3d was a phase back in 2002
i fondly remember watching a spy kids commercial with the guys giant finger coming out of the screen
Yes, but it was barely being used back then.
I don't know how you cannot recognize this pattern. That 3D is the "big thing" now in media. Ever since about early 2010, there have been almost nothing but 3D movies, 3D TVs, 3D Blu-Ray players etc. I mean honestly there must have been at least 20 movies in the past year which have been released in 3D, compared to 2002, where maybe one or two were released.
No, although movies strive to entertain they wouldn't do it without a profit.
Of course movies need a profit. But the producers of this movie do it primarily for the profit, rather than for entertainment itself.