AVATAR - See it in 3D if you haven't! #1 Movie All-Time Domestic & Worldwide!
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:
Quote:
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.
IMDB's "The Buzz":
Quote:
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.
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:
Quote:
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]
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! *