New 3-D technology puts moviegoers front and center at the Hannah Montana and Jonas Brothers concerts, and takes them down a hidden trapdoor into an alternate universe in “Coraline.”

But viewers probably don’t know that the same computerized digital projector that brings them these 3-D treats is also opening up an almost unlimited future for new types of entertainment in theaters.

Possibilities are nearly endless, and already include:

Live 3-D showings of major sports events, such as baseball’s All-Star Game and the college Bowl Championship Series.

The presidential inauguration, as well as other important political events.

Live or taped rock and pop concerts.

Cultural events that include top-notch ballet, opera and symphony performances.

In theaters across the country, including several in Western New York, the tall, dark boxes of digital projectors are quietly replacing the familiar two-reel 35mmprojectors, with their sprockets and spindles and sliding strips of film.

“Digital projection is opening doors movie theater operators never dreamed of 20 years ago,” says Michael Clement, president of the locally owned Dipson

Theatres. Clement has installed digital projectors in one auditorium at McKinley Mall Six in Hamburg and one in Lakewood Cinema 8 near Jamestown.

“Everyone seems to enjoy the special effects and depth of vision while watching a 3-D movie,” says Clement, “but the addition of digital projection and alternative content opens up all sorts of potential new revenue streams.”

Among those are the recent Dipson showing of an Iron Maiden concert, which nearly sold out, and a concert by Eric Clapton and Steve Winwood live at Madison Square Garden on May 14 that will be shown in the McKinley Mall Cinema.

Clement says he is looking into programming that includes the San Francisco Opera, a new children’s film series and sporting events. “Video gaming is a possibility with digital projection,” he says, and his company is looking into that too.

Regal Entertainment Group also has two local theaters equipped with digital projection, one at Quaker Crossing in Orchard Park and another at Transit Center Stadium 18, Lancaster, where a separate IMAX theater also shows IMAX products.

“We’re working on going digital in all our auditoriums,” says Richard Grover, a Regal Entertainment Group spokesman. “Digital auditoriums provide the opportunity for 3-D and also alternative content on our screens.”

As more theaters across the country add digital projectors, Hollywood is ramping up production of 3-D movies to meet the demand.

Fans are streaming to 3-D showings of “Monsters vs. Aliens” at Quaker Crossing and Transit Center, and eagerly awaiting the release of Lionsgate’s “Battle for Terra,” which will open Friday in Dipson’s McKinley theater.

Among the more heavily anticipated new movies are James Cameron’s “Avatar,” due Dec. 18, and Disney’s “Up,” a whimsical look at a cranky old guy whose house floats into the air, due May 29. A sequel, “Ice Age: Dawn of the Dinosaurs,” will be released in 3-D in July, and some scenes in “Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince,” coming in July, will be shown in 3-D.

Some old favorites are getting a new 3-D look, too. “Toy Story” and “Toy Story 2” are being converted to 3-D and rereleased in October and February 2010, respectively, before “Toy Story 3” is released in 3-D in June 2010.

Jim Dorey, a marketer with a telephone software company in Halifax, Nova Scotia, is the creator of a respected blog that offers news and opinions about 3-D movies. When he started http://marketsaw. blogspot.com in 2006, Dorey says, “The infant stages of modern 3-D were just starting.”

Wearing the poorly fitting cardboard glasses to watch an old 3-D film, Dorey says, “wasn’t a great experience. It was a gimmick. There was a novelty of seeing some depth there, but you’d get a headache from it, and you wouldn’t want to see a 3-D movie every day with that older technology.” But, he says, with today’s modern 3-D and comfortable black glasses, “it’s a window into the movie — rather than things coming at you, you see depth.”

In fact, says Dorey, 3-D fans know that “if you see a movie with a lot of things coming at you, that is considered a gimmicky movie, and that is inherited from those 1950s and 1960s 3-D movies.”

“The best 3-D movies are the ones where you forget it’s a 3-D movie after five minutes,” says Dorey, listing his top three so far as “Coraline,” “Monsters vs. Aliens” and “Beowulf.”

But the lineup may be reshuffled when “Avatar” comes out — Dorey says on his blog that it may replace his all-time favorite movie, “Monty Python and the Holy Grail.”

Dorey also looks forward to seeing some old favorites remade in 3-D. “Last week I watched three Alfred Hitchcock movies, and all I could think of was how well they would convert to 3-D,” Dorey says.

“Imagine ‘Rear Window’ with the different layering — it would be spectacular. Even black and white movies in 3-D would bring it all alive.”