The earliest confirmed 3-D film to be released to a paying audience was on September 27th 1922 titled ‘The Power of Love’. But it wasn’t until 1952 until the idea took off for general audiences.
1952-1955 was considered the Golden Age of 3-D. The first stereoscopic film in color was ‘Bwana Devil’ in 1952. However 3-D was very problematic back then. Two images needed to be shown on the screen which often required two projectionists and if the reels weren’t in perfect sync the movie was unwatchable and caused headaches and eyestrain. The screen required was curved inwards and casted shadows toward the edges which made the seats closest to the outer walls unusable for the most part. These problems lead to the low ticket sales starting in 1953.