Director/producer James Cameron is preparing a DVD version of the
highest-grossing film in history, Titanic, with an eye toward a first half
’99 release.
Although the filmmaker wouldn’t commit to a completion date, he didn’t rule
out a late first-quarter or second-quarter street date. Paramount officials
said the title is not on its first-quarter schedule.

The release should be welcome news to DVD-savvy retailers, who have
enjoyed significant growth for the format this year but have expressed
frustration at not having the year’s most sought-after film available on
DVD.

Cameron will be inducted into the Video Hall of Fame on Dec. 8, along with
Musicland chairman Jack Eugster and Barney creator Sheryl Leach, in part
because of the close attention he has paid to the release of his films on
VHS and laserdisc in the past.

He attributed the lag between the video and DVD release dates to creative
and technical issues, such as signal compression, authoring and the footage
that can fit on one disc.

Cameron is considering putting both a director’s cut and the original film
on the same disc. A double-density disc has been “looked into,” he said. Such a
double-sided, dual-layer disc would be an industry first.

Cameron personally supervised transfer of all his post-Terminator films to
VHS and laser. The transfer of Titanic, he said, took more than 180 hours.

As one of the most active proponents of director’s cuts and other special
editions of his films, such as The Abyss, Aliens and T2, he says he’s happy
with the look and overall success of Titanic on the smaller screen despite
the grand scale of the picture.

“A film that looks good on a big screen will work just as well on a small
screen, if it’s a good film,” he said. “A good film derives its qualities
from elements that are completely independent of the size of the production.”

By John Gaffney [Copyright 1998, Video Business]