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The Media Development Authority (MDA) will set aside at least $10 million for such uses over the next two to three years.
Dr Lee Boon Yang, Minister for Information, Communications and the Arts, said the fund aims to give local media companies a foothold in the 3-D content market, build a pool of professionals in this field and develop more 3-D expertise here.
He announced the fund yesterday at the inaugural 3DX: 3D Film And Entertainment Technology Festival co-organised by the MDA and Chabin Partners, a Los Angeles events company.
The five-day festival is a roadshow for some Hollywood big names to excite 700 international participants about the 3-D format.
Speakers at the event include DreamWorks Animation chief executive Jeffrey Katzenberg, Walt Disney Motion Pictures president Mark Zoradi and actor Brendan Fraser, who stars in the 3-D version of Journey To The Centre Of The Earth.
3-D technology has had a resurgence in the last two years, with major Hollywood studios making movies such as Bolt, Monsters Vs Aliens and Avatar. The festival will allow movie buffs here to be one of the world's first to see some of these films.
The 3-D format projects two images simultaneously, one for each eye. Viewed through special polarised eye glasses, the images come together and appear to pop out of the screen at the viewer.
Dr Lee noted in his speech that 3-D was already showing tremendous potential for TV broadcast and home entertainment. 'I believe it will not be long before 3-D becomes pervasive in other spheres such as sports, military training, medicine and digital advertising,' he added, saying this called for new investments in research, content production and 3-D solutions.
Mr Katzenberg, whose studio produced Monsters Vs Aliens, reiterated DreamWorks' commitment to the format. 'Within the next five to seven years, I expect all movies out of Hollywood to be in 3-D,' he said.
But the Hollywood bigwigs concede that the problem lies in converting enough movie halls around the world so they can screen such films. In the United States, five studios have set aside US$1 billion (S$1.53 billion) to convert 20,000 cinema halls to the digital format, a precursor to 3-D.
The costs of converting cinema halls elsewhere - and here - will be borne by the cinema chains.
MDA chief executive Christopher Chia noted that as 14 per cent of the halls here are already in digital format, Singapore is on the way there.
A partnership between the Singapore Film Commission and film-maker Brian Yuzna of Komodo Films will tap the new fund to make Singapore's first 3-D feature, Amphibious, while director Brett Leonard will set up the first 3-D movie production facility here.
Dr Lee disclosed that a part of one-north in Buona Vista will be set aside to house sound stages, 3-D production labs and visual-effects facilities.
