James Cameron Vs. Piranha 3D Producer Mark Canton

[u2roolz]

James Cameron from Vanity Fair: After Avatar, people tried to cash in. Or, in some cases, like Alice in Wonderland and How to Train Your Dragon— especially the latter, which I think is excellent in 3-D—they were films that were in the pipeline for some time. You’ve got to remember: I worked on Piranha 2 for a few days and got fired off of it; I don’t put it on my official filmography. So there’s no sort of fond connection for me whatsoever. In fact, I would go even farther and say that... I tend almost never to throw other films under the bus, but that is exactly an example of what we should not be doing in 3-D. Because it just cheapens the medium and reminds you of the bad 3-D horror films from the 70s and 80s, like Friday the 13th 3-D. When movies got to the bottom of the barrel of their creativity and at the last gasp of their financial lifespan, they did a 3-D version to get the last few drops of blood out of the turnip. And that’s not what’s happening now with 3-D.

 

Mark Canton, producer of Piranha 3D: As a producer in the entertainment industry, Jim Cameron's comments on VanityFair.com are very disappointing to me and the team that made Piranha 3D. Mr. Cameron, who singles himself out to be a visionary of movie-making, seems to have a small vision regarding any motion pictures that are not his own. It is amazing that in the movie-making process - which is certainly a team sport - that Cameron consistently celebrates himself out as though he is a team of one. His comments are ridiculous, self-serving and insulting to those of us who are not caught up in serving his ego and his rhetoric.

 

Jim, are you kidding or what? First of all, let’s start by you accepting the fact that you were the original director of PIRANHA 2 and you were fired. Shame on you for thinking that genre movies and the real maestros like Roger Corman and his collaborators are any less auteur or impactful in the history of cinema than you. Martin Scorcese made Boxcar Bertha at the beginning of his career. And Francis Ford Coppola made Dimentia 13 back in 1963. And those are just a few examples of the talented and successful filmmakers whose roots are in genre films. Who are you to impugn any genre film or its creators?

 

Having been deeply involved, as either an executive or as a producer, on Tim Burton’s original BATMAN and the first MEN IN BLACK, as well as 300, and now IMMORTALS, one of the things that has been consistent about all of the filmmakers involved in these landscape-changing global films is that, in each and every case, all of the directors were humbled by their predecessors, their colleagues and by their awareness of the great history of film that came before them. The enjoyment and the immersion of an audience in a movie theatre, as they had and will have with the above-mentioned films, and as audiences are experiencing with PIRNAHA 3D now, comes from the originality and the vision of the filmmaker, and not just from the creation of the technology. You as much as anyone certainly knows that there are many pieces to the puzzle. Going to the movies still remains, arguably, amongst the best communal experiences that human beings can share.

 

My sense is that Mr. Cameron has never seen PIRANHA 3D...certainly not in a movie theatre with a real audience. Jim, we invite you to take that opportunity and experience the movie in a theatre full of fans - fans for whom this movie was always intended to entertain.

 

Does Mr. Cameron have no idea of the painstaking efforts made by the talented young filmmaker Alex Aja and his team of collaborators? Clearly, and this one is a good bet, he has no clue as to how great and how much of a fun-filled experience the audiences who have seen the film in 3D have enjoyed. Those of us who have tried to stay in touch with the common movie audiences - the ones who really matter, the ones who actually still go to the theatre, put on the glasses, and eat the popcorn - take joy and pride in the fact that movies of all kinds, including PIRANHA 3D, have a place in filmmaking history - past, present and future. 3D unto itself is not a genre Jim, it is a tool that gives audiences an enhanced experience as they experience all kinds of movies. I believe Mr. Cameron did not see PIRANHA 3D either with any real audience or not at all. On opening weekend, I was in a Los Angeles theatre with a number of today’s great film makers including JJ Abrams, who actually had nothing short of the fabulous, fun 3D experience that the movie provides. I am fortunate enough to have worked on, and continue to work on, evolutionary movies in all formats from just simple good story telling, which still matters most of all, to CG movies to tent-pole size 3D movies, and genre 3D movies like PIRANHA 3D.

