James Cameron conducts a Q&A session and a 4K presentation for “The Abyss”

After a screening of the film’s seldom seen two hours and 51 minute Special Edition, director James Cameron made an unexpected visit at the Los Angeles science fiction and fantasy event “Beyond Fest” for a Q&A about his movie “The Abyss.”

Unbeknownst to the audience (but subsequently verified by festival programmers), the DCP presentation turned out to be the 4K conversion Cameron revealed last year; despite his claim that he had no control over the physical or streaming copies, all work has now been finished, according to ‘Variety’.

In answer to a query from the audience, Cameron replied, “All of the mastering is done and I believe it releases very soon – a couple of months or something like that.

There is a ton of more content that has been added, and it will all be streamed at the same time. But I wasn’t content to just watch the outdated HD copy. I wanted to do it correctly, he continued.

The movie, which was released in 1989, was one of the director’s few works that did not instantly find success on the box office, making just under $90 million worldwide on a rumored budget of around half that amount, according to ‘Variety’.

Speaking to moderator Jim Hemphill, Cameron recognized the wide range of inspirations that went into creating the film’s tapestry of romance, extraterrestrial encounters, and Cold War politics.

“I think anybody who was a movie fan at that time, we’re talking 34 years ago — could see the DNA from other movies, from ‘Close Encounters’ to the Cold War movies, so obviously I was being pulled in different directions,” he remarked.

“But ‘The Day the Earth Stood Still,’ a philosophical science fiction picture that posed the question ‘are we worthy if we were to be judged by a higher intelligence?’ stood out above the rest. Growing up, it had a significant influence on me, and I wanted to create my own version of it, but with the underwater setting since I was captivated by it.

Despite its lack of box office success, “The Abyss” has gained cult status and is recognized for its impressive visual effects, which subsequently impacted Cameron’s work in “Terminator 2.”