I was thinking a little about the upcoming Star Wars 3D conversions, which will begin with The Phantom Menace on February 10, 2012. Word from director George Lucas last week from CinemaCon was that the conversion process has so far exceeded the cost to make the first film, which doesn’t sound like much to me considering the first film cost a reported $11 million to make and it cost a reported $10 million to convert Clash of the Titans. Of course, it’s not about the numbers, it’s about spinning the hype, and even though I have the hardest time enduring even 30 minutes of The Phantom Menace, I’d be lying if I said I wasn’t curious.
With that in mind, I started working out a “perfect world” scenario when it comes to 3D and previously released films. This was spawned from a quote from Lucas saying, “Where we are in digital is like 1900, we’re just scratching the surface.” 1900 you say?
James Cameron suggested where things may go, boasting his latest technical selling point… faster frame rates. Instead of the current 24 frames per second he boasts he will be going to anywhere from 48 to 60 frames per second for Avatar 2 and this person is already on board.
One thing’s for certain, as long as James Cameron is alive and, at the very least, up until 2017 when the final 3D converted Star Wars hits the screen, 3D is going to be around. And if Cameron and Lucas have anything to say about it, it is only going to get better. So, I decided to take their word for it with this top ten.
The hypothetical here is to throw out the idea of 3D post-conversion. Pretend it doesn’t exist. Now pretend the very best of 3D technology has been available forever. Whether your favorite director is D.W. Griffith, Buster Keaton, Sergio Leone, Akira Kurosawa, Alfred Hitchcock, Frank Capra, Christopher Nolan or Quentin Tarantino, it doesn’t matter. We are working on the basis that all of them had 3D technology at their disposal and any film that’s ever been released since the beginning of time could have been shot in the very best of today’s 3D technology. And imagine you’re seeing this pristine 3D presentation in the largest theater you’ve ever seen a film with the very best sound equipment.
The question now is, which movies would you most like to see?
This was a list that took me a while to figure out and to be entirely honest, to call this a top ten is a bit disingenuous. This is essentially the ten I decided to go with as the list continued to grow and grow as I went along. The most fun was coming up with films that weren’t science-fiction related. Certainly there are a few on the list as it’s a genre that lends itself well to the format, but I tried my hardest to think of films that may have some scenes that would be quite cool to see in 3D if done right.
With that said, let’s have a look at the ten I came up with and then I would love to hear some of your suggestions.
