The trend of 3D movies has come and gone several times throughout the history of cinema, but the format exploded over a decade ago, largely thanks to James Cameron’s Avatar. The movie offered 3D sci-fi visuals unlike anything seen at the time, which helped propel it to become the highest-grossing movie of all time. Although there are still plenty of 3D movies released each year, enthusiasm among the movie-going public isn’t the same as it once was. Some may call the 3D trend over, but James Cameron isn’t one of them.
Avatar: The Way of Water is set to hit theaters at the end of the year, and much like its predecessor, it will be in 3D. James Cameron recently spoke in a roundtable interview (via /Film) celebrating the remastered release of the original Avatar, where he explained that the trend of 3D movies isn’t over, it’s just been accepted.
3D appears to most people to sort of be ‘over.’ But it’s really not over. It’s just been accepted. It’s just now a part of your choices when you go to the theater to see a big blockbuster movie … I liken it to color. When color films first came out, it was a big deal. People would go to see movies because they were in color. I think around the time of ‘Avatar,’ people used to go to see movies because they were in 3D … I think it had an impact on how films were presented that’s now just sort of accepted and part of the zeitgeist and how it’s done.
James Cameron continued, “I would say that the 3D was generally embraced for a period of time. ‘Avatar’ won the best cinematography with a 3D digital camera. No digital camera had ever won the best cinematography Oscar before.” The director went on to note that those same cameras were used on films that went on to win the Oscar for Best Cinematography as well, Hugo and Gravity. As /Film noted, and I agree, the big difference is that those movies used 3D to enhance the story and experience. It felt that subsequent movies only went the 3D route (with plenty of poor conversions) to boost the box office.
The first 3D footage from Avatar: The Way of Water was recently screened at the D23 Expo, and the results were pretty impressive. Will James Cameron be able to bring 3D back to prominence with his Avatar sequel? I suppose we’ll find out when it finally hits theaters on December 16th.