Feel the force of 3D fashion as Star Wars cashes in on craze

On the back of James Cameron's 3D epic Avatar, which has so far taken a humungous $1.14bn in its first three weeks, Star Wars guru George Lucas has apparently green-lit once tentative plans to transform the six-film saga into 3D.

From a commercial perspective it's a given. Star Wars is a timeless slice of fantasy that continues to win over new fans. It's been re-released before and made a packet. 3D is the natural progression.

What's more, it's going to be unbelievably cheap to make the transition from the films' current 2D format to the wow factor of 3D. The cost is said to be as little as $10m.

Lucas has long been castigated by fans for tinkering with his creation. In the late '90s he released Star Wars, The Empire Strikes Back and Return of the Jedi as special editions, newly augmented with fresh material, eye-popping visual effects and a few tweaks that had aficionados choking on their popcorn.

There were those who turned their backs on the new versions, preferring the purity of the originals. Others accepted what Lucas professed to be doing: putting the finishing touches to an on-going project courtesy of computer wizardry that wasn't available in the '70s and '80s.

It took Cameron 14 years to bring Avatar to fruition. He was forced to wait until technology caught up with his imagination. Lucas is doing it the other way around: "retro fitting" his films with available technology and making a killing in the process.

And according to the company that does the work, a 2D film can be converted to 3D in just four months.

At some point, modern audiences' fascination with 3D will wane, just as it did in the '30s, '50s and every other decade that witnessed an explosion in interest in what is, truth be told, just another gimmick, albeit a feast for the eyes.

I was a Star Wars kid in 1977. I collected the sticker books, the action figures, the posters and the jigsaw puzzles. Now, as a fortysomething father-of-two, my subconscious tells me to get excited all over again over the prospect of seeing Star Wars, and to relive my childhood.

But I know I'll only bother seeing the original three films, and not the dreary prequels that followed. Millions of ageing fanboys will do the same.

So why is Lucas bothering to convert all six films and not merely the original stories? Because it'll cost him just $60m to do so. And because he can.