James Cameron Talks Titanic And Avatar Re-Releases

The green light has been triggered. Titanic is set to return to the big screen in a big way.

James Cameron told USA Today, “We’re targeting the spring of 2012 for the release (of a 3D version of Titantic), which is the 100-year anniversary of the sailing of the ship.”

The film was originally released in 1997 to a then-record 1.8 billion in the box office worldwide. Cameron’s Avatar has since surpassed it all-time with 2.6 billion after being released three months ago.

Cameron said in response to the controversy surrounding the issue, “It’s never going to be as good as if you shot it in 3D, but think of it as sort of 2.8D.”

Cameron also also voiced his displeasure with the stagnant box office results in the past couple weeks for Avatar in what he feels is due to the release of Alice and the Wonderland in 3D. He is hoping to bring back Avatar to theaters in the spring.

“The wildcard is that we might be re-releasing the movie this fall. It’s kind of gotten stomped out (in theaters since the release) by Alice and the Wonderland. The word we’re getting back from exhibitors is that we probably left a couple hundred million dollars on the table as a result. The question is if the appetite is still going to be there after the summer glut of movies. We’re going to assess that. We’re talking about maybe adding in additional footage and doing something creative.”

To put that in perspective, a couple hundred million dollars is a mind blowing run for any other movie. For an Avatar or Titanic, it’s nickels and pennies. Avatar has experienced a 56% decrease in the box office since the release of Alice and a decrease in theater count by nearly 700.