This article contains indepth information about the upcoming 3-D science fiction epic directed by James Cameron.
Avatar is a 2009 American science fiction epic film, written and
directed by James Cameron, and starring Sam Worthington, Zoë Saldana, Sigourney
Weaver, Michelle Rodriguez and Stephen Lang. The film is set in the year 2154 on
Pandora, a fictional Earth-like world in the Alpha Centauri planetary system.
Humans are engaged in mining Pandora's reserves of a precious mineral, while the
Na'vi—a race of indigenous humanoids—resist the colonists' expansion, which
threatens the continued existence of the Na'vi and the Pandoran ecosystem. The
film's title refers to the genetically engineered bodies used by the film's
characters to interact with the Na'vi.
Avatar had been in development since 1994 by Cameron, who wrote an 80-page
scriptment for the film. Filming was supposed to take place after the completion
of Titanic,
and the film would have been released in 1999, but according to Cameron,
"technology needed to catch up" with his vision of the film. In early 2006,
Cameron developed the script, the language, and the culture of Pandora. He
mentioned that sequels are possible if Avatar is successful.
The film was released in traditional 2-D and 3-D, as well as IMAX 3D formats.
Avatar is officially budgeted at $237 million; other estimates put the cost
at $280–310 million to produce and an estimated $150 million for marketing. The
film is being touted as a breakthrough in terms of filmmaking technology, for
its development of 3D viewing and stereoscopic filmmaking with cameras that were
specially designed for the film's production. Opening to critical acclaim and
commercial success, it grossed an estimated $27 million on its opening day and
made $77,025,481 in the United States and Canada on its opening weekend.
Worldwide, Avatar grossed an estimated $232,180,000 on its opening
weekend, the ninth-largest opening-weekend gross of all time, and the largest
for a non-franchise, non-sequel and original film. After 17 days in release, it
became the fastest film to reach $1 billion in box office receipts and the fifth
to gross more than $1 billion worldwide. Less than three weeks after its
release, the film became the second highest grossing film of all time worldwide.
Plot
In 2154, the RDA corporation is mining Pandora, a lush, Earth-like moon of the
planet Polyphemus. Parker Selfridge (Giovanni Ribisi) heads the mining
operation, and it employs former marines for security. The corporation intends
to exploit Pandora's reserves of a valuable mineral called unobtanium. Pandora
is inhabited by the Na’vi, a blue-skinned species of sapient humanoids with
feline characteristics. Physically stronger and taller than humans, the Na'vi
live in harmony with Nature, worshiping a mother goddess called Eywa.
Humans cannot survive exposure to Pandora’s atmosphere for very long and use
oxygen masks. In an attempt to improve relations with the natives, scientists
create human-Na’vi hybrids called avatars, controlled by genetically-matched
human operators. Jake Sully (Sam Worthington), a paraplegic former marine,
becomes a last-minute replacement for his murdered identical twin brother, a
scientist trained to be an avatar operator. Dr. Grace Augustine (Sigourney
Weaver), the head of the Avatar Program, considers Sully an inadequate
replacement for his brother, and relegates him to a bodyguard role.
Jake escorts Augustine and biologist Norm Spellman (Joel David Moore) on an
exploratory mission in their avatar forms to make contact with the Na'vi, in
order to help establish diplomatic relations, solve the problem of resources and
end the threat of violence. The group is attacked by a predator, and Jake
becomes separated and lost. Forced to survive the night in Pandora’s dangerous
jungles, he is rescued by Neytiri (Zoe Saldana), a female Na'vi. Neytiri brings
Jake to Hometree, which is inhabited by Neytiri’s clan, the Omaticaya. Mo'at (C.
C. H. Pounder), the Na'vi shaman and Neytiri's mother, shows interest in the
warrior "Dream-walker" (their term for the Avatars), and instructs her daughter
to teach Jake their ways. Colonel Miles Quaritch (Stephen Lang), leader of the
security forces for RDA, hears of Jake's unique relationship with the Omaticaya
and promises Jake his "real legs" in exchange for intelligence about the natives
and what it will take for them to abandon Hometree, which rests above a large
deposit of unobtanium.
Over three months, Jake grows close to Neytiri and the Omaticaya and begins
preferring their lifestyle, eroding his loyalty toward RDA's agenda. He is
initiated into the Omaticaya, and he and Neytiri reveal their love for each
other, choosing each other as mates. Jake's change of loyalty is revealed when
he disables a bulldozer's cameras as it destroys the tribe's "Tree of Voices".
Col. - Quaritch disconnects Jake from his avatar and presents Selfridge and
Augustine with a vlog in which Jake admits that his mission is fruitless; the
Omaticaya will never abandon Hometree. Selfridge is convinced that negotiations
will fail and orders Hometree's destruction.
