Aja Unleashes Many Piranha in 'Piranha 3-D'

With My Bloody Valentine 3-D making a great statement about where live action 3-D is at the moment (the prognosis is very good), the year ahead should offer a lot more of the same. This will be the biggest year for 3-D yet, with high profile animated and live action films flying off the screen at the clip of nearly twice a month. We were expecting another horror this summer, but those plans will be put on hold for a while, with French director Alexandre Aja (High Tension, Mirrors) telling Shock Till You Drop that the previous production schedule for Piranha 3-D just didn't work. "It would have been insane to have shot the film this winter on the water," admits Aja, who says that he's definitely shooting the film this year but that a release date is up in the air. As for the 3-D Aja plans to use for the remake of Joe Dante's 1978 flick, it's the same system we'll see in the next Final Destination movie, tentatively subtitled Death Trip 3-D. Part of the appeal of the 3-D, in addition to embracing a growing trend and possibly doing something new with it, is that Aja has toiled over how the piranha will look in the film. It would be easiest to make a million that looked alike, but Aja's not going down that road. Discussing recently revealed concept art for the fish (or sea kittens, if you're in PETA), Aja explained to Shock Till You Drop, "That's one of the concepts. There are many because, visually, they'll be different. Like Gremlins not all of the piranha will be the same." While I was hoping to see what Aja could do with another remake (The Hills Have Eyes is his, as well), I'll be happy to wait for them to get it right. Of course, Avatar will come out between now and then, and even though they couldn't be more different, from the 3-D angle, Piranha may not break any new ground.