45% of readers intend to watch Titanic 3D

According to our survey, Titanic 3D can expect a reasonable box office.

We asked our readers, “Do you intend to watch the Titanic 3D conversion?” Out of 895 responses, 406 (45%) said yes, 324 (36%) said no and 165 (19%) said they did not know yet.

James Cameron will be re-releasing Titanic in 3D on April 6th after spending $18 million dollars converting the 1997 hit into 3D through a painstaking frame by frame process. Cameron has long dismissed conversion unless it is done right, so audiences will be expecting a flawless result. 

In a Titanic 3D featurette, the 3D advocate said “I am very picky about it (3D) so if I am going to do a conversion it has to live up to that standard. I want it to be the equivalent to how it would have looked like had we shot it in 3D.” With so many water scenes, the conversion artists would have had their work cut out. 

After the film was restored, Cameron’s team tested a number of different conversion companies. 300 artists spent over a year painstakingly outlining every object.

Titanic 3D is expected to prove the case that back catalogue conversion can deliver quality results and our poll suggests the modest investment is likely to generate financial dividends for Twentieth Century Fox.

Jon Landau presented highlights from the conversion earlier in the year. Crtic Roger Ebert was there and wrote “If you're alert to it, you'll notice that many shots and sequences in this version are not in 3D at all, but remain in 2D. If you take off your glasses, they'll pop off the screen with dramatically improved brightness. I know why the film is in 3D. It's to justify the extra charge. That's a shabby way to treat a masterpiece.”
 

However, other previewers have generally praised the conversion and it received a highly positive response during the showing at IBC.

During the screening Jon Landau said "When you have a fast-cut action sequence, it's not about 3D," he explained. "So you can go with less 3D in those shots. That was something that we learned on Avatar. If you're watching the action, you're not taking in the 3D. If you're looking at a shot of the Grand Canyon, that's about 3D." He added "I believe the scenes where the 3D is most compelling are the dramatic scenes."

Titanic became the highest grossing film of all time after raking in $1.8 billion worldwide until it was surpassed by Avatar in 2010 when it took $2.7 billion.

A lot of the film is set during the night and with 3D glasses filtering out so much light (between a massive 75% – 90%), will viewers feel the premium and 3D affect justifies the light loss?

Michael Bay sent letters to exhibitors asking them to adjust the luminance of their projectors for his first 3D film, 'Transformers: Dark of the Moon'. Paramount produced an ultra bright digital print to deliver “almost twice the brightness of standard 3D projection,”.

We would not be surprised if Cameron’s team have introduced features in an attempt to counter effect at least some of the light loss. We are awaiting a response from Twentieth Century Fox.

What do you think? Are you tired of conversions? Will you go and watch Titanic 3D? Or would you have watched it in 2D anyway? Let us know below!

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