James Cameron to release “Titanic” in 3D

James Cameron recently announced that he plans to convert his movie “Titanic” to 3D and then re-release it.

James Cameron had several excellent movies to choose from for this three-dimensionalization process, but it is not surprising that he chose “Titanic.” In a talk he recently gave in Santa Monica, he said that drama is the genre in which 3D is likely to have the strongest effects on audiences, on the grounds that 3D drama is more likely to trick the brain into perceiving it as a real experience, presumably because real-life memories in our brains are much more closely related to drama than to science fiction or fantasy.

His choice therefore makes sense, because “Titanic” is perhaps the most drama-rich movie he has ever made. I am a huge fan of “The Abyss” and would love to see it in 3D, but I do think that Titanic in 3D will be particularly compelling. It will be fascinating to see just how effective the 2D-to-3D conversion process is. With James Cameron’s track record of healthy perfectionism (or “greatism,” as he likes to call it), it will probably be the best attempt ever made.