James Cameron Says 'Avatar' "Will Make 'Titanic' Look Like a Picnic"

James Cameron has proclaimed that his next film, the ambitious stereoscopic 3-D epic Avatar, "makes Titanic look like a picnic." In an interview with The Edmonton Sun, the director, who has not made dramatic film since sinking the big boat back in 1997, discusses why it has been so long since a Titanic follow-up. "I got involved in 3-D, doing 3-D documentaries, natural history, deep ocean exploration stuff, and at that point I sort of decided I didn't want to go back to non-stereoscopic moviemaking, but then there was a lag time while the theatres didn't exist yet," Cameron explained. "I decided to work on a very large project that would take time to develop properly and design all the elements of the world, to give them time to get the theatres in place. Now the timing seems to be working out quite well. In the meantime, I was having fun doing ocean expeditions." Having wrapped up filming the live action sequences in New Zealand a while ago, Cameron is now devoted to the digital aspects, which he speculates will account for 60% of the completed movie. "It's simultaneously the most vexing and the most rewarding type of production that I've done yet," Cameron says. "It's this form of pure creation where ... if you want to move a tree or a mountain or the sky or change the time of day, you have complete control over the elements and the production design." We'll finally see what has dominated his life for the better part of the past half-decade when Avatar arrives in theaters 12 years after Titanic, on December 18, 2009. I have no doubt that it will look like nothing we've ever seen before. But will that be enough? According to some cast members, the CG is significantly more advanced than Beowulf. But with a reported budget ballooning to $250 - $300 million, it would need a Titanic-like box office for the movie to be a financial success, although I highly doubt that's what Cameron is interested in at this point. The story is compelling - scientists from Earth travel to a newly discovered planet and try to exploit its resources, which doesn't go over too well with that planets inhabitants, and one of the scientists even crosses over to lead the natives - but I think the jury is still out on whether on not audiences are entertained by the ongoing 3-D experiment. I'm confident Avatar will look amazing. But will it be amazing? That's the real question. For its time, the Final Fantasy movie looked amazing. Nobody cared. Beowulf: Not a big hit. The stories didn't justify the resources spent to make the movies. And it's a difficult thing to balance, because while these advances are no doubt enhancing the way we see movies and the technologies that make them possible, the dollars simply haven't shown up yet. And Avatar would need a lot of dollars to really prove the point.

Comments

[Orinn]

Hope for the best, preapre for the worst.
PS Rest in peace Final Fantasy Movie