Avatar Sequels may Feature 3D That Doesn’t Require Glasses

Avatar 2 for the Nintendo 3DS has been confirmed. Maybe.

It’s easy to forget, but Avatar is biggest movie of all time. James Cameron’s CGI Pocahontas with blue cat aliens captivated swarms of moviegoers back in 2009, and made an unfathomable amount of money doing so. Turning this mega-hit into a franchise was obviously next step, but nearly seven years later, we still don’t have Avatar 2. 

We last got an update on the Avatar sequels from Cameron back in April, where he revealed we will be getting FOUR sequels supposedly hitting theaters in December 2018, 2020, 2022, and 2023. We don’t know exactly what is taking these movies so long to release, but we do know Cameron is a perfectionist who’s always looking for new and evolving tech to showcase in his films. 

This past weekend, Cameron received an honorary membership for the Society of Motion Picture and Television Engineers during the society’s Centennial Gala. 

During his acceptance speech for this prestigious recognition (held by other visionaries like Walt Disney and George Lucas), Cameron spoke to the technical innovation we can expect to see in the Avatar sequels: 

“I’m going to push. Not only for better tools, workflow, high dynamic range and high frame rates — the things we are working toward. I’m still very bullish on 3D, but we need brighter projection, and ultimately I think it can happen — with no glasses. We’ll get there.”

Let’s focus on Cameron’s desire for 3D without glasses. What does this mean? 

Well, “glasses-free 3D” can be achieved in a few ways, and most prominently through something called autostereoscopy. Basically, this method involves displaying two versions of the same images together at slightly different angles to create the illusion of depth. For example, the Nintendo 3DS uses a autostereoscopy technique called the parallax barrier, which is the placement of vertical shutters over a LCD screen to create the illusion of perceived 3D space. 

If you’ve ever seen a gif like the one below, it too is an example of a parallax barrier.

Here’s the problem though: for this technique to work, you need to be viewing the screen at a very specific angle, aka, the sweet spot, something all 3DS owners know too well.

So how will Cameron create glasses-less 3D for movie theaters? Will he utilize cameras attached to the projector screen that track our eye movements like the New 3DS? Will he utilize mirrored screens like this cinema at MIT? And most importantly, will he be able to create something that won’t cost movie theaters a fortune just to show these sequels?

If Cameron is able to pull off 3D without glasses, sign us up for more Avatar. A lot more Avatar. 

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