James Cameron, Peter Jackson Talk Future of Film

"Titanic." "Lord of the Rings." "Aliens." "King Kong." "The Terminator."

In this undated photo provided by 20th Century Fox, "Avatar" director James Cameron is shown on the set of the film. (AP Photo/20th Century Fox, Mark Fellman)

(AP)

The men behind those movies, James Cameron and Peter Jackson, are among modern film's special-effects kings, advancing technology in computer-generated imagery, motion-capture photography and 3-D.

They met up at Comic Con Friday for an hourlong discussion moderated by Entertainment Weekly about the future of film, sharing details on their latest projects, their high-tech hopes and the undiminished allure of original, character-driven stories.

The two filmmakers say they inspired each other. Cameron said it was the artistic use of "humanoid CG" in Jackson's "Lord of the Rings" films that got him rolling on "Avatar," set for release Dec. 18.

Jackson has said that the technology he used was borne out of Cameron's CGI work on "The Abyss" and "Terminator 2."

Both are thrilled by the possibilities of 3-D and plan to convert their biggest hits, "Titanic" and the "Lord of the Rings" trilogy, into the format. Then they lamented the shortage of 3-D screens.

"There will be a lot more 3-D screens when they know the 'Lord of the Rings' films are going to be available," Cameron said.

The movie industry needs 3-D, he said, to inspire originality and boost its bottom line. A "3-D ecosystem" could be built on big films converting to the format.

"If 'Lord of the Rings' and 'Titanic' are available in 3-D, that sends a signal all the way back to the consumer electronics manufacturers: Make the screens, make the modified Blue Ray DVD players so you can have it in your home," Cameron said.

That would reinvigorate sagging DVD sales, which would give studios the financial flexibility to take more risks on original and boundary-pushing material.

"The film industry is in this weird state of falling box office, or so the studios feel; DVDs are down, internet piracy, and it's in a fragile state," Jackson said. "It feels like the entire industry is playing a defensive game at the moment."