The director used his share of blue screens for his hit movie Titanic and he was working on the technology he used on Avatar before SkyCaptain came out.
As an example of a film he believes had an effect despite flopping, Rabin cites the 2004 movie SkyCaptain and the World of Tomorrow which he praises for its technological innovation.
In one instance, it lights up the sky for a band of early 18th-century Caribbean pirates, including their Irish-accented captain, Elizabeth Bonny (Anna Friel).