“Avatar” is James Cameron’s first film since “Titanic,” though he claims it didn’t actually take him 12 years to make it. More like four and a half, he insists – especially if you count the 3D Titanic exploration documentary “Aliens of the Deep.” Still, he thinks the timing worked out for him, with improved 3D technology and more screens available on which to show it. “Since 2000,” he told TheWrap, “I said ‘I’ve got to do my next feature in 3D,’ but I didn’t know how to do it as the theaters didn’t exist.” So he pulled back and began doing more with the 3D camera development, waiting for the theaters to get there.
This weekend, we see the fruits of that labor.
So, these rumors of intense rivalry between you and Zemeckis …It’s total bulls---! That’s just fabricated by other people. It’s like “Celebrity Death Match” (laughs) -- me and Spielberg duking it out in the ring when we’re actually friends.
Look, Bob pioneered this arena almost single-handedly. He’s the one that first stood up and did an all-performance capture film with “Polar Express.” It had its detractors, but I thought it was a beautiful film and state-of-the-art of its time. And he’s progressed the art and made aesthetic decisions -- in “Beowulf” he went for this mythic, hyper-reality that fit that story.
You use the same body-capture for “Avatar.”
Now, we knew that this was a different kettle of fish and that we had to do things differently -- and with a different standard of photo-reality and life in the face. So the body-capture part of it was exactly the same as Bob’s method, but the facial stuff was all different. That was our new process.
You guys have been really pushing 3D. Is there a business model for it in the coming years?
I think 3D will keep expanding -- that toothpaste can’t be put back in the tube now. It’s more, what level of acceptance will it reach? In the next few years, will most movies be in 3D, or just the big tentpoles? And does it follow sound, where the transition was very fast, or color, where it took 30 years for all movies to be in color?
I think 3D will keep expanding -- that toothpaste can’t be put back in the tube now. It’s more, what level of acceptance will it reach? In the next few years, will most movies be in 3D, or just the big tentpoles? And does it follow sound, where the transition was very fast, or color, where it took 30 years for all movies to be in color?
That happened because of color TV. I think it’ll be the same here. Consumer electronics companies are already saying 3D’s the next big killer app. It’ll drive Blu-ray DVD sales, as only a Blue-ray can play 3D content, and large flat-panel screens. And people will be watching sports in 3D at homes before this industry wakes up and realizes that it’s got to go 3D.
So I’m forming a company to supply cameras and production services to sports -- and I don’t care about sports -- because I believe in 3D as the new way to see it.
The next big thing that movies need to consider is that sports broadcasts have already decided that 24fps or 30fps is stupid -- and they’ve gone to 60fps.
