more than a way "to make you pay more money for a ticket."

Despite having made 3D films himself (like the 1986 Captain Eo, starring Michael Jackson), Coppola isn't convinced by the new medium.

"I don't see why a movie is better in 3D," he told Electronic House. "I would rather make a movie in regular 2D and move to larger format for some big scenes much like Abel Gance did with 'Napoleon.'"

"I feel that until you can watch 3D without glasses, it's the same thing we know," he said. "I personally do not want to watch a movie with glasses."

Coppola's comments echoed Ebert's sharp-tongued analysis of 3D movies.

In a recent editorial in Newsweek, Ebert blasted 3D for "[adding] nothing essential to the moviegoing experience."

"For some, it is an annoying distraction. For others, it creates nausea and headaches," he wrote. "Hollywood's current crazy stampede toward it is suicidal. [...] It is unsuitable for grown-up films of any seriousness. It limits the freedom of directors to make films as they choose."

Read the full interview with Francis Ford Coppola on Electronic House, or read more about Ebert's critique of 3D.