Sky Movies chief Ian Lewis has told TechRadar that, despite Avatar already bringing 3D's defining moment, it will be 2D to 3D conversions that lift the technology to mass market appeal.
Lewis, speaking at the media event for the Sky Movies app, professed his love for James Cameron's Avatar and his hopes that either the technophile director's conversion of Titanic to 3D or George Lucas' Star Wars: A Phantom Menace will 'crack' the process.
"The big question for us is if anyone can crack 2D to 3D conversion," said Lewis, echoing the sentiments of Cameron when he spoke to TechRadar in September.
Experimenting
"I know everybody is experimenting with it but I've yet to see a made for 2D movie where I've though the 3D conversion is good enough.
"We're hopeful for the first half of next year where you have George Lucas releasing Phantom Menace in 3D and Cameron releasing Titanic, and one of those two, or between them, they will crack it."
Lewis believes that Avatar set a standard for 3D film that has rarely been reached, and its use of the technology has already provided the defining moment for the technology.
"Avatar is, by a million miles, top of the tree," he asserted. "Avatar blew me away and for me it is a defining moment for 3D, up there with the moment that the ships flies over at the beginning of Star Wars or when Sam Neill turns around in Jurassic Park to see a dinosaur."