Jim Cameron debuts a “new” trailer for “Titanic 3D,” which is essentially the same exact thing from 14 years ago with new text.
In case you didn’t know, James Cameron is the self-appointed crown prince of 3D-technology. Cameron, and only Cameron, is allowed to deem your artistic endeavors worthy or not of the three dimensional gimmick. Other directors who dare besmirch his revered film genre (cough “Piranha 3D” cough) suffer the smug wrath of the soon-to-be billionaire. The sad thing is I’m only half kidding.
This was his response when a Vanity Fair reporter dared to discuss his thoughts on the camp horror genre squeezing out extra box office dollars by making the film in 3D:
Was there any sense of nostalgia when the Piranha movie came out last weekend?
Zero. You’ve got to remember: I worked on Piranha 2 for a few days and got fired off of it; I don’t put it on my official filmography. So there’s no sort of fond connection for me whatsoever. In fact, I would go even farther and say that… I tend almost never to throw other films under the bus, but that is exactly an example of what we should not be doing in 3-D. Because it just cheapens the medium and reminds you of the bad 3-D horror films from the 70s and 80s, like Friday the 13th 3-D. When movies got to the bottom of the barrel of their creativity and at the last gasp of their financial lifespan, they did a 3-D version to get the last few drops of blood out of the turnip.
Unless you’re serious and have good intentions Mr. Cameron will not let you take 3D out on the town. He feels it cheapens its the technology’s artistic value — like a father protecting their daughter from becoming a whore.
It’s too bad that Cameron is also quite the hypocrite, because while his supposed intentions are artistic, his actions are opportunistic. He says directors, producers and studios shouldn’t milk box office dollars out of 3D technology, yet he re-released Avatar after it made a billion dollars because he felt not everyone got to see it. And now the chairman of the 3D ethics committee is also re-releasing Titanic in 3D this April — 15 years after it’s been in theaters. He’s also disobeying his golden rule of making a film into 3D instead of filming it that way.
He has even released a “new” trailer for the upcoming film. Unsurprisingly, it looks exactly like the trailer from 1997. The boat still sinks. Leo and Kate still bang, and Billy Zane is still angry. But now we have a new intro from Jim himself, and some text that explains how very different this movie-going experience will be.
Yep, about $10 more expensive.
November 17, 2011 at 1:52 pm, Greg said:
But then he’s converting the film that wasn’t made to become 3D. New films have filmed in 2D and then decided to convert late.
November 17, 2011 at 11:47 pm, Tiffany said:
I’m excited! and did anyone ever actually realize it maybe might somehow be getting released again because the 100th anniversary since the Titanic sank is April 2012?? See people there are reasons things happen
November 19, 2011 at 4:52 pm, andrew said:
First of all, you don’t sound excited James Cameron… Second of all, last year you criticized Piranha 3D because of its crappy conversion, but then a year later you convert something that was never meant for 3D. Frankly, I don’t like you, but I like your movies. However, Im not going to see this in theaters, but i’ll probably buy it on Blu ray 3D.
February 14, 2012 at 3:28 pm, An Open Letter to Hollywood: stop blaming piracy and make films worthy of cinematic experience | Death and Taxes said:
[...] while the other was a trailer for James Cameron’s absurdist exercise in retroactively turning “Titanic” into a 3D experience. It was certainly entertaining as far as “Mission Impossible” films go but nothing [...]