Star Wars 3D has been given a new lease of life thanks to James Cameron's Avatar. According to Star Wars creator George Lucas, the project had been stalling but after seeing Avatar become such a success at the cinema, it has given him, ahem, a new hope to make the project a success.
"I'm happy it's so successful, and worked very well in 3D," Lucas explained to Access Hollywood about Avatar.
"I haven't been a big fan of 3D, but that movie definitely improves in [the field of] 3D."
Star Wars struggle
When prompted about his own 3D plans, he noted: "We've been looking for years and years and years of trying to take Star Wars and put it in 3D ... But, the technology hasn't been there.
"We've been struggling with it, but I think this will be a new impetus to make that happen."
Any Star Wars release has always brought with it a sense of occasion. When the Original Trilogy finally came to DVD there was much fanfare and we're expecting the same sort of response when they finally make it to Blu-ray.
There's not a fixed date on Blu-ray plans but we expect plans to be announced soon, maybe at a similar time as when the 3D versions of the film are announced for cinemas.
Once that happens you can pretty much call the Star Wars franchise one cash cow that's been well and truly milked.
Your comments (9) Click to add a new comment
drunken_max
January 22nd 2010
9. I don't suppose they could add another dimension to the dialogue or story could they?
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marcchacksfield
January 21st 2010
8. Hi Stuart. Converting animation to 3D is simple-ish, you pretty much go back to the digital files and do some rendering to create the visuals for a 'second eye camera'. For live action film it's really difficult to convert, as is involves recreating scenes with 3D polygons and the like. It's pain-staking and probably the reason why Lucas is having such a headache over it.
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nicolasmerritt
January 21st 2010
7. @stuart
Hard to get detail as it's proprietary but the process is called dimensionalization and these seem to the leading guys at the moment:
http://www.in-three.com/dimensionoverview.html
Some sketchy details here: http://www.dcinematoday.com/dc/pr.aspx?newsID=204
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sanderton
January 21st 2010
6. Without wishing to appear dim, how can the 2D-shot films be made into 3D?
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gre66
January 21st 2010
5. OK get ya point Khanneasuntzu but Avatar might have had a story but it wasn't the best. I have seen the film once but cant remember a single characters name or what they looked like except for Sigourney weaver and that the characters were blue n tall. It was by far the prettiest film I have ever seen. The landscapes and animals were amazing but I wasn't blown away. At least with Star Wars every man or boy wanted to be a Jedi or Stormtrooper after the first film.How many people remember what the Blue guys tribe name was (Navi). I had to look it up. Also how many playgrounds have kids running around pretending to be a Navi basically they are the Sci-Fi equivalent of the Apache from an old Cowboys n Indians movie. It's the 3D and CGI that make the film and so I think Star Wars 3d will be a massive hit as it has more opportunities to show off the 3D in it's epic battles.
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nicolasmerritt
January 21st 2010
4. If anything inspired Cameron to invent the filming technology in Avatar, surely it was the wooden acting, misuse of SFX and terrible integration of virtual and real characters in Star Wars episode 1.
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menelaus
January 21st 2010
3. I bet the trench run in the first Star Wars and the Battle of Hoth in Empire would look amazing in 3D.
Not so sure about the Ewoks though.
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castaway666
January 21st 2010
2. Instead or Statler and Waldorf, call them George and Lucas you mean? I like your thinking.. better than Jar Jar and Greebo!
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khanneasuntzu
January 21st 2010
1. I am extremely critical of George's storytelling abilities. Oddly enough I like Star Wars (and I suppose I can stomach the prequels) but someting H A S to be done to the storyline mess that was excreted in all three prequel episodes.
In short - The involvement of Jorge should be similar to the two old guys in the muppets, 'up there safely tucked away'.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FxKtZmQgxrI&feature=player_embedded
You can't ignore robust criticism like this. It isn't about 'haters' and 'nitpickers'.
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