Cameron, Lucas and Katzenberg champion digital at CinemaCon

By Kevin Lally

The power trio of James Cameron, George Lucas and Jeffrey Katzenberg were a major draw at the Wednesday luncheon at CinemaCon in Las Vegas, and no wonder, considering how many billions of box-office dollars they've generated for the theatre owners at this annual gathering. The purpose of their visit was to talk about the future of digital filmmaking, and the session--moderated by RealD chairman Michael Lewis--was a stimulating look at their priorities and processes.

Lucas compared the arrival of digital tools to the invention of oil paint that freed artists from the confines of indoor frescoes. Cameron noted that thanks to digital technology, "if we can imagine it, we can create it." DreamWorks Animation chief Katzenberg declared that digital "transformed the art of animation and reinvented what it means."

Lucas made a distinction between digital and 3D as groundbreakers. For him, the arrival of digital was as game-changing as the introduction of sound. 3D , he feels, is akin to color--an innovation that just makes a movie better. He praised Cameron's Avatar as a real eye-opener that showed him how persuasive and realistic a 3D environment can be.

Cameron and Lucas are both working on 3D conversions of Titanic and Star Wars, respectively, and each took pains to point out that their conversion projects are not taking any short cuts. Lucas has been working on the conversion of Star Wars for some seven years, and revealed that it's been a painstaking creative process. There's "no magic wand, no killer app" for 2D to 3D conversion, he contended, just a lot of highly intricate, shot-by-shot effort. Quickie conversions, Katzenberg argued, "devalue an amazing opportunity for all of us."

Cameron made news by announcing that the next two Avatar filmswill be shot at higher frame rates than the traditional 24 frames persecond,instead produced at 48 to 60 frames per second.As he explained, "3D shows you a window into reality. The higherframerate takes the glass out of the window." The director will demonstrate the visual potency of higher frame rates at a Thursday morning session at CinemaCon.

Cameron kept referring to 35mm film as a relic of the past, noting that the era is over when he fretted over prints of Titanic falling apart because they played in theatres for so many weeks. He also assured exhibitors who've embraced digital that their biggest investment is behind them and that future improvements will be much less costly by comparison.

All three film bigwigs were applauded for declaring that they make their movies for the big screen. "What you bring to the table is a great venue," Lucas told the audience of cinema executives, noting that while Hollywood's output also ends up on TV screens and iPhones, the social environment of the cinema is something that "will never go away."

The Wednesday program at CinemaCon also featured the annual Pioneer of the Year dinner benefitting the Will Rogers Pioneers, which assists film industry veterans who've fallen on hard times. Tim Allen was the R-rated host of the proceedings honoring former Disney Studios chairman Dick Cook. The evening was most notable for the consecutive appearances of onetime Disney colleagues turned bitter foes Michael Eisner and Jeffrey Katzenberg, plus former Disney chairman Joe Roth. In accepting his award, the universally admired Cook joked that after seeing these three on the same stage, he checked the Weather Channel on his smart-phone to see if hell had frozen over.