James Cameron: 3D re-invents the concept of a re-release

James Cameron showed off 18 minutes of footage from Titanic 3D in Los Angeles this week and took to the stage to explain how the technology can be used to supercharge retro releases.

Speaking about the movie, which will celebrate its 15th birthday in 2012, Cameron explained that 3D is a great way to re-imagine classic movies for the 21st Century.

"3D gives us an opportunity to re-invent the concept of a re-release," he said.

"Sometimes they work, sometimes they don't but the 3D seems to be a turbocharger, a conceptual hook that allows people to say it will be different."

Waving and orgasmic wand

Cameron seemed to dismiss the 3D naysayers, noting they are always going to be there, and instead focussed on the money his movies make for the industry.

"I don't care about them. If you could wave a magic wand and give everyone in the world an orgasm simultaneously, there'd still be cynics looking for a way to criticise that," said Cameron.

"First of all, what's wrong with commerce? What's wrong with making jobs for people in movie theatres around the world? What's wrong with entertaining people? If people don't show up, then we were wrong.

"If people show up, we're giving them what they want and if they show up again? We're really giving them what they want, because they're willing to pay for it twice.

"So it's really just a gamble that the film has the same impact on audiences now. And that's an experiment. Every movie is. It's business. It's art and business put together and I have no problem with that whatsoever."

TechRadar was granted an exclusive interview with Cameron back in September, when he told us that, because of the amount of detail he was going into with the movie, converting Titanic to 3D was a 'mind-numbing' process.

Via Empire