Augustine argues that the destruction of Hometree could affect the vast
bio-botanical neural network that all Pandoran organisms are connected to, and
Selfridge gives Jake and Augustine one hour to convince the Na’vi to leave
Hometree. When he reveals his mission to the Omaticaya, Neytiri accuses him of
betraying them, resulting in Jake and Augustine's imprisonment. Quaritch’s
forces destroy Hometree, killing Eytucan (Wes Studi), Neytiri's father and clan
chief, and many others. Jake and Augustine are disconnected from their avatars
and detained for treason along with Norm. Trudy Chacón (Michelle Rodriguez), a
security force pilot who is disgusted by the violence, breaks them out. During
their escape Quaritch shoots Augustine. With Augustine dying, Jake turns to the
Omaticaya for help. To regain their trust he tames the Toruk, a powerful flying
beast that only five Na'vi have ever tamed. Jake flies to the Omaticaya, who
have gathered at the sacred Tree of Souls, and pleads with Mo'at to heal
Augustine. They attempt to transplant her "soul" into her avatar, but her
injuries are too severe and she dies before the ritual can be completed.
With the assistance of Neytiri and Tsu'Tey (Laz Alonso), the new leader of the
Omaticaya, Jake assembles thousands of Na'vi from other clans. Jake prays to
Eywa to intercede on behalf of the Na'vi in the coming battle. Quaritch, noting
the mobilization of Na'vi clans, convinces Selfridge to authorize a preemptive
strike on the Tree of Souls. Because it is a center of Na'vi religion and
culture, its destruction would leave the Na'vi too demoralized to resist further
human encroachment.
As the corporation's army attacks, the Na'vi retaliate but suffer heavy
casualties, among them Tsu'Tey and Trudy. When the Na'vi are on the verge of
defeat, the Pandoran wildlife suddenly attacks the corporation's forces,
overwhelming them. Neytiri interprets this as Eywa answering Jake's prayer. Jake
destroys the main bomber before it can reach the Tree of Souls. Col. Quaritch
escapes and finds the avatar interface pod where Jake's human body is located
and attacks it, exposing Jake to Pandora's atmosphere. Neytiri kills Quaritch
and saves Jake. With the attack repelled, Neytiri and Jake reaffirm their love
as she sees his human body for the first time.
Selfridge and the military personnel are expelled from Pandora, while Jake,
Norm, and the scientists studying Pandora are allowed to remain. Jake is seen
wearing the insignia of the Omaticaya leader. The film ends with Jake's
consciousness being transplanted into his Na'vi avatar permanently by the Tree
of Souls.
Cast and Characters
Humans
- Sam Worthington as Corporal Jake Sully, a disabled Marine who
becomes part of the Avatar Program. Cameron cast the Australian actor after
searching the world for promising young actors, preferring relative unknowns
to keep the budget down. Worthington, who was living in his car at the time,
auditioned twice early in development, and he has signed on for possible
sequels. Cameron felt that because Worthington had not done a major film, he
was "game for anything", giving the character "a quality that is really real.
He has that quality of being a guy you'd want to have a beer with, and he
ultimately becomes a leader who transforms the world".
- Sigourney Weaver as Dr. Grace Augustine, a botanist and head of the Avatar
Program. She mentors Jake Sully, and was an advocate of peaceful relations with
the Na'vi, setting up a school to teach them English. Weaver dyed her hair red
for the part. The character was named "Shipley" at one point, a reference to
the character she played in
Aliens
which was directed by Cameron. Weaver said that Augustine reminded her of
Cameron, being "very driven and very idealistic".
- Michelle Rodriguez as Trudy Chacón, a Marine fighter pilot assigned to support
the Avatar Program. Cameron had wanted to work with Rodriguez since seeing her
in Girlfight.
- Giovanni Ribisi as Parker Selfridge, the corporate administrator
for the RDA mining operation and one of the film's primary antagonists.
- Joel David Moore as Norm Spellman, an anthropologist, who studies plant and
nature life as part of the Avatar Program. He arrives on Pandora at the same
time as Jake Sully, and assumes control of an avatar.
- Stephen Lang as Colonel Miles Quaritch, a security contractor who heads the
mining operation's security detail, and serves as the film's primary antagonist.
Lang had unsuccessfully auditioned for a role in Cameron's
Aliens (1986); the director remembered Lang and cast him in Avatar. Michael Biehn, who was in
Aliens, read the script and watched some of the 3D footage with Cameron, but
was ultimately not cast in the role.
- Dileep Rao as Dr. Max Patel, a scientist who works in the Avatar
Program.
- Matt Gerald as Corporal Lyle Wainfleet, a security contractor working under
Colonel Quaritch.