 

What it comes down to, Jim, is - that like most things in life - size doesn’t really matter. Not everyone has the advantage of having endless amounts of money to play in their sandbox and to take ten years using other people’s money to make and market a film….like you do. Why can’t you just count your blessings? Why do you have to drop Marty Scorsese’s or Tim Burton’s names, both gentlemen who I have personally worked with, and who have enjoyed great joy and success with movies of all genres and sizes well before the advent of modern 3D? Then as now, they were like kids in a candy store recognizing, far beyond your imagination, the possibilities of storytelling and originality.

 

For the record, before you just totally dismiss PIRANHA 3D and all, in your opinion, worthless genre movies that actually undoubtedly gave you the ability to start your career, you should know that PIRANHA 3D had an 82% "fresh" (positive) ratting on Rotten Tomatoes on opening day - a web site that all the studios, filmmakers and the public use as a barometer of what makes a quality film. We know that PIRANHA 3D has not achieved a boxoffice that is on the level of many of Mr. Cameron's successes. To date, PIRANHA 3D has earned over $30 million around the globe with #1 openings in several countries. And, as the "fresh" rating on Rotten Tomatoes indicates, critics and many, many others have embraced and celebrated PIRANHA 3D for the fun and entertaining - and even smart - movie-going experience that it is.

 

Let’s just keep this in mind Jim….you did not invent 3D. You were fortunate that others inspired you to take it further. The simple truth is that I had nothing but good things to say about AVATAR and my own experience since I actually saw it and didn’t damn someone else’s talent publicly in order to disassociate myself from my origins in the business from which we are all very fortunate. To be honest, I found the 3D in AVATAR to be inconsistent and while ground breaking in many respects, sometimes I thought it overwhelmed the storytelling. Technology aside, I wish AVATAR had been more original in its storytelling.

 

We have to inspire, teach and mentor this next generation of filmmakers. It is garbage to suggest that any film or any filmmaker who cannot afford to work to your standards should be dissuaded from following his or her craft by not making 3D movies or not making movies like DISTRICT 9, for example, which probably cost the amount of AVATAR’s craft services budget, but totally rocked it in the movie theatre and in the marketplace. In that case, it was not a 3D movie. But had it been, it certainly would not have been any less original or impactful. The enormous worldwide success of AVATAR has been good in all respects for you, your financiers, your distributors and the industry, as well as for the movie going public. Jim, there is a difference between Maestro which is a word that garners respect, and Dictator or Critic which are words better left for others who are not in our mutual boat or on our team. You are one of the best, it is reasonable to think that you should dig deeper and behave like it. Young directors should be inspired by you, not publicly castigated by your mean-spirited and flawed analysis.

 

While we are all awed by your talents and your box office successes - and I compliment you on all of them - why don’t you rethink how you address films with which you are not involved? You should be taking the high road that is being travelled by so many of your peers, and pulling with them to ensure that we, as an industry, will have a continuum of talented filmmakers that will deliver a myriad of motion pictures both big and small, with 3D or any other technologies yet to come that will entertain audiences throughout the world. That is the challenge that we face. That is the future that we should deliver.

 

Please go see Piranha 3D in a theatre near you.

 

Me: I have to agree with Canton. It seems foolish that Cameron overlooks the fact that smaller low budget genre films like Piranha 3D can help a studio recover hefty profits to put towards something like Avatar or something else in that realm. There are films for every walk of life. That's what makes going to the theaters a lot of fun. I don't want to see the same genre every weekend.

 

That being said I can also understand Cameron's concern with making "bottom of the barrel movies". But I also understand that those movies tend to make money and people want that and they'll deliver it. And most importantly, it gives a lot of young filmmakers a chance to break into the industry by usually being given that job to see if they can direct a film and then maybe the next time they'll put up money for one of the director's scripts that they want to direct. It happens all the time.

