Mistakenly thinking that 3D alone drove Avatar to it’s $1.3B paycheck, studios are rushing out to recreate the magic by taking previous classics and converting them into 3D.  One thing we might see is a re-issue of “Lord of the Rings”:

Peter Jackson, director of The Lord of the Rings, said last spring that he wanted to reissue the trilogy in 3-D if Avatar persuaded enough cinemas to put in new 3-D projectors. Last week technicians at Weta, the production company that had worked on the trilogy, said they had experimented with 3-D battle scenes and proclaimed them to be “gob-smacking”.

The Lord of the Rings is expected to be re-released after Jackson has finished producing the two-part version of JRR Tolkien’s The Hobbit over the next two years. This would mean that a 3-D version of The Fellowship of the Ring, the first part of the trilogy, could be in cinemas by Christmas 2012.

That is, unless George Lucas beats them to the punch:

It may be beaten to the screen by a revamped version of Star Wars. George Lucas, the director, spent $13m filming the original in 1976, added special effects in 1997 and 2004, and will now spend another $10m to change it into a 3-D spectacular.

“George cannot leave it alone,” said an associate. “He is salivating at the opportunity to play with it again. This time the Death Star is really going to explode all over the audience and leave them gasping.”

I really wish GL would just leave his masterpieces alone. Personally, if they’re in 3D I’ll probably go see them again, I’m a sucker for both films.  However, I seriously doubt their ability to rake in Avatar-level cash with nothing but a postprocessed 3D gimmick.

via Avatar sparks 3-D makeover for action classics – Times Online.