James Cameron plans on upconverting Terminator 2 to 3D

[GreenScar]

This means even more releases on blu-ray!! Also Avatar tidbits

Here's the excerpt in particular:

Cameron also told the audience he is up-converting Terminator 2 to 3-D if it’s cost effective. But he didn’t mention Titanic even though that 3-D possibility was floated on the Internet this week.

Here's the entire article:

Director Jim Cameron acknowledged he's still in post-production on Avatar and has been since even before live action photography ended in March 2008. "I feel like I've been living in a cave for a year," he told the "Produced By" Conference taking place today and tomorrow. He also enthusiastically endorsed the Avatar videogame which debuted at E3 last Monday. "I'm not personally a gamer, but my younger brother Dave is a big gamer," Cameron noted, and together they made sure they liked it. He noted that "in some cases the videogame branded with film hasn't been as good as a film." He didn't name names, but he said specifically that the Avatar game will be "the same quality level" as the movie. Cameron also told the audience he is up-converting Terminator 2 to 3-D if it’s cost effective. But he didn’t mention Titanic even though that 3-D possibility was floated on the Internet this week.

There was a long line at Sony Studios in Culver City to hear Cameron speak. The Producers Guild Of America initially said journalists could cover Cameron's presentation but then said no at the last minute. (I had a tech pal inside so this report is based on his notes.)

Cameron talked again about how he wrote the script for Avatar back in the mid-1990s when he and Stan Winston co-founded Digital Domain. But when he took the screenplay to their special effects lab, Cameron was told it was just not possible to make the film with the current technology. So he sat on the project for more than a decade.

Cameron and his people on the panel expressed confidence that, by the time Avatar is released by 20th Century Fox on December 18th, there will be "several thousand 3-D screens" capable of showing the film.

He likened where 3-D is right now to the 1930s and 1940s when making color films was considered a "premium" project, and it wasn't until the early 1970s when filmmakers had to get "permission" to make a black-and-white film. "Unless you have the Woody Allen clause. Then you can make black-and-white films even now. But in 20 years, you're going to need the Woody Allen clause not to make 3-D."

Cameron also explained that so much has changed since he shot the Universal Studios Tour's Terminator 3-D ride: back then in 1995, each camera weighed 235 pounds and he had to shoot it wide open so he used so much light no one else could do night shoots at the same time. For Avatar, he created the Fusion Camera System technology for photo-realistic computer-generated characters through motion capture animation.

Though claiming reluctance to slam another filmmaker, Cameron bad-mouthed Lionsgate's My Bloody Valentine 3-D because it was a step backwards to the old 1970s model of "3-D shock horror where they're jabbing stuff in your face".

Cameron said that, by contrast, he wants 3-D to be less noticeable so it doesn't "take people out of the experience". He stressed that Avatar is not going to hit audiences on the head with #-D even though almost every shot is green screen. But not 3-D constantly. He wants "one immersible experience" with 2-D and 3-D together and the audience so engrossed that they "won't notice the difference" .

Finally, he gave Jeffrey Katzenberg huge props for being a "proselytizer" for 3-D with exhibitors.

[Jeff Kleist]

Don't count on it

Lucas wanted to do Star Wars 3D and it appears to have been kiboshed. Many people get headaches from the process and more often than not you get these paper cutouts moving around (as anyone who saw Superman Returns IMAX can attest)

I've heard that Lucas has been focusing more on the prequels, since they still have all of the files and can re-render many shots in 3-D, but I wouldn't call that anything beyond "a few tests have been done"

[DetroitSportsFan]

Originally Posted by DVDave

He already did T2 in 3-D.

He did? When was this?

[sbjork]

Originally Posted by DVDave

He already did T2 in 3-D.

I assume that you are referring to the theme park attraction? That does not count . . .



. . . and score a big "meh" over converting T2. Post-processed 3D just does not do it for me. I am not even that thilled over shooting in 3D, since few filmmakers have figured out how to use it in anything other than a "gimmick" fashion.

Coraline and Up are noteworthy exceptions. In both of those films, 3D was used to add depth to the image behind the frame rather than to throw effects at the audience. That is how 3D is most effective and least distracting. (It also prevents the 3D image from collapsing if the effect crosses the edge of the frame.)

Cameron should focus on finishing Avatar and getting behind Blu-Ray versions of his earlier films like The Abyss!

[Hale-Bopp]

Though claiming reluctance to slam another filmmaker, Cameron bad-mouthed Lionsgate's My Bloody Valentine 3-D because it was a step backwards to the old 1970s model of "3-D shock horror where they're jabbing stuff in your face".

I think there's room for both kinds of 3-D. I enjoy 'em both. I don't see why it has to be restricted to not having things coming out at you. For a horror movie, that's entirely appropriate (and fun!), especially when it's partly an homage to older 3-D horror flicks.

[GreenScar]

Originally Posted by sbjork

I am not even that thilled over shooting in 3D, since few filmmakers have figured out how to use it in anything other than a "gimmick" fashion.

