James Cameron Calls 3-D 'Titanic' A 'New Experience'

But he's also 'not changing a frame' during 3-D conversion process, which he previewed for reporters Tuesday.

In 2009, James Cameron announced to a crowd at San Diego Comic-Con that "Titanic," the iconic epic and king of the box office, would soon resurface in a theater near you, but this time in 3-D. Two years later, the conversion process is nearly complete and we're six months away from the April 6 release date.

But on Tuesday (October 11), James Cameron showed off about 20 minutes of newly 3-D-ified scenes to a handful of journalists in New York to give them an idea of what the finished product will look like next year and to explain the process and his reasoning behind the re-release for the 100th anniversary of the boat's sinking.

For Cameron, the re-release is about giving the audience a chance to relive an event that was more than just going to the movie theater. "I've always thought of watching this film in theaters as a social phenomenon, where parents will take their children or teenagers would go with their mom," Cameron said. "It would maybe be a woman going with a man she wanted to check out to make sure that his emotional plumbing was working before she made a big commitment."

But the name "Titanic" doesn't carry the same weight across the age spectrum as it did in 1997, and Cameron said he understands the need to appeal to a new audience. "There are younger kids we're going to have to sell to who don't know the movie. There's going to be a teenage audience who knows the movie only from video. The question is, do they know that just from peer-to-peer socially or is it passed on from watching it with their parents?" Cameron said.

Fans of the movie don't need to worry about any changes to the film they knew 14 years ago. Cameron explains that the only changes to the movie were the conversion to 3D. "We're not changing a frame. The ship still sinks. It ends the same way," Cameron said. Even some of the more dated special effects — "cringers," as Cameron referred to them — are there exactly as they were in 1997. The director said George Lucas and the ever-changing "Star Wars" trilogy helped him cope with that. "I see that as the example of what I don't want to do. I don't mean that as a slam," Cameron said. "[Lucas] considers his movies a perpetual work in progress. For me, the problem is, once you pull that thread, it all unravels. Where do you stop?'

By the time the new version of the film is released this spring, the 3-D conversion will have taken over a year with work from 300 artists and a cost of $18 million, but Cameron said he is proud of the conversion. "I think the film holds up pretty darn well. In 3-D, it becomes kind of a new experience," Cameron said. "It's a much more intimate and involving experience both with the characters and with the physical space." From the look of the eight scenes shown Tuesday, it looks like "Titanic" could be one of the most successful post-conversions to date, and it might bode well for more potential 3-D conversions for Cameron's other films. "The question is whether the film would benefit from a re-release and would there be a big enough audience for it. 'Terminator 2,' maybe. I think that would be a good place to start," Cameron suggested.

As we've seen with "Avatar," Cameron knows how to do 3-D well, and the clips shown Tuesday were no exception, especially the early scene of people boarding the ship. The effect does give a good sense of depth without gimmicky distraction. It was clear that care had gone into preserving the feel of "Titanic," while literally adding a new dimension. Only minutes after the clips began, the experience became more about seeing the film on the big screen again and less about the glasses on your face. That's the effect James Cameron hopes to achieve with audiences next spring.

"I think the story can't be 'It's "Titanic" in 3-D,' " Cameron said. "I think the story should be 'It's "Titanic" coming back to the big screen and it's in 3-D.' "


(Coverage In The World)

'Avengers' Trailer: Five Key Scenes We break down our first good look at the superhero supergroup.

The first full trailer for "The Avengers" is here, though at first glance, it seemed much more like the work of Michael Bay — a little citizens-ominously-watching-the-skyline "Armageddon" here, a bit of city-block-destroying "Transformers" there — than the handiwork of Marvel and writer/director Joss Whedon.

But that voice-over you hear in the beginning (the one assuring us humans were made to be ruled) is none other than Loki, who makes his first appearance about 20 seconds into the new footage, kick-starting a furious visual procession of superheroes, superheroes and more superheroes. While the trailer didn't deliver everything we were hoping for — nor did it have the ineffable coolness we might have expected — it gave us a whole lot of Marvel goodness to unpack, which we did with another MTV News expert trailer analysis:


Loki, Located
We've known for a long time that Loki is the central villain in "Avengers," though whether other villains pop up to wreak havoc (like those persistent rumors about the alien Skrulls) remains to be seen. What we didn't know was how Loki would travel to Earth, considering the Rainbow Bridge — that mythic intergalactic transporter — was destroyed at the end of this summer's "Thor." Yet in that film, before tumbling into some kind of cosmic abyss, Loki announces there are other ways to get to Earth besides the Rainbow Bridge. In this early shot of Loki crouching in a warehouse, we see what just might be the bad guy's new mode of space transportation. What exactly this "Stargate"-esque contraption is remains to be seen.

Turbulence
When Iron Man, Captain America, Hulk, Thor and the rest of the Avengers assemble, they have to do so in style. In Marvel lore, when they take to the sky, they do so in a super-slick aircraft called the Quinjet, which flies overhead around the 55-second mark of the trailer. So that's cool. Except the sucker's on fire and looking like it's about to crash-land in Manhattan, perhaps as part of the epic urban battle the trailer teases again and again. We can't say for certain it's Quinjet — it could be a Skrullian craft — but we doubt it, based on visual comparisons to the comics and the fact that the jet just doesn't look alien. But do the Skrulls have a hand in the Quinjet's fiery situation? Or is that all thanks to Loki? Hmmm ...

This Is Assembling?
Who are we kidding? We wanted to see the Avengers assemble — not around the boardroom table, but in action. And the trailer, in this respect, just doesn't deliver. Alas, the shot (around one minute, 11 seconds in) of our heroes in a lab is the best look at the team together. Hawkeye isn't even there. Black Widow is mostly hidden. Captain America and Iron Man aren't even in their suits. Bruce Banner is just Bruce Banner, no hint of the hidden green beast within. We appreciate that Whedon is a writer who loves to pen a witty exchange between characters — we get a lot of that in the trailer, and we're not complaining — but we also maintain Marvel missed a chance in the trailer to show off the Avengers assembling for the first time in an unforgettable way.


Thor vs. the Captain?
At about the one-minute, 25-second mark, we have what looks like Thor battling Captain America. Now, the simple explanation is that these Avengers don't always get along and, hey, even superheroes might come to blows with one another from time to time. No harm, no foul. But here's a little conspiracy theory for ya: The Skrulls are notorious shape-shifters, and we just might be seeing one of them taking on the guise of an Avenger. So what we might — and we can't emphasize might enough — be seeing is actually a Skrull-vs.-Avenger throw-down. That kind of can-you-trust-your-buddy paranoia could be a lot of fun to play with in the film.

Say Hello to Your Hulk
We've seen Mark Ruffalo in character as Bruce Banner before. What we haven't seen — and what honestly makes the whole trailer worthwhile — is this first look at Banner transformed into the Hulk. Ruffalo has spoken often about how his Hulk will be a motion-capture creation modeled on the actor himself. So can we see the Oscar-nominated Ruffalo lurking somewhere inside the green beast? Hard to say in so brief a glimpse. We'll have to wait to see more "Avengers" footage, which we can't wait for and which is the clearest indication that for all our quibbles, the trailer is a superheroic success.


(Coverage In The World)