Although 3-D technology has been around so long that it almost seems quaint, it’s still the Next Big Thing, in a sense, in the entertainment industry, as even television manufacturers are chomping at the bit to get in on the action. What’s more, “Avatar” director and technological innovator James Cameron is apparently willing to overlook his dislike of converting 2-D movies into 3-D for the noble cause of bringing his own “Titanic” back to theaters with an added dimension. —KA
Is Jim Cameron for or against converting 2-D films into 3-D? Or has he done a serious flip-flop on the issue now that Hollywood is in the midst of a 3-D blitzkrieg?
I thought Cameron was on my side on the 3-D conversion issue. In short, that means that people who start taking films they've shot in 2-D and then -- salivating at the astounding grosses that "Avatar" and "Alice in Wonderland" have racked up in their 3-D runs -- decide to quickly convert them into 3-D are people trying to hustle their audience and make a quick buck. Actually, make that a lot of quick bucks. That's exactly what Warner Bros. is doing right now, in the wake of "Avatar's" box-office success, with the studio working overtime to convert "Clash of the Titans" into 3-D, long after the film was already shot using conventional 2-D equipment.
In a recent interview, Cameron had bashed the quickie conversion process, saying it was "typical of Hollywood getting it wrong." The filmmaker, speaking of his work with "Avatar," said, "We do a film that is natively authored in 3-D, shot in 3-D, and so they assume from the success of that they can just turn movies into 3-D in 8 weeks ... throw a switch and that's gonna work somehow." Speaking directly about quickie studio conversions like "Clash of the Titans," Cameron added: "It's just not the way to do it. If you want to make a movie in 3-D, make the movie in 3-D."
But in Hollywood, money talks. The recent 3-D grosses have been so astounding that everyone is pushing the 3-D button. Not only are a host of sequels getting the 3-D treatment, like "Happy Feet 2" and "Friday the 13th Part 2," but Paramount is even moving ahead with a 3-D version of "Jackass." I guess it was an obvious question -- would Cameron dip back into his library and start his own 3-D conversions? And, surprisingly, considering his tough words, the answer is yes. As he told USA Today, "We're targeting the spring of 2012 for the release [of a 3-D version of 'Titanic'], which is the 100-year anniversary of the sailing of the ship."
What do you think? Is "Titanic" the kind of film you'd want to see converted to 3-D? Or is taking a masterwork and reworking it with new technology the equivalent of colorizing "Casablanca"? Should "Titanic" stand on its own as a classic of its kind -- or is any movie fair game? I'd love to hear your thoughts. But I think that if Cameron is going to beef about other people doing 3-D conversions, he shouldn't be so eager to do it himself just because he thinks he'll do it so much better than the crass, quick-buck artists who run movie studios.
Photo: James Cameron. Credit: Lawrence K. Ho / Los Angeles Times