Remastered 4K, 3D Titanic steams towards cinemas

James Cameron has confirmed that the 3D version of his 1997 epic Titanic will hit cinema screens on 6 April next year.

In a statement, the director said: "There's a whole generation that's never seen Titanic as it was meant to be seen, on the big screen. And this will be Titanic as you've never seen it before, digitally remastered at 4K and painstakingly converted to 3D."

He added: "With the emotional power intact and the images more powerful than ever, this will be an epic experience for fans and newcomers alike."

Those of you who found the "emotional power" of Titanic entirely underwhelming will doubtless wonder whether adding an extra dimension to Leonardo DiCaprio and Kate Winslet will be worth the price of a ticket, but Cameron is convinced 3D is the way to go for Hollywood.

When he first announced he was mulling a three-dimensional sailing for Titanic, back in 2006, the helmsman insisted Tinseltown should produce "more digital 3D movies as a way of luring people back into cinemas and reducing piracy" and "fight back harder, come back blazing, not wither away and die".

However, after the initial 3D excitement – fuelled largely by the success of Avatar – died down, it appeared audiences had quickly tired of the novelty. US film critic Roger Ebert described 3D "a waste of a perfectly good dimension" which "adds nothing essential to the movie-going experience", except perhaps "nausea and headaches" for some cinema-goers.

The tri-dimensional Titanic's release has been planned to mark the 100th anniversary of the real ship's departure from England in 1912. The exact date was 10 April, Reuters notes, which inconveniently falls on a Tuesday next year. This is presumably why the film will set sail on 6 April – a far more lucrative Friday. ®