Was James Cameron Ripped Off By Sony?

It’s pretty safe to say that without the massive success of James Cameron’s “Avatar,” the current interest in 3D would definitely not be anywhere near what it is right now, and certainly, studios all over Hollywood wouldn’t be applying the format to pretty much every tentpole in their stable of upcoming projects.

As a result, every TV manufacturer is rushing to play catch up by getting 3D enabled televisions into stores as soon as possible. While we don’t know the nuts and bolts of the technology, we presume these forthcoming sets (and BluRay players) will accurately reproduce the image required to allow for a 3D experience when wearing those clunky glasses.

Back in January at the Consumer Electronics Show, Sony CEO Sir Howard Stringer unveiled the company’s plans for 3D enabled televisions, with the first set of units hitting stores in Japan in June, and presumably in the United States by the end of the year. The company expects the interested in 3D to account for 10% of its sales next year (though everyone we know, especially those who have recently bought a flat screen TV, balk at the idea of buying another one just for 3D).

However, as Deadline reports, speaking to Business Week back in January (yes, this would classify the story as “old” but this is the first anyone seems to have noticed) Cameron was asked about Sony’s plans and had some very interesting feedback: “There’s an interesting history there because, about 6 or 7 months ago, I had a closed-door secret presentation to Howard Stringer of a new business venture, and I mapped out what I believed was going to be the future of 3D and how many television sets were going to be entering the home and how there would initially be a dearth of 3D content and blah, blah, blah. I basically mapped out an entire strategy that he promptly announced a week later at the Sony stockholders’ meeting. His speech was pretty much culled verbatim from my presentation. So thank you, Howard.”

Interviewer Charlie Rose then went on to suggest that perhaps Stringer was paying Cameron some form of flattery, to which the director replied, “A more sincere form would have been to actually make the deal I was proposing.”

So what’s our take? It looks like Cameron did a lot of market research for Sony who took it and then showed him the door. We’re not sure what the “business venture” Cameron was proposing (helping on the technical end perhaps?) but clearly Sony didn’t want to involve him even if they were using his notes and outlook on the industry. It is interesting to note that “Avatar” was shot using Sony’s 3D cameras, and you can read Stringer’s interview regarding the format here.

It’s a little odd that this story has largely sat unnoticed all this time. No lawsuits as far as we can tell have been launched, and perhaps this will just be an interesting sidenote in the history of 3D. But clearly, Cameron is pissed and with the story now picking up steam it will be interesting to see what the reaction from both corners will be.