Avatar: Way of Water Director James Cameron Claims 3D Is A Staple In Theaters

In a recent interview, Cameron claims that the continued support for 3D in digital film infrastructure shows that there is still active interest in the technology and that it is a staple for movie theaters.

In a conversation with Deadline, James Cameron said, "it's sobering to remember that when Avatar was released, there were 3,000 digital 3D screens in North America and about 6,000 worldwide. Today, there are 120,000 digital 3D screens worldwide." To put that into perspective, assuming Cameron's numbers are correct, that is 20 times the amount of digital 3D screens there were back in 2009. While the cultural conversation and buzz around 3D has gone down, the technology has become quietly normalized.

According to Cameron, Texas Instruments built the ability to do a high frame rate and 3D into their chip set and server architecture. Digital projectors since then have all been 3D enabled. This has meant that 3D is kind of a staple, though it does not have the same impact for every release. As an example, he said, "A big MCU movie in 3D might be selling 30 percent of its tickets in 3D as opposed to on the first Avatar, where we were at 85 percent."

Ultimately though, his interest in the technology is somewhat self-interested. He said, "I kind of don't care if other filmmakers want to do it as long as all that's out there and I can still do it." As part of this he acknowledges that 3D takes a particular kind of filmmaking technique to pull off well. It's not suited to "long lens" or a "fast cut style" and thus is not suited for every filmmaker. Although, he said that he is "happy to share everything we’re able to do with any other filmmaker who wants to try it."

Early projections claimed that Avatar: The Way of Water will make around $175 million on the opening weekend. The movie has already opened in some overseas markets, claiming $15.8 million internationally so far.