James Cameron to help on BBC 3D Dinosaur Project

Award winning film director James Cameron is to lend his expertise to the BBC in a project to bring the “Walking with Dinosaurs” franchise up to date with a 3-D version of the six part series.  Oscar winner Cameron, whose portfolio of work includes Titanic and Avatar, will be bringing the Cameron/Pace Group’s film expertise working alongside BBC Earth Films, Reliance Pictures and Evergreen Films to produce what is promised to be a spectacular dinosaur series, one of the most expensive projects the BBC has ever been involved in.

Neil Nightingale, Creative Director for BBC Earth Films commented:

“Cameron/Pace Group shares our vision of setting a new benchmark for immersive 3-D film with Walking with Dinosaurs 3-D.  It’s exciting to be joining forces with them to bring audiences a truly extraordinary experience.  We’ll be using the highest technical and creative standards in 3-D photography to immerse our audience in the film, they will truly feel right in amongst the action, part of the astonishing prehistoric world of the dinosaurs.”

Walking with Dinosaurs

James Cameron, perhaps more familiar with working with Hollywood A-listers than Jurassic herbivores added:

“Walking with Dinosaurs 3-D offers a fantastic opportunity to push our advances in 3-D even further.  We’re inspired by the creative ambition behind the film and the opportunity to work on a feature that aims to bring audiences a real, visceral experience.”

The BBC press release provides a teaser to all this by stating that the production combines world-class factual content with captivating storytelling that will take audiences on an unprecedented journey.   The story told is one of the greatest ever to have unfolded on Earth: a story of families born and families torn apart, of growing up, of rivalry and competition and the relentless struggle to survive.  Walking with Dinosaurs 3-D is all the more jaw-dropping for being grounded in fact, it will be the closest audiences can get to exploring our world 70 million years ago.

Dinosaurs in 3-D in 2013 (Release Date in Two Years Time)

Picture credit: BBC Press Release

Team members at Everything Dinosaur are excited by the news, although they had been aware of the BBC’s ambition to make a 3-D project involving dinosaurs as a flagship event to showcase the technology.  The benchmark will have to be high, especially after the initial reaction to the CGI used in the forthcoming BBC documentary series “Planet Dinosaur” was lukewarm in some quarters.

The production will immerse audiences in the prehistoric age using photo-real backdrops and combining these with true-to-life animation from the Academy Award-winning animation house Animal Logic (“Happy Feet”) working with leading animation producer Jinko Gotoh (“9”, “Finding Nemo”).  The widely anticipated film is fully financed by Reliance Entertainment with worldwide rights being handled by its subsidiary IM Global.  Twentieth Century Fox holds US rights and has scheduled the film for a late 2013 release.

To read an article about Everything Dinosaur team members helping out at a “Walking with Dinosaurs” exhibition: Everything Dinosaur Helps Out with Dinosaur Exhibition.

We will have to wait and see..

Everything Dinosaur would like to thank the BBC Press Service for their help with this article.

To view replicas and figures of dinosaurs that will feature in the movie including Pachyrhinosaurus (whilst stocks last): PNSO Pachyrhinosaurus Models and Dinosaur Figures.