Think a wrinkled bracket and a college sweatshirt are all you need to get the full March Madness experience? Pretty soon, you'll also need a bag of popcorn and a pair of goofy glasses.

The Final Four is coming to movie theaters, one of several recently announced efforts to hop onto the 3-D bandwagon sweeping the film industry.

This week, Samsung and Panasonic officially unveiled their new 3-D televisions for home viewers. And producers of movies that weren't previously shot in 3-D, like "Clash of the Titans," are spending millions to remaster them into three dimensions.

For this, we can thank a band of futuristic, wide-eyed humanoids.

" 'Avatar' was really a watershed event," said Paul Dergarabedian, box office analyst for Hollywood.com. "By giving a worldwide audience this experience, they've created a new fan base for 3-D."

Case in point: Samsung's splashy launch party Wednesday night was attended by none other than "Avatar" director James Cameron.

On Thursday, the NCAA announced that it would show the semifinal and national championship games in 3-D in movie theaters nationwide.

There's just one caveat: though the news release promises the games will be shown on "up to 100" screens across the country, the individual locations haven't been announced.

Cinedigm Digital Cinema Corp., which is coordinating the production of the event, works with two movie theater companies in Pittsburgh: Rave Motion Pictures and Carmike Cinemas.

Rave Motion Pictures said Thursday that it would not be showing the Final Four here because its theaters here don't have a special satellite receiver and other equipment required for the broadcast.

Dale Hurst, director of marketing for Carmike Cinemas, said that he couldn't comment on whether Carmike's theaters here would show the Final Four because the company is "still in negotiations."

Regardless of whether Pittsburgh sees the Final Four this time around, it's likely that sports will eventually find their way into theaters here.

"If audiences are already open to the idea of 3-D and if a sporting event can be brought to life in a significant way and a unique way, why not?" said Mr. Dergarabedian. "It's going to be kind of like going to the game except everybody's wearing funky glasses."

Particularly for big events like the Super Bowl, a movie theater is a natural place to watch the game with a group, said David Huffman, director of marketing for JRF Management, which owns the Southside Works Pittsburgh Cinema. For sports fans, he said, a theater can offer the same sense of communal experience that people get when they go to the movies.

Although 3-D has been around in some form for decades, it's only with the success of "Avatar" that it has truly hit the mass market.

"It is no longer a gimmick," said Mr. Dergarabedian. "It has graduated to a viable part of the movie viewing experience, but we're going to see it moving beyond that to sports and concerts."

Cinedigm also delved into 3-D sporting events in movie theaters with the 2009 BCS college football championship and 2009 NBA championship, but neither event was shown in Pittsburgh theaters.

This week, ESPN announced that it would launch a whole new network in June for 3-D programming, which would include World Cup soccer matches, college football and NBA games.

Several 3-D concert films have made their way into movie theaters, including Miley Cyrus's "Best of Both Worlds" in 2008 and "Larger Than Life in 3-D" last December, featuring performances by the Dave Matthews Band and Ben Harper.

For now, 3-D provides a way for movie theaters to draw patrons out of the house in the same way they did before the advent of Betamax and HBO: a viewing experience that they can't get at home.

The introduction of 3-D televisions might change that. For now, the $2,000 minimum price tag of 3-D televisions likely will be a stumbling block for all but the most ardent early adapters.

Home viewers also must be careful of precise lighting and viewing angles necessary for 3-D to work properly, said Mr. Huffman.

In the meantime, movie theaters are reveling in their new source of business. And if sporting events in theaters catch on, it could even be a way for movie theaters to use some of their screens at odd hours.

"3-D is obviously a profit center for Hollywood and movies," said Mr. Dergarabedian. "Whether it will be for sports remains to be seen."

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