SEOUL/HOLLYWOOD: James Cameron says 2D to 3D conversion isn't the future of entertainment, unless he's doing it

3D could be come the de facto entertainment standard in as little as a couple of years – that's the view of Avatar director James Cameron, speaking at a technology forum in South Korea this week.

Cameron told the Seoul Digital Forum that he sees the film, technology and consumer electronics industries moving rapidly towards replacing 2D with 3D, and that he intends to dedicate his effort to helping the industries adopt 3D without creating a consumer backlash.

And he thinks the switch to 3D will be pretty fast: ""It took only two years for sound movies to become conventional and replace silent films, but 25 years for color to replace black-and-white films after 'Gone With the Wind' in 1939," he said, adding that "The 3D transition won't take 25 years — too many market forces are involved now."

But he hit out at broadcasters, studios and consumer electronics companies planning to take a shortcut to creating more 3D content, by 'upconverting' existing 2D material: "There is no 'magic box' — I believe that converting 2D into 3D looks only more economical because of the flawed way people are running the numbers right now."

Cameron is planning to convert Titanic into 3D for a 2012 re-release to mark the centenary of the sinking of the liner.

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