Cameron, in his much-fussed comeback, adds to his multi-hyphenate display of titles of writer/producer/director his brand new venture as a digital engineer, as he masterminds the invention of this entirely advanced technology that would bleed the eyes of those who watch it. This is not an unfound claim: movie moguls Spielberg, Jackson and Del Toro have emerged out impressed after a footage screening of Avatar, the project that Cameron’s been tinkering with since he vanished out of moviemaking radar. The triumvirate have also signed themselves to Cameron’s digital effects company. It’s only safe to say that we should expect a 3D Adventures of Tin-tin and quite possibly The Hobbit. And since what Cameron is up to seems to be everybody’s business all of a sudden (he probably assumes himself as a latter-day incarnation of Orson Welles), it takes either a blundering idiot or a Neanderthal sensitivity not to notice the recent flux of 3D-fied films. Pixar’s Up is flaunting at the top line, and Toy Story 3 is following the format, too. In about time, we will be witnessing a revival of old films reformatted for the 3-D audience, untouched classics like Lawrence of Arabia, 2001: A Space Odyssey, and very likely Titanic will get the facelift as well.

This is all very nice and well, marking yet another era of a cinematic revolution, pushing envelopes of innovation much further, bettering and intensifying moviegoing experience. Whilst the basic format of 3D is not really a new-fangled one (this has been going on since the 1930s), it gives a picture that special oomph and boost that two-dimensional image into a life-like, visceral depth of field. If you’ve watched the 3D My Bloody Valentine, decapitated heads will be lobbed at you and blood will spill out the screen. But not quite literally. The illusion of this format would understandably bring the audience closer to the events unfolding onscreen, hence life-like.

But the question is: do we really need this kind of venture? I, for one, isn’t exactly taken much into this ongoing 3D craze. The last 3D experience I’ve been to (gobbling up dinosaurs and prehistoric mammals in Ice Age 3) was a very uncomfortable affair, anguishing about eyestrain post-viewing as if your eyeballs have been jabbed by needles. Another thing, bespectacled people will find it irritating to have to wear those thickset 3D glasses on top of their normal eyeglasses, and some will find both altogether slipping off their noses due to added weight. Imagine watching a ultra-kinetic, slam-bang action sequence – and then it all goes suddenly blurred because your lenses had fallen off.

What is more, what would happen to the real movie experience that cinema has been built for? Its artistic aspects and judicious approaches? 3D might give a picture a depth of field – but what about films shot in high-definition with characters and stories of real depth? This is arguably a better, more profound moviegoing experience than witnessing an empty spectacle of visuals. What is even more worrying is that autuers like Alfonso Cúaron has reportedly observed the wonders of 3-D, and that it is not only applicable to action scenes. He’s now thinking of hopping onboard the vehicle, and portray an actionless film in 3-D. Think of a heavy drama with an equally heavy three-dimensional vision. It might just work. Then again, it might not.

Since Hollywood is famed for hoisting just about any technological, or artistic, innovation in plain sight, we’d expect this is a done deal for the future. A great deal of the American audience is very gullible to this kind of fodder, things like mindless Michael Bay exploits of robotic orgies rocket up to box-office giants. After all, Hollywood is a one big fat money-making cow. It just milks anything. Whatever Cameron’s doing to justify himself, lording over corporate projects and stirring up big rocks in the Hollywood terrain, brace yourself for a movement to arrive, inevitable, formidable and gut-churning. And oh, watch out for those eyes. Try a trip down your local Specsavers, they might do prescribed 3D glasses in 10-months time. Cameron might prove us all wrong.