 

In the end, Piranha 3D is harmless, nostalgic 3D fun that people will crave once we get all of the Oscar contenders parading out the next 4 months.

[Sir Stewart]

So Avatar is back in theaters. Maybe I'll finally see it.

[Guest Speed Racer]

Uh. I'd rather watch Showgirls, Gigli and I Know Who Killed Me on a loop for three days than see Avatar again. It's even worse than Poon described it.

[bleedorange]

I agree with Cameron. It sure seems like an unnecessary and long-winded defensive statement from the Piranha producer.

[Atticus]

Cameron's visionary vision of his vision envisions visions I can't envision.

[Guest Speed Racer]

I don't really think that Piranha ever set out to be some sort of cinematic gold, which is what Cameron assumes 3D is supposed to be used for, based on his statement. Scary movies are more fun if they scare you, and 3D can definitely make an otherwise limp movie seem more scary.

 

That being said, Canton's rebuttal is nothing short of hilarious. Defensive, much?

[bleedorange]

Aren't 3D movies served up at a premium price, though? They should be premium movies, then.

[caliber66]

Why?

[bleedorange]

Why not?

[Guest Speed Racer]

They should be premium movies, then.

 

What does that mean? The film itself, or the experience? How do you measure that?

 

I've had much more fun watching terrible movies with friends than I have watching certain "premium" movies, because of the experience. I'd see Piranha 3-D seven times over with friends before I'd purchase Avatar, and I didn't even care for the dimensionless rendition of Piranha.

[Sir Stewart]

GoodFellas 3-D was terrible.

[bleedorange]

Okay...they should be crappy movies, then.

 

I would just like to see 3D used in a way that truly enhances the film in a way that 2D cannot. Tacking on some 3D images to a bad movie in order to charge more and make some extra money is useless.

[Guest Speed Racer]

Okay...they should be crappy movies, then.

 

I would just like to see 3D used in a way that truly enhances the film in a way that 2D cannot.

 

So having a piranha jump out at you does not enhance a scary movie? That's an objective statement?

[Guest Jules]

I'll give this one a tie. They both sound like a couple of pickles.

[bleedorange]

Who said anything about objectivity?

[Guest Speed Racer]

"truly enhances a film"

 

How do you know a 3-dimensional piranha does not?

[bleedorange]

"truly enhances a film"

 

How do you know a 3-dimensional piranha does not?

 

What makes you think it automatically does? To be perfectly honest, I'm not entirely sold on 3D anyway. A fish jumping at me off the screen does nothing. For my money, the best use of 3D technology is the Spider-Man ride at Universal Studios.

[Guest Speed Racer]

What makes you think it automatically does?

 

I don't, and I think that 3-D is largely a bunch of hooey anyway. But I don't think any of us is in a position to know when 3-D would "truly enhance" a film. And it's not like it's a finite amount of technology that will be used up. I say 3-D the heck out of everything, if you want.

[bleedorange]

I don't, and I think that 3-D is largely a bunch of hooey anyway. But I don't think any of us is in a position to know when 3-D would "truly enhance" a film. And it's not like it's a finite amount of technology that will be used up. I say 3-D the heck out of everything, if you want.

 

When I see 3-D "truly enhance" a film, then I will know when 3-D "truly enhances" a film.

[u2roolz]

The rest of this year's films that are coming out in 3D.

