"Titanic 3D:" Something's Fishy

James Cameron has announced that we can expect to see Titanic 3D in theaters in the spring of 2012, just in time to commemorate the 100th anniversary of the sinking of the doomed vessel during its maiden voyage. This would mean "converting" the original film to 3D, a process that the producers of the upcoming Clash of the Titans just completed in order to try and cash-in on the 3D craze. The logic being, why would people head out to the theatre to see a film they've likely seen before, own on DVD and possibly have watched (or ignored) when it hit television? Well, because this time, it's in 3D! This is a process we can expect to see a lot, particularly if some of these back catalog films perform well when re-released in their 3D incarnations. The Lord of the Rings trilogy has already been rumored as have the original Stars Wars films.

Titanic going this route is particularly interesting though, because Cameron - who now has the title of the director of the highest grossing film of all time, the highest grossing 3D film of all time and the highest grossing 2D film of all time; so I guess he's an expert - has publicly spoke about his aversion to the notion of "converting" films to 3D. Last month he told MTV: "It's typical of Hollywood getting it wrong. We do a film natively authored in 3D, shot in 3D, and so they assume from the success of that they can just turn movies into 3D in eight weeks. Throw a switch and that's gonna work somehow." And yet now, he's opted to take one of his most personal films, the movie he bagged Best Director and Best Picture Oscars for and he's gonna convert it to 3D; and this announcement comes literally weeks after his remarks about showing how "Hollywood gets it wrong?"

So what changed? Well, nothing really, except the studio likely backed a dump truck filled with cash up to his doorstep. Cameron back pedaled saying "It should take six months to a year to do it right." I guess he forgot about that "natively authored in 3D, shot in 3D" stuff from before. Funny how a mountain of cash can make you forgetful.