I just saw the teaser trailer for AVATAR and was completely blown away.
(I highly recommend clicking through to YouTube and viewing the trailer in HD.)
James Cameron is directing. His first full-length feature film since Titanic (still the reigning champion of the box office). For those who don't know of Cameron, he also directed Terminator I and II and Aliens.
Description on Apple trailers:
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AVATAR takes us to a spectacular new world beyond our imagination, where a reluctant hero embarks on a journey of redemption and discovery, as he leads a heroic battle to save a civilization. The film was first conceived by Cameron 14 years ago, when the means to realize his vision did not yet exist. Now, after four years of actual production work, AVATAR delivers a fully immersive cinematic experience of a new kind, where the revolutionary technology invented to make the film, disappears into the emotion of the characters and the sweep of the story.
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IMDB's "The Buzz":
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THE BUZZ: James Cameron's response to upping the world of visual effects? He takes a new approach to 3D -- all the way down to creating his own cameras -- and augments the natural world by introducing new plant life and creatures to the aforementioned band of humans. It's the kind of anticipation that even makes President Roslin swoon. Meanwhile, Sam Worthington quietly has become new face of sci-fi. That makes us swoon.
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Apparently he tried to get the movie made in 1999 but the special effects didn't exist yet and thus the proposed budget was ~$400 million. The movie was shelved until recently. Cameron became convinced in 2002 that the special effects had evolved enough after seeing Gollum in Lord of the Rings.
Wikipedia Excerpt:
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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."[36] 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.[37] Spielberg and George Lucas were also able to visit the set to watch Cameron direct with the equipment.[13]
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The scope of this project is amazing and I can't wait to see it in IMAX 3D... December 18, 2009.
Movie-List.com - Assortment of sizes for the trailer.
Apple - Movie Trailers - HD Links (480p, 720p, 1080p)
IMDB Page - Cast, crew, details.
Wikipedia - Production and plot details.
*****I have now seen it and it is one of my favourite movies of all time! If you have ever watched a movie, the next one you see has to be AVATAR! Go see it in 3D, the way it is meant to be seen! *****