Na'vi
- Zoe Saldana as Neytiri, princess of the Omaticaya, the Na'vi clan
central to the story, who is attracted to Jake because of his bravery. The
character, like all the Na'vi, was created using performance capture, and is
entirely computer generated. Saldana has also signed on for potential
sequels.
- C. C. H. Pounder as Mo'at, the Omaticaya's spiritual leader,
Neytiri's mother, and consort to clan leader Eytucan.
- Laz Alonso as Tsu'tey, heir to the chieftainship of the tribe,
and Neytiri's betrothed, prior to the events of the film.
- Wes Studi as Eytucan, the Omaticaya's clan leader, husband of
Mo'at and Neytiri's father.
- Peter Mensah as Akwey, leader of a plains clan of Na'vi.
Production
Development
In 1994, director James Cameron wrote an
80-page scriptment for Avatar. Cameron said his inspiration was "every
single science fiction book I read as a kid", and that he was particularly
striving to update the style of Edgar Rice Burroughs' John Carter series. The
premise of a paralyzed man whose mind is remotely controlling an alien body is
very similar to Poul Anderson's 1957 short story Call me Joe - similar enough
for there to have been calls by some for Anderson to receive some form of
credit. In August 1996, Cameron announced that after completing Titanic,
he would film Avatar, which would make use of "synthetic", or
computer-generated, actors. The project would cost $100 million and involve at
least six actors in leading roles "who appear to be real but do not exist in
the physical world". Special effects house Digital Domain, with whom Cameron
has a partnership, joined the project, which was supposed to begin production
in the summer of 1997 for a 1999 release. However, that was not to be, due to
the special effects he wanted running the budget up to $400 million, which
made the film impossible to be made.
In June 2005, director Cameron was announced to be working on a project
tentatively titled "Project 880", concurrently with another project, Battle
Angel. By December, Cameron said that he planned to film Battle Angel
first for a summer 2007 release, and to film Project 880 for a 2009 release.
In February 2006, Cameron said he had switched goals for the two film projects
– Project 880 was now scheduled for 2007 and Battle Angel for 2009. He
indicated that the release of Project 880 would possibly be delayed until
2008. Later that February, Cameron revealed that Project 880 was "a retooled
version of Avatar", a film that he had tried to make years earlier, citing the
technological advances in the creation of the computer-generated characters
Gollum,
King
Kong and Davy Jones. Cameron had chosen Avatar over Battle
Angel after completing a five-day camera test in the previous year.
Cameron's early scriptment for Avatar had circulated on the Internet for
years. When the project was re-announced, copies were subsequently removed
from websites. From January to April 2006, Cameron worked on the script.
Working with Dr. Paul Frommer, linguist and Director of the Center for
Management Communication at USC, he developed a Na'vi language and culture,
the indigenous race on Pandora. The language has a vocabulary of about 1000
words, with some 30 having been invented by Cameron. The tongue's phonemes
include ejective consonants (such as the "kx" in "skxawng") that are found in
the Amharic language of Ethiopia, and the initial "ng" that Cameron may have
taken from New Zealand Māori.
Jodie S. Holt, professor of plant physiology at UC Riverside, met with
Sigourney Weaver and set designers to talk about the way botanists would study
and sample plants, but also about the way to explain the communication between
plants and the Na'vi.
In July 2006, Cameron announced that he would film Avatar for a summer 2008
release and planned to begin principal photography with an established cast by
February 2007. The following August, the visual effects studio Weta Digital
signed on to help Cameron produce Avatar.[48] Stan Winston, who had
collaborated with Cameron in the past, joined Avatar to help with the film's
designs. In September 2006, Cameron was announced to be using his own Reality
Camera System to film in 3-D. The system would use two high-definition cameras
in a single camera body to create depth perception.
In December 2006, Cameron described Avatar as "a futuristic tale set on
a planet 200 years hence [...] an old-fashioned jungle adventure with an
environmental conscience [that] aspires to a mythic level of storytelling".
The January 2007 press release described the film: "Avatar is also an
emotional journey of redemption and revolution. It is the story of a wounded
former Marine, thrust unwillingly into an effort to settle and exploit an
exotic planet rich in biodiversity, who eventually crosses over to lead the
indigenous race in a battle for survival," and "We're creating an entire
world, a complete ecosystem of phantasmagorical plants and creatures, and a
native people with a rich culture and language."
Estimates put the cost of the film at about $280–310 million to produce and an
estimated $150 million for marketing, noting that about $30 million in tax
credits will lessen the financial impact on the studio and its financiers.
However, a studio spokesperson, speaking with film website The Wrap, said that
the budget "is $237 million, with $150 million for promotion, end of story".
Cameron stated that if
Avatar was successful, he hoped to make two sequels to the film. In a
2009 interview, he stated that the story arc he developed is large enough to
cover two more films. Cameron also mentioned that the sequel's story arc would
begin after the events of the first film and that it would continue to follow
the characters Jake and Neytiri.
