The extended Q&A transcript from James Cameron’s China-focused chat with the New York Times and The Economist reveals the extent of Cameron’s Avatar-tunnel vision. “I’ve divided my time over the last 16 years over deep ocean exploration and filmmaking. I’ve made two movies in 16 years, and I’ve done eight expeditions. Last year I basically completely disbanded my production company’s development arm. So I’m not interested in developing anything. I’m in the Avatar business. Period. That’s it. I’m making Avatar 2, Avatar 3, maybe Avatar 4, and I’m not going to produce other people’s movies for them.” Looks like it’ll be all Avatar, all the time from here on out, which is… good news? [NYT]
The visionary, Oscar-winning director of The Abyss, Titanic and Avatar went to the planet’s deepest spot, and all we got were these lousy clips from the bottom of the sea. Don’t fret, however! There is much, much more where James Cameron’s preliminary submarine footage came from. For now, let the director/explorer fill you in on what he witnessed, right down to shrinking windows under 16,000 pounds of pressure per square inch.
[via First Showing]
Hugh ain’t got no car, fool! Ahem. Deadline reports that Hugh Jackman is the first choice of director Shawn Levy to star in Fantastic Voyage, the James Cameron-produced sci-fi 3-D epic. If he agrees to star, Voyage — a remake of the cheesy 1966 about scientists who shrink themselves and travel into the body of a sick colleague — would give Jackman something to do while the whole Wolverine mess gets worked out. Developing… [Deadline]
A week after backpedaling from the rumored threat that they’d pull major summer blockbusters (Harry Potter? The Hangover II? NO!!) from theaters to punish studios for committing to early video on demand distribution agreements, the National Association of Theater Owners (NATO) is taking a different tack. Meet NATOs new army of foot soldiers in the debate over VOD: 23 of Hollywood’s biggest names, who signed a NATO-backed open letter pleading for the protection of “the movie-going experience.”
The letter in full:
AN OPEN LETTER FROM THE CREATIVE COMMUNITY ON PROTECTING THE MOVIE-GOING EXPERIENCE
We are the artists and business professionals who help make the movie business great. We produce and direct movies. We work on the business deals that help get movies made. At the end of the day, we are also simply big movie fans.
Lately, there’s been a lot of talk by leaders at some major studios and cable companies about early-to-the-home “premium video-on-demand.” In this proposed distribution model, new movies can be shown in homes while these same films are still in their theatrical run.
In this scenario, those who own televisions with an HDMI input would be able to order a film through their cable system or an Internet provider as a digital rental. Terms and timing have yet to be made concrete, but there has been talk of windows of 60 days after theatrical release at a price of $30.
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Move over, Jake Sully. 3-D Sex & Zen: Extreme Ecstacy — the “the first stereoscopic 3-D erotica from Hong Kong” — grossed 2.78 million Hong Kong dollars on its opening day last week, breaking the record held by Avatar for single-day opening gross in Hong Kong. “We met people’s expectations,” said producer Stephen Shiu. “People have always thought that you need 3-D technology for this kind of content. So people were very curious.” James Cameron would be proud. [NPR]
April 19 might just seem like another date to you, but in the annals of Terminator history, it’s the date when Skynet became a sentient being and set out to destroy mankind. To commemorate this occasion, TMZ asked James Cameron for a few words about the fictional event, and the King of 3-D put everything into a fairly bleak perspective.
“[I]nstead of nuclear war and the machines taking over, we need to worry about global climate change. And the machines taking over. With everybody going through their lives bent over their Blackberries all day long, you could even argue the machines have already won.”
Uplifting! Not that anyone around the offices of Movieline HQ is surprised. Now if you’ll excuse me, my Blackberry is buzzing…
· ‘Terminator’ Creator: Cell Phones Are The New Skynet [TMZ]
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We need to talk about James Cameron. Like, really talk about him — especially after Monday’s announcement of his new alliance to develop and enhance 3-D technology for broadcasters. Working alongside cinematographer Vince Pace, with whom Cameron created the Fusion camera system that shot Avatar, the Oscar-winner now plans to “make 3-D ubiquitous over the next five to 10 years on all platforms.” We kind of knew this was coming, but do you believe him? Do you even want to believe him?
This might seem like a conversation we’ve already had, either back when Avatar was tearing up global box-office records or when Cameron was reported to have earned a $350 million back-end windfall from unprecedented theatrical and DVD revenue. The director as mogul took his domain one step further, superseding an increasingly frustrated Jeffrey Katzenberg as the chief prophet of the movies’ 3-D revolution. Critics speculated as to Cameron’s own, untold private investment in the Fusion rig, positing that Avatar was less technical milestone than feature-length advertisement for the technology in which he’d sunk at least tens of million of his own dollars.
Yeah, well, no kidding. At least he did have Avatar to show for it, a sui generis hybrid of high art, low culture, unalloyed demagoguery and blockbuster venture capitalism. And love it, hate it or sleep through it, there would be no turning back from Cameron’s epic once the industry understood its lucrative potential.
But we’re no longer talking strictly about box office at this point — not with revenues down and some of this summer’s biggest films (including Super 8 and Cowboys & Aliens) eschewing the 3-D format altogether.…
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Peter Jackson Explains Why He’s Filming The Hobbit at Groundbreaking Frame Rate
By admin on April 11, 2011
“We are indeed shooting at the higher frame rate,” wrote Jackson, enthusiastic about the increased picture clarity and reduced eye strain that shooting a 3-D film at 48 fps allows. “The key thing to understand is that this process requires both shooting and projecting at 48 fps, rather than the usual 24 fps (films have been shot at 24 frames per second since the late 1920s). So the result looks like normal speed, but the image has hugely enhanced clarity and smoothness.”
Although most films are currently shot at 24 fps and have been for years, Jackson explains that there’s no good reason for filmmakers to remain hampered by the reduced frame rate now that digital technologies have reduced the cost of filmmaking. The biggest issue, for Jackson and other filmmakers who follow suit, is that theaters with digital projectors will have to make adjustments in order to project 48 fps films.
“We are hopeful that there will be enough theaters capable of projecting 48 fps by the time The Hobbit comes out where we…
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