Coraline and Up are noteworthy exceptions. In both of those films, 3D was used to add depth to the image behind the frame rather than to throw effects at the audience. That is how 3D is most effective and least distracting. (It also prevents the 3D image from collapsing if the effect crosses the edge of the frame.)

Cameron should focus on finishing Avatar and getting behind Blu-Ray versions of his earlier films like The Abyss!

You mean like Cameron stated above:

Though claiming reluctance to slam another filmmaker, Cameron bad-mouthed Lionsgate's My Bloody Valentine 3-D because it was a step backwards to the old 1970s model of "3-D shock horror where they're jabbing stuff in your face".

Cameron said that, by contrast, he wants 3-D to be less noticeable so it doesn't "take people out of the experience". He stressed that Avatar is not going to hit audiences on the head with #-D even though almost every shot is green screen. But not 3-D constantly. He wants "one immersible experience" with 2-D and 3-D together and the audience so engrossed that they "won't notice the difference" .

[GreenScar]

Originally Posted by Jeff Kleist

Don't count on it

Lucas wanted to do Star Wars 3D and it appears to have been kiboshed. Many people get headaches from the process and more often than not you get these paper cutouts moving around (as anyone who saw Superman Returns IMAX can attest)

I've heard that Lucas has been focusing more on the prequels, since they still have all of the files and can re-render many shots in 3-D, but I wouldn't call that anything beyond "a few tests have been done"

Your probably right, but Cameron seems to be much more dedicated to the expansion of 3D than Lucas.

[Moefiz]

Terminator 2 is an awesome movie the way it is how much better can they make it by upconverting it to 3D..

Give me True Lies, Aliens and yes Titanic.

[Diesel]

terminator 2.....in 3D

yes, that sir, is too much awesome for the human eye to behold.


but really, i don't understand the big deal about 3D
given i've never watched a movie in 3D, but i'm not opposed to giving it a try if ever i had a chance, it just doesn't seem that great to me
2D is perfectly fine by me

[MCT]

3-D is awesome. If you have a chance to watch Up, you should go check it out. My first 3-D experience was with Beowulf back in 07, I believe. My jaw was hanging the entire time. I can't even fathom T2 in 3-D. My head would explode.

[PCiAM]

I'm a huge Titanic fan, but I'm not so sure I'd want to see through a film that's 3 hours and 10 minutes in 3d, especially since a lot of Titanic deals with extended dramatic scenes and not necessarily all action/special effects, though the boat sinking scenes were amazingly done. I think action, horror, and animation are the best candidates for 3d. I do look forward to Final Destination 4 in 3d, especially since the deaths are so absolutely creative in those films. I can't imagine what they'll 'throw' at us in 3d.

[Hale-Bopp]

I hear they don't make those anymore.

[Hale-Bopp]

From wikipedia:

"In March 2009, the Fisher-Price division of toy maker Mattel announced that they had stopped production in December 2008 of the scenic disks depicting tourist attractions. These disks of picturesque scenes and landscape scenery were direct descendants of the original View-Master disks first sold in 1939."

I originally read about it in a news article, but can't recall where. I can't believe how long they've been around. Well, better get one while stores still have them in stock, I guess.

[Blu-Ron]

Originally Posted by DVDave

He already did T2 in 3-D.

Bah...ya beat me to it.

[Hale-Bopp]

I'm tempted to do the same. Especially knowing this (from wiki):

"Despite its long history and the many changes in models and materials, the same basic design of disks and internal mechanism has persisted throughout, ensuring that every disk ever made will work in every model ever produced."

I like the value that adds to the device. That means you could be scouring through rummage sales and any antiquated reels you happen upon would work on a model being sold today. That's pretty cool.

[WriteSimply]

Some shots of Cameron's Titanic have already been rendered in 3D to tempt exhibitors to invest in 3D projection setups. There is a TIME magazine article on the 3D revolution and the writer mentioned the sinking scene as being more engrossing than before.


fuad

[Daredevil666]

I heard from a friend in the industry who have seen a demo that SW in 3D is astonishing.
Cameron talked about T2 in 3D a couple of years back to AICN. Personaly, I can't wait, it will mean a full on 4K or more restoration.

[sbjork]

I probably have more experience with 3D than most. While I was not even born for the original 3D wave, I did catch most of the Eighties 3D films, and have had the privilege of seeing many of the orginal wave flms in 3D -- and in the proper two-projector polazired versions, not the anaglyph versions. Seeing the polarized version of House of Wax was a moviegoing highlight of my life. Hell, I have even seen Andy Warhol's Frankenstein in 3D!

In short, I have seen 3D in all of its good, bad, and ugly verions. I do enjoy seeing movies in 3D, but the novelty has long since worn off. And nothing has changed my view that the medium is not the message. I will take a good scratchy B&W silent film over even a mediocre 3D film any day. 3D will not "save" the moviegoing experience if it is more of the focus than the quality of the movies themselves.

While T2 has its flaws, it is a modern action classic. I wish Cameron would leave it alone and focus on his current project (and again on getting his past films onto Blu-Ray!)

[gothic_hobbit]

Is this still happening ?

[Foggy]

Originally Posted by gothic_hobbit

Is this still happening ?

The last post was from four years ago, what do you think?