Themes and Inspirations
Avatar is primarily an action-adventure journey of self-discovery, in the
context of imperialism and biodiversity. Cameron has said that Avatar
shares themes with the films At Play in the Fields of the Lord and
The Emerald Forest, which feature clashes between cultures and
civilizations, and acknowledged the film's connection with
Dances With Wolves, where a battered soldier finds himself drawn to
the culture he was initially fighting against.
In a 2007 interview with Time magazine, Cameron addressed the meaning of the
film's title: answering the question "What is an avatar, anyway?" Cameron
stated, "It's an incarnation of one of the Hindu gods taking a flesh form." He
said that "in this film what that means is that the human technology in the
future is capable of injecting a human's intelligence into a remotely located
body, a biological body". Cameron stated, "It's not an avatar in the sense of
just existing as ones and zeroes in cyberspace. It's actually a physical
body."
The look of the Na'vi, the characters native to the world depicted in the
film, was inspired by a dream that Cameron's mother had long before he wrote
Avatar. She dreamt about a 12-foot-tall blue woman and he thought "that's kind
of a cool image". So in 1976 or 1977, he put into his first screenplay a
planet with a native population that was 12 feet tall and blue, and
"gorgeous", which later became the basis for the Na'vi in Avatar.
At Comic Con 2009, Cameron told attendees that he wanted to make "something
that has this spoonful of sugar of all the action and the adventure and all
that". He wanted this to thrill him "as a fan" but also have a conscience
"that maybe in the enjoying of it makes you think a little bit about the way
you interact with nature and your fellow man". He added that "the Na'vi
represent something that is our higher selves, or our aspirational selves,
what we would like to think we are" and that even though there are good humans
within the film, the humans "represent what we know to be the parts of
ourselves that are trashing our world and maybe condemning ourselves to a grim
future".
The film has vivid scenes of combat, but it is also about peace. Cameron
acknowledged that it implicitly criticizes America's War in Iraq and the
impersonal nature of mechanized warfare in general. In reference to the use of
the term "shock and awe" in the film, Cameron stated, "We know what it feels
like to launch the missiles. We don't know what it feels like for them to land
on our home soil, not in America." A scene in the film portrays the violent
destruction of the towering Na'vi Hometree, which collapses in flames after a
missile attack, coating the landscape with ash and floating embers. When asked
about the scene's visual resemblance to the events of the September 11 attacks
on the World Trade Center, Cameron said he had been "surprised at how much it
did look like September 11".our
world and maybe condemning ourselves to a grim future."
Filming and effects
In December 2006, Cameron explained that the delay in producing the film since
the 1990s had been to wait until the technology necessary to create his
project was advanced enough. The director planned to create photo-realistic
computer-generated characters by using motion capture animation technology, on
which he had been doing work for the past 14 months. Unlike previous
performance capture systems, where the digital environment is added after the
actors' motions have been captured, Cameron's new virtual camera allows him to
observe directly on a monitor how the actors' virtual counterparts interact
with the movie's digital world in real time and adjust and direct the scenes
just as if shooting live action; "It’s like a big, powerful game engine. If I
want to fly through space, or change my perspective, I can. I can turn the
whole scene into a living miniature and go through it on a 50 to 1 scale."
Cameron planned to continue developing the special effects for Avatar, which
he hoped would be released in summer 2009. He also gave fellow directors
Steven Spielberg and Peter Jackson a chance to test the new technology.
Spielberg and George Lucas were also able to visit the set to watch Cameron
direct with the equipment.
Other technological innovations include a performance-capture stage, called
The Volume, which is six times larger than previously used and an improved
method of capturing facial expressions. The tool is a small individually made
skull cap with a tiny camera attached to it, located in front of the actors'
face which collects information about their facial expressions and eyes, which
is then transmitted to the computers. This way, Cameron intends to transfer
about 95% of the actors' performances to their digital counterparts. Besides a
real time virtual world, the team is also experimenting with a way of letting
computer generated characters interact with real actors on a real, live-action
set while shooting live action.
In January 2007, Fox announced that the studio's Avatar would be filmed in 3D
at 24 frames per second. Cameron described the film as a hybrid with a full
live-action shoot in combination with computer-generated characters and live
environments. "Ideally at the end of the day the audience has no idea which
they’re looking at," Cameron said. The director indicated that he had already
worked four months on non-principal scenes for the film. Principal photography
began in April 2007, and was done around parts of Los Angeles as well as New
Zealand. The live action is shot with the proprietary Fusion digital 3-D
camera system developed by Cameron and Vince Pace. According to Cameron, the
film will be composed of 60% computer-generated elements and 40% live action,
as well as traditional miniatures. The performance-capture photography would
last 31 days at the Hughes Aircraft stage in Playa Vista, Los Angeles,
California. In October, Cameron was scheduled to shoot live-action in New
Zealand for another 31 days.
