Flip through the latest issue of Gulf Weekly.
AVATAR director James Cameron sees misguided thriftiness in Hollywood studios' latest craze to convert big movie projects from 2D to 3D, but the pace of such conversions shows no signs of letting up.
Cameron believes studios are rushing to take advantage of the public's appetite for 3D films. But using computers to convert standard 2D movies to 3D, instead of filming in 3D, gives audiences a cheaper-looking film and could do more harm than good if audiences get turned off.
He ought to know. Shot in 3D, Avatar is the top-grossing movie of all-time with $2.7 billion at box offices.
And Cameron is not the only filmmaker questioning studios' headlong rush to convert films to 3D, in a brewing battle that pitches major directors against the studios that employ them.
Transformers maker Michael Bay has questioned the move, too.
"The problem is these decisions should be made by filmmakers, they shouldn't be made by studios, because if it was up to studios they're going to sacrifice quality for lower cost," Cameron said, in an event to promote the April 22 release of the DVD for Avatar.