 

September

Resident Evil: Afterlife [screen Gems, shot with 3D fusion camera system] (IMAX 3D, Real D)

Alpha and Omega [Lionsgate] (Real D)

Legend of the Guardians: The Owls of Ga'Hoole [Warner Bros.] (IMAX 3D, Real D)

October

My Soul to Take [universal] (Real D)

Jackass 3D [Paramount Pictures] (Real D)

Saw 3D [Lionsgate, filmed in 3D] (Real D)

November

MegaMind [Paramount/Dreamworks, designed in stereoscopic 3D] (IMAX 3D, Real D)

Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows (Part 1 of 2) [Warner Bros.] (IMAX 3D, Real D)

Tangled [Disney] (Real D)

December

Chronicles of Narnia: The Voyage of the Dawn Treader [Fox, post-converted to 3D] (Real D)

Tron: Legacy [Disney] (IMAX 3D, Real D) This has the ability to blow Avatar out of the water, as far as taking 3D into a new direction.

Yogi Bear [Warner Bros.] (Real D)

Gulliver's Travels [Fox] (Real D)

 

2011

The Cabin in the Woods

PINK

The Green Hornet (IMAX 3D, Real D)

Mars Needs Moms! (IMAX 3D, Real D)

Drive Angry

Gnomeo and Juliet

Rio

The Three Musketeers

Pirates of the Caribbean: On Stranger Tides (IMAX 3D, Real D)

Thor

Priest

Kung Fu Panda: The Kaboom of Doom

Green Lantern

Cars 2 (IMAX 3D, Real D)

Transformers 3 (IMAX 3D, Real D)

Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows (Part 2 of 2) (IMAX 3D, Real D)

Captain America: The First Avenger

The Smurfs

The Darkest Hour

Spy Kids 4

Final Destination 5

Dolphin Tale 3D

Journey to the Center of the Earth 2

Fright Night

Contagion

Puss in Boots

Arthur Christmas

Happy Feet 2

Hugo Cabret

Alvin and the Chipmunks 3D

The Adventures of Tintin: The Secret of the Unicorn

 

2012

Sacred Code by Jordan River (director)

 

~ That's quite the variety of films and filmgoing experiences to be had in 3D. Martin Scorsese is doing Hugo Cabret in 3D?!

It should be interesting to see which genres do well on 3D and which ones suffer. It also should be noted that most theaters have another 2D print of a film in 3D to let consumers have a choice. In fact, around my parts a lot of the 3D films only last a few weeks until the next one comes out. Movie theaters can't keep up with converting their theaters to 3D.

 

Oh, and another thing that people in the movie theater business that I worked with told me: the "surcharge" is only for the "technological experience", it is not for the 3D glasses. So if you try to be a Smart Alec and show up with your 3D glasses you will still have to pay that fee. The movie theater that I used to work at had to install a new digital 3D projector and have a new screen put in. It only took about a day & a half.

 

Lastly, the reason for the huge list was to show that Hollywood is not taking Cameron's suggestion that all 3D films should be "event" films like Avatar. Jackass 3D sounds pretty stupid, but hey let them try it out and see how they do.

 

***Oh, I forgot to mention that Toy Story 3 is being rereleased this Labor Day weekend bumping Piranha out of most 3D screens. For Avatar's rerelease Cameron was quoted in the Boston Globe as saying "I think at least 100,000 people missed out on seeing Avatar in 3D because Alice In Wonderland took our screens in early March and then How To Train Your Dragon took even more a few weeks later." Currently Pixar has no comment on the rerelease. It just seems like a nice gift to give to kids before they go back into school...and to line Pixar's pockets.

[ih8music]

Jackass 3D sounds pretty stupid, but hey let them try it out and see how they do.

Can't wait to see Knoxville pop a zit or lance a boil in 3D...

[moxiebean]

Can't wait to see Knoxville pop a zit or lance a boil in 3D...

..or a midget in a shopping cart rocket headlong into a drainage ditch.

[Moss]

When is Odorama going to become a reality?

[Guest Speed Racer]

Have you never sat next to me at the theater?

 

And on the topic of bad jokes: Jackass 3D hasn't come out yet? I swear I see it every day on my commute.

[bjorn_skurj]

So Avatar is back in theaters. Maybe I'll finally see it.

As you are now a dad, it would not be responsible of me to suggest you drink a whole bottle of Robitussin DM before going into the theater. But I wish I had.