To create the human mining colony on Pandora, production designers visited the
Noble Clyde Boudreaux drilling rig in the Gulf of Mexico during June 2007.
They photographed, measured and filmed every aspect of the rig, which was
replicated on-screen with photorealistic CGI. More than a thousand people
worked on the production. Cameron sent the cast of
Avatar
off to the jungle for bonding boot-camp exercises before he started shooting
the film. Cameron has revealed that a deleted extended "sex scene" between
characters Jake Sully and Neytiri will be included with the future DVD
releases of the film. It was excluded from the theatrical version to maintain
a PG-13 rating.
In a 2009 profile in The New Yorker, Cameron claimed that the digital elements
of Avatar are believable enough that the audience will be unable to tell
reality from computer animation. In Cameron's words, "This film integrates my
life's achievements... it's the most complicated stuff anyone's ever done."
Music and Soundtrack
Composer James Horner will score the film, his third collaboration with
Cameron after
Aliens
and
Titanic. Horner recorded parts of the score with a small chorus
singing in the alien language Na'vi in March 2008. He is also working with
Wanda Bryant, an ethnomusicologist, to create a music culture for the alien
race. The first scoring sessions were planned to take place in the Spring of
2009. Leona Lewis has been chosen to sing the theme song for the film, which
will be called "I See You". An accompanying music video is also in production.
An accompanying music video, directed by Jake Nava, premiered December 15,
2009 on MySpace.
Marketing
Cameron, producer Jon Landau, Zoe Saldana, Stephen Lang, and Sigourney
Weaver appeared at a panel, moderated by Tom Rothman, at the 2009 San Diego
Comic-Con on July 23. Twenty-five minutes of footage was screened in Dolby 3D.
Weaver and Cameron appeared at additional panels to promote the film, speaking
on the 23rd and 24th respectively. James Cameron announced at the Comic-Con
Avatar Panel that August 21 will be 'Avatar Day'. On this day the trailer for
the film was released in all theatrical formats. The official game trailer and
toy line of the film were also unveiled on this day.
The 129 second trailer was released online on August 20, 2009. The new
210-second trailer was premiered in theatres with on October 23, 2009, then
soon after premiered online on Yahoo! on October 29, 2009, to positive
reviews. An extended version in IMAX 3D received overwhelmingly positive
reviews. The Hollywood Reporter said that audience expectations were coloured
by "the [same] establishment skepticism that preceded Titanic" and suggested
the showing reflected the desire for original storytelling. The teaser has
been among the most viewed trailers in the history of film marketing, reaching
the 1st place of all trailers viewed on Apple.com with 4 million views. On
October 30, to celebrate the opening of the first 3D cinema in Vietnam, Fox
allowed Megastar Cinema to screen exclusive 16 minutes of Avatar to a number
of press.
The three-and-a-half minute trailer of the film premiered live on November 1,
2009 during a Dallas Cowboys football game at Cowboys Stadium in Arlington,
Texas on the Diamond Vision screen, the world's largest video display, and to
TV audiences viewing the game on Fox. It is said to be the largest live motion
picture trailer viewing in history.
The film is heavily promoted in an episode of the Fox Network series Bones in
the episode "The Gamer In The Grease" (Season 5, Episode 9). Avatar
star Joel David Moore has a recurring role on the program, and is seen in the
episode anxiously awaiting the release of the film.
Books
Avatar: A Confidential Report on the Biological and Social History of
Pandora, a 224-page book in the form of a field guide to the film's
fictional setting of the planet of Pandora, was released by Harper
Entertainment on November 24, 2009. It is presented as a compilation of data
collected by the humans about Pandora and the life on it, written by Maria
Wilhelm and Dirk Mathison. Harper Festival also released Wilhelm's 48-page
James Cameron's Avatar: The Reusable Scrapbook for children. The Art
of Avatar: James Cameron's Epic Adventure was released on November 30,
2009 by Abrams Books. The book features detailed production artwork from the
film, including production sketches, illustrations by Lisa Fitzpatrick, and
film stills. Producer John Landau wrote the foreword, Cameron wrote the
epilogue, and director Peter Jackson wrote the preface.
In a 2009 interview, Cameron said that he planned to write a novel version of
Avatar some time after the film released.
Video games
Cameron chose Ubisoft Montreal to create an Avatar game for the film in 2007.
The filmmakers and game developers collaborated heavily, and Cameron decided
to include some of Ubisoft's vehicle and creature designs into the film. James
Cameron's Avatar: The Game was released on December 1, 2009, for most home
video game consoles (PS3, Xbox 360, Wii, Nintendo DS, iPhone), Microsoft
Windows and December 8 for PSP. All versions are rated T by the ESRB (the
iPhone version is rated +9 by Apple).
Action figures
Mattel Toys announced in December 2009 that it would be introducing a line of
Avatar action figures. Each action figure will be made with a 3D web tag,
called an i-TAG, that consumers can scan using a web cam, revealing unique
on-screen content that is special to each specific action figure. A series of
toys representing six different characters from the film are also being
distributed in McDonald's Happy Meals in the United States and Canada.
Release
Avatar premiered in London on December 10, 2009, and was released
theatrically worldwide from December 16–18. The film was originally set for
release on May 22, 2009 during filming, but was pushed back to allow more
post-production time, and to also give more time for theatres worldwide to
install 3-D projectors. Cameron stated that the film's aspect ratio would be
1.78:1 for 3-D screenings and that a 2.39:1 image would be extracted for 2-D
screenings. However, the 1.78:1 aspect ratio is actually exclusive to IMAX 3D
screenings while all other projection methods (including digital 3-D) use the
2.35:1 extract. The first photo of the film was released on August 14, 2009,
and Empire magazine released exclusive images from the film in its October
issue.
Internationally, Avatar opened between December 16 and 18, on a total
of 14,604 screens in 106 territories, of which 3,671 are running it in 3D (56%
of the first weekend gross).
IMAX Corporation and Twentieth Century Fox announced that James Cameron's
Avatar would open in 178 IMAX theatres in the US on December 18, 2009,
simultaneously with the motion picture's premiere in conventional theatres.
The IMAX 3D release also opened in 83 IMAX theatres internationally starting
on December 16, for a total of 261 theatres, making this the widest IMAX
release to date. The previous IMAX theatres record was 231, when
Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince opened up in 161 IMAX theatres
in the US, and about 70 international. Avatar was released in a total
of 3457 theatres in the US, of which 2032 theatres are running it in 3D. In
total 90% of all advance ticket sales for Avatar were for 3D
screenings.
Box office
Avatar earned $3,537,000 from midnight screenings in the United States
and Canada, partly due to the fact that it was limited to 2,200 3D screens.
The film earned $27 million on its opening day, and $77,025,481 over its
opening weekend in the United States and Canada, making it the second largest
December opening ever, behind
I Am Legend, and the 25th largest national United States weekend
opening, despite a blizzard which blanketed the East Coast of the United
States and reportedly hurt its opening weekend. International markets
generating opening weekend tallies of at least $10 million were: Russia ($20.8
million), France ($20.3 million), the UK ($14.1 million), Germany ($13.2
million), Australia ($11.9 million), South Korea ($11.4 million) and Spain
($10.9 million). Avatar's worldwide gross was an estimated $232,180,000
after three days, the ninth largest opening-weekend gross of all time, and the
largest for a non-franchise, non-sequel and original film. The film's revenues
decreased by a mere 1.9% in its second weekend in the United States and Canada
markets, earning $75,589,048 to remain in first place at the box office. The
film broke
The Dark Knight 's record for the biggest second weekend of all time.
The film experienced another small decrease in revenue in its third weekend,
dropping 9.7% for an estimated $68,300,000 domestically, once again remaining
#1 at the box office. This breaks
Spider-Man 's long standing record of $45,036,912 as the highest
grossing third weekend of all time. On the 17th day of the film's release, it
crossed the $1 billion mark worldwide making it the fastest film ever to do so
in history. After only 19 days of being released, Avatar has come to
gross $374,445,852 in the United States and Canada and $757,306,612 in other
territories with a worldwide total of $1,131,752,464. This now makes the film
the second highest grossing of all time worldwide.
Before its release, various film critics and fan communities predicted the
film would be a significant disappointment at the box office, much like had
been thought of Cameron's previous film
Titanic
(though it later became the highest-grossing film of all time, unadjusted for
inflation). This criticism ranged from Avatar's film budget, to its concept
and use of 3-D "blue cat people". Slate magazine's Daniel Engber complimented
the 3-D effects, but also criticized their character aspect for reminding him
of certain CGI characters from the Star Wars prequel films and for
having the "uncanny valley" effect.
Box office analysts' opinions differed from much of the Internet criticism
about the film. Traditional analysts estimated that the film would be a box
office success. "The holy grail of 3-D has finally arrived," said Jeff Bock,
box-office analyst for Exhibitor Relations. "This is why all these 3-D venues
were built: for Avatar. This is the one. The behemoth." The
"cautionary estimate" was that Avatar would bring in around $60 million in its
opening weekend. Bock felt that the number would fall between $80 million and
100 million, or more than that. Jeffrey Wells of Hollywood Elsewhere
quoted a box-office seer who believed Avatar would make about $70 million on
its opening weekend. Additionally, analysts believed the film's
three-dimensionality would help its box office performance, given that recent
3-D films had been successful.
Cameron said he felt the pressure of the predictions, but that pressure is
good for film-makers. "It makes us think about our audiences and what the
audience wants," he stated. "We owe them a good time. We owe them a piece of
good entertainment." Cameron did not want to preach to the audience, but
rather "bring them in" and make sure they have a good time. Though he felt
Avatar would appeal to everyone and that the film could not afford to have
a target demographic, he especially wanted hard-core science-fiction fans to
see it. "If I can just get 'em in the damn theater, the film will act on them
in the way it's supposed to, in terms of taking them on an amazing journey and
giving them this rich emotional experience," stated Cameron.
Regarding sentiment that Avatar would need repeat business to be a true
success, Cameron agreed that sharing is a part of successful films. "When
people have an experience that's very powerful in the movie theatre, they want
to go share it. They want to grab their friend and bring them, so that they
can enjoy it," he said. "They want to be the person to bring them the news
that this is something worth having in their life. That's how Titanic
worked."
Since the film's release and unusually strong box office performance, it has
been debated as the one film capable of surpassing Titanic's worldwide
gross, and its seemingly surreal strength has perplexed box office analysts.
"Most films are considered to be healthy if they manage anything less than a
50% drop from their first weekend to their second. Dipping just more 11% from
the first to the third is unheard of," relayed Paul Dergarabedian, president
of box-office analysis for Hollywood.com. "This is just unprecedented," he
said. "I had to do a double take. I thought it was a miscalculation." Though
other films in recent years have been cited as contenders for surpassing
Titanic,
most recently
The Dark Knight, Avatar is considered the first genuine film
with a chance at doing so, and its numbers being aided by higher ticket prices
for 3D screenings has failed to explain its thorough success to box office
analysts. "What's also impressive is that Avatar made it through the holiday
season in first place three consecutive weekends with a number of other highly
competitive titles standing in its way," stated Dergarabedian. "Everyone
stayed out of the way for Dark Knight. But nobody got out of the way
for Avatar."
Dergarabedian and other analysts predicted that second place for the all-time
box office gross would be guaranteed for the film, but first place is not as
certain. "...It's a big, $800 million leap from
The Lord of the Rings: The Return of the King to Titanic,"
Dergarabedian said. "Avatar still would have to claim the worldwide
box-office that 2009's second-place film,
Transformers: Revenge of the Fallen, got during its entire three-month
run. Today's films flame out much faster than they did when Titanic was
released." Brandon Gray, president of Box Office Mojo, stated, "It certainly
has a chance to [beat Titanic]. But it's too early to say because it's
only played during the holidays." He said, "While Avatar may beat
Titanic's revenue record, it will be tough, and the film is unlikely to
surpass Titanic in attendance. Ticket prices were about $3 cheaper in
the late 1990s."
Critical reception
The film received generally positive reviews from film critics. Review
aggregator Rotten Tomatoes reports that 82% of 241 professional critics have
given the film a positive review, with a rating average of 7.4 out of 10.
Among Rotten Tomatoes's Top Critics, which consists of popular and notable
critics from the top newspapers, websites, television and radio programs, the
film holds an even better overall approval rating of 94%, based on a sample of
34 reviews. The site's general consensus is that "It might be more impressive
on a technical level than as a piece of storytelling, but
Avatar reaffirms James Cameron's singular gift for imaginative,
absorbing filmmaking." On Metacritic, which assigns a normalized rating out of
100 to reviews from film critics, the film has a rating score of 84 based on
35 reviews, indicating "universal acclaim".
Roger Ebert of the Chicago Sun-Times called the film "extraordinary" and gave
it four stars out of four. "Watching Avatar, I felt sort of the same as when I
saw
Star Wars in 1977," he said. Like Star Wars and The Lord of
the Rings, the film "employs a new generation of special effects". A. O.
Scott of At The Movies also compared viewing the film to the first time he
viewed Star Wars. He said "the script is a little bit ... obvious" but
that "is part of what made it work". Todd McCarthy of Variety praised the
film. "The King of the World sets his sights on creating another world
entirely in Avatar, and it's very much a place worth visiting." Kirk Honeycutt
of The Hollywood Reporter gave the film a positive review. "The screen is
alive with more action and the soundtrack pops with more robust music than any
dozen sci-fi shoot-'em-ups you care to mention," he stated. Rolling Stone film
critic Peter Travers praised the film, giving it 3.5 out of 4 stars and in his
print review wrote, "It extends the possibilities of what movies can do.
Cameron's talent may just be as big as his dreams." Richard Corliss of TIME
Magazine stated, "Embrace the movie — surely the most vivid and convincing
creation of a fantasy world ever seen in the history of moving pictures."
Kenneth Turan of the Los Angeles Times felt the film has "powerful" visual
accomplishments but "flat dialogue" and "obvious characterization".
James Berardinelli, film critic for ReelViews, praised the film and its story,
giving it 4 out of 4 stars he wrote, "In 3D, it's immersive - but the
traditional film elements - story, character, editing, theme, emotional
resonance, etc. - are presented with sufficient expertise to make even the 2D
version an engrossing 2 1/2-hour experience."
Armond White of the New York Press wrote that Cameron used villainous American
characters to misrepresent the facts of militarism, capitalism, and
imperialism. Ross Douthat of The New York Times opined that the film is
Cameron’s case for pantheism, which "has been Hollywood’s religion of choice
for a generation now." Russell D. Moore in The Christian Post reasoned
propaganda exists in the film and stated, "If you can get a theater full of
people in Kentucky to stand and applaud the defeat of their country in war,
then you’ve got some amazing special effects." Adam Cohen of The New York
Times was more positive, calling the anti-imperialist message "a 22nd-century
version of the American colonists vs. the British, India vs. the Raj, or Latin
America vs. United Fruit". Annalee Newitz of io9 concluded that Avatar is
another film that has the recurring "fantasy about race" where "some white
guy" becomes the "most awesome" member of a non-white culture.
In terms of plot, film critic Ty Burr of the Boston Globe called it "the same
movie" as
Dances with Wolves. Parallels to the concept and use of an avatar were
in Poul Anderson's 1957 short story Call Me Joe, where a paralyzed man uses
his mind to remotely control an alien body. Other reviews have compared it to
the films Fern Gully: The Last Rainforest and Pocahontas. NPR's
Morning Edition has compared the movie to a montage of tropes with one friend
of an editor stating that Avatar was made by mixing a bunch of movie scripts
in a blender. Cameron acknowledged that the film is thematically similar to
such classic "going-native" films as Dances with Wolves and At Play
in the Fields of the Lord.
The movie blog /Film accumulated a list of quotes about Avatar from
fourteen writers and directors in Hollywood. From Steven Spielberg, "The most
evocative and amazing science-fiction movie since Star Wars." Frank
Marshall wrote, "Avatar is audacious and awe inspiring. It’s truly
extraordinary...". Richard Kelly stated that the film was "amazing". John
August called the film a "master class". Michael Moore recommended, "Go see
Avatar, a brilliant movie [for] our times." The only negative reaction in
the list was from Duncan Jones, "It’s not in my top three Jim Cameron films. "
... "at what point in the film did you have any doubt what was going to happen
next?" Director Guillermo del Toro was reportedly "blown away" by the film,
and also praised the technology behind it, while Cameron's ex-wife Kathryn
Bigelow stated that she "loved" the film.
Awards and Nominations
The New York Film Critics Online have honored
the film with its Best Picture award. The film also received nine nominations
for the Critics' Choice Awards of the Broadcast Film Critics Association,
including those for Best Picture and Best Director. St. Louis Film Critics
have nominated the film for two of its annual awards—Best Visual Effects and
Most Original, Innovative or Creative Film, and the film won both awards. The
film was a runner-up for the best Production Design award of the Los Angeles
Film Critics Association annual awards.
The film also picked up four nominations for the 67th Golden Globe Awards
including Best Motion Picture – Drama, Best Director, Best Film Score and Best
Film Song. The Austin Film Critics Association and the Dallas-Fort Worth Film
Critics Association have placed the film on their top ten films of the year
lists, while Chicago Film Critics Association has nominated the film for its
annual Best Cinematography and Best Original Score awards. The Las Vegas Film
Critics Society has awarded the film with Best Art Direction award, while Florida Film Critics Circle honored the film with
Best Cinematography award. London Film Critics' Circle has nominated the
film for its Film of the Year and Director of the Year annual awards. Phoenix Film Critics Society has honored the film with Best Cinematography,
Best Film Editing, Best Production Design and "Best Visual Effect awards and
also included it on its top-ten films of the year list. The Online Film
Critics Society has nominated the film for "Best Director", "Best
Cinematography" and "Best Editing" awards. The film was also nominated by
the Producers Guild of America for its "Darryl F. Zanuck Producer of the
Year Award in Theatrical Motion Pictures". James Cameron has been named as one
of the 2009 Nominees for Outstanding Directorial Achievement in Feature Film
awarded by the Directors Guild of America.
The film is considered to be a front-runner for Best Picture at the 82nd
Academy Awards due to its strong box-office and critical reception, and
reportedly successful screening held for Academy members.
This article uses material from the Wikipedia
article "Avatar" and is licensed under the
GNU Free Documentation License.
