James Cameron says quickly reverse engineering a movie for 3D, as Warner has done with “Clash of the Titans,” is bad for the industry.
In a wide-ranging interview with USA Today, he said:
You know, everybody is an overnight expert. They think, "what was the takeaway lesson from ‘Avatar’? Oh you should make more money with 3D." They ignore the fact that we natively authored the film in 3D, and decide that what we accomplished in several years of production could be done in an eight week (post-production 3D) conversion with ‘Clash of the Titans.’
If people put bad 3D in the marketplace they’re going to hold back or even threaten the emerging of 3D. People will be confused by differences in quality. The (consumer electronics) companies need to do the same thing. They need to say, "if were going to associate ourselves with certain kinds of content, that content has to not make our (3D televisions) look bad." Because the audience doesn’t know the difference — when they put on the glasses on, they don’t know if the problem is in the glasses, the TV or the actual way in which the stereo space is managed by the producers of the film.
Cameron also says he is prepping “Titanic” for a 2012 release in 3D, may delay the 3D Blu-ray home release of “Avatar” in favor of a theatrical rerelease this fall with additional footage, and warns filmmakers and studios that he will take legal action if anyone tries to use technology he used in “Avatar” without his permission.
Cameron says studios are only looking at the opportunity to make more money from 3D rather than doing it properly. “They ignore the fact that we natively authored the film in 3D, and decide that what we accomplished in several years of production could be done in an eight week (post-production 3D) conversion with ‘Clash of the Titans.’ ”
He says it takes 6 months to a year to properly convert a 2D movie to 3D, not the eight weeks for “Clash.”
“If people put bad 3D in the marketplace they’re going to hold back or even threaten the emerging of 3D. People will be confused by differences in quality.”
Cameron also said consumer electronics companies offering 3D TVs and Blu-ray players should only align themselves with filmmakers and studios who do 3D right. “They need to say, ‘if were going to associate ourselves with certain kinds of content, that content has to not make our (3D televisions) look bad.’ Because the audience doesn’t know the difference — when they put on the glasses on, they don’t know if the problem is in the glasses, the TV or the actual way in which the stereo space is managed by the producers of the film.”
Although he says “Avatar” could be released to 3D Blu-ray this fall, that will depend on the outcome of current discussions to try to regain the money left on the table when “Avatar” was pushed out of most 3D theaters last weekend by “Alice in Wonderland” by rereleasing “Avatar” in theaters this fall with additional footage.
As for protecting patents he obtained on 3D technology, Cameron said, “We figured this stuff out empirically six or seven years ago and we patented it. If people try to do it the way we’ve done it on Avatar they’ll get a phone call.”
He is still considering making licenses available to his technologies “or we’ll be in the suing people business for a long time.”
— By Scott Hettrick
Can anyone comment on exactly what technology Cameron (or his people) have a patent on? This seems like a pretty broad statement… “If people try to do it the way we’ve done it on Avatar they’ll get a phone call.” The only thing I am aware they really invented for Avatar was the use of motion capturing a physical camera, driving a virtual camera from it and doing a composite of the live feed and the performance capture from a separate stage.