Las Vegas: Titanic director James Cameron, warning that Hollywood is "in a fight for survival," wants the movie industry to offer films in digital 3-D to counteract declining sales and rampant piracy.
"Maybe we just need to fight back harder, come out blazing, not wither away and die," Cameron said during his keynote address on Sunday at the National Association of Broadcasters' Digital Cinema Summit.
"D-cinema can do it, for a number of reasons, but because d-cinema is an enabling technology for 3-D. Digital 3-D is a revolutionary form of showmanship that is within our grasp,” Cameron added.
The director of the highest-grossing film of all time in nominal terms at $1.8 billion worldwide said he is considering a re-release of 1997's Titanic in digital 3-D just as Peter Jackson is planning at some point for King Kong and, possibly, his The Lord of the Rings" trilogy.
George Lucas also plans to re-release his original Star Wars in 3-D, timing it with the space opera's 30th anniversary next year.
With filmmakers and exhibitors united behind the idea of enhanced cinema experiences, Cameron predicted that studios would become even more focused on both releasing new titles and re-releasing classics in 3-D digital cinema.
"It will soon become a rule that all major 3-D animated releases will be made available in 3-D,” Cameron said.
"Every year there will be a copy of timeless favorites brought back through (3-D) dimensionalisation," he said. "The new wave of 3-D films will be the must-see films, the major releases from major filmmakers."
Cameron said that despite industry-wide squabbling and fear-based decision-making associated with new technology, the digital cinema rollout is happening.
"We're halfway through the looking glass," he said. "We're past the point where the fear of change is outweighed by the fear of not changing."
While most people associate 3-D with either animation or projection, Cameron said that there are a variety of stereographic processes that can be introduced while shooting, during post-production, or after a movie has been archived.
Among the films testing the various 3-D waters are Narnia producer Walden Media and New Line Cinema's Journey to the Center of the Earth, Robert Zemeckis' Beowulf and Walt Disney Feature Animation's computer-animated Meet the Robinsons.
"I'm not going to make movies for people to watch on their cell phones. To me, I'd rather go back to doing some more deep-ocean expeditions," Cameron said, referring to the handful of maritime documentaries he has made since Titanic.
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