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Are you ready to go back to Titanic?
That is not just a famous line from the 1997 Oscar winning box office phenomenon, they are also the words producer Jon Landau used this morning at Paramount to introduce 18 minutes of the films new 3D conversion in front of a packed theatre of journalists. Paramount and 20th Century Fox (which holds international rights after bringing in Par to be domestic distrib when the film was sailing way overbudget) will open the new 3D converted Titanic on April 6, 2012 which was just days before the ships maiden voyage took off on April 10 1912.
We didnt want to release it on the day of the sinking, we wanted it to be about the ship itself, but obviously it sank, said the films writer/director/co-producer/co-editor and all-around King of the Movie World James Cameron who explained that with the 100th anniversary of the fabled ships sailing the time was right not only for 3D but to bring it back for a brand new theatrical experience even though it has been out in various video formats for years. It has to do with the psychology of going to a theatre. We make a committment to spend those two or three hours in a shared experience with others and there is a whole generation that hasnt seen it at all, Cameron said adding that in the modern world of cellphones,texting , emailing and other distractions it is hard to get the full intended impact of a film like this at home.
Of course Cameron has publicly stated he is not a fan of 3D conversions for films that have a choice. But he makes an exception for those 20 or 30 classic films out there that can find a new audience with this format and Titanic fit the bill. I love 3D . If I had the 3D cameras at the time I certainly would have loved to have shot the film with them, he said. When I spoke with him afterwards in the lobby his enthusiasm was infectious for the film and the new technologies he now has to play with in giving it new life. He said that the whole movie would have been shot differently today than in 1997. Rather than building those massive ship sets he would have relied much more heavily on CGI and other techniques than the not-so-cost effective way they did it then. He said fortunately for him the film made money (thats an understatement) but it could have had a very different outcome. In other words a lot of dice were rolled on Titanic which of course went on to become the biggest grossing movie of all time until Camerons own Avatar usurped it a couple of years ago. It would now take another billion or so for it to come back from the video bins and topple Avatar, an unlikely outcome, but one informed source working on the new re-release told me another 4 or 5″ (hundred million) could be in play. Certainly Disneys big success with The Lion Kings 3D conversion is whetting appetities all over Hollywood for the new boxoffice possibilities of library titles.
Tom Sherak who is consulting on the film (his son Williams company Stereo D has done at least 90% of the conversion work on the film according to both Cameron and Sherak) was almost giddy, telling me that the film has never played theatrically in two huge markets, Russia and China meaning the skys the limit in those countries and it could be even bigger in Japan too, he said.
The conversion process has taken 16 weeks at a cost of $18 million. As for his direct involvement three tech people with knowledge of the original shoot go through every frame before giving results of their work to Cameron who spends three to four hour sessions checking it shot by shot for the desired effect which he and Landau both told me is all about getting real depth into each frame. Its all about depth. Cameron said even when he was shooting the movie in 2D he was subconsciously making a 3D film in terms of the depth he tried to bring to every frame.
I believe 3D is an enhancement not only for action but for intimate dramatic scenes. (With the 3D conversion) were hoping to turbo charge the experience and make it new again for audiences, Cameron told the assembled media but also emphasized he has not changed single frame form a creative point of view, feeling he got it right the first time. I am not a revisionist. I am not re-inventing the film artistically. The directors cut in 1997 is still the directors cut in 2012.
Cameron says the film will be available in all formats, not just 3D. There will be Imax 2D and 3D and regular 2D prints which he says will look stunning. They have created a 4K master, gotten rid of the grain, color corrected everything so that it all looks much better than it even did on its first release.
The footage shown today (and previously at a session in New York) did look great, a remarkable conversion job at least on those scenes shown. I remember seeing the film for the first time in the very same theatre at Paramount on Halloween morning 1997 . When I came out I wrote a prediction on a piece of paper and hung it on my wall at Access Hollywood where I was working at the time. I still have it. Titanic will break All About Eves all-time Oscar nomination record and get 15 nominations. It got 14 tieing Eve after having Camerons original script unexpectedly snubbed by the writers branch. I told this story to Landau this morning who said, actually I think it also should have had a nomination for Leo (DiCaprio who was not nominated even though co-stars Kate Winslet and Gloria Stuart were). In terms of Oscars Titanic still shares than nomination record with 1950′s All About Eve and is tied with 1959′s Ben-Hur 2003′s Lord of the Rings: The Return of the King for the most Oscar wins with 11 each.
I facetiously suggested to Cameron and Landau they ought to try to qualify the new 3D version of the film for Oscars. Judging by the competition it could probably triumph again if there wasnt a silly rule making previous winning movies ineligible from doing it all over again. I dont think Id like to snatch defeat from the jaws of victory, joked Cameron who more recently endured a brutal Oscar race with Avatar against eventual winner The Hurt Locker .
