Hollywood’s 3-D revolution is beginning to spin backward, as producers look to retrofit past hits.
The leader, once again, is James Cameron. He changed the game with Avatar. Now he plans a rewrite of the new rules by re-releasing Titanic, formerly his biggest hit.
“We’re targeting 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,” Cameron told USA Today.
Undoubtedly, 3-D is the new benchmark. Hopeful spring blockbuster Clash of the Titans hemmed and hawed for weeks about whether to retroactively transform the film into three-dimensionality. Producers eventually decided on quickie job, in order to capture eyeballs. Ditto the animated feature How to Train Your Dragon and the upcoming pair of Harry Potter films.
In the same USA Today interview, Cameron says that movies fitted out for 3-D (Avatar was filmed in 3-D) after the fact actually come out somewhere around “2.8-D.”
In a swipe at Titans, Cameron says that the process requires “six months to a year to do it right.”
Titans will have been rejigged in about 10 weeks, ahead of a April 2 release.
The process for turning a 2-D movie into 3-D is arduous. Using custom software, editors isolate every object in every frame and place it in 3-D space. A botched job can result in a visual world that is out of whack, causing headaches for viewers. Literally.
The cost? About $5 million (U.S.) for Clash of the Titans, according to the FX team that’s doing the job.
This opens the door for a series of re-releases. And since 3-D viewing technology has yet to penetrate the home theatre, that means placing rehabbed classics in the local multiplex.
Three weeks ago, a Lucasfilm spokesperson told Entertainment Weekly there were no plans to render the Star Wars films into 3-D, but that they wouldn’t rule it out.
EW also reported that Peter Jackson has been bucking to take Lord of the Rings into 3-D territory “for some time now.”
Could this cause an avalanche of blockbuster re-releases in the hopes of wringing out a few more dollars?
All eyes, once again, will be on Cameron. He’s already said he wants to re-edit and then re-release Avatar this fall. Titanic would follow.
If both those efforts reap rewards, prepare for a recurring bout of déjà vu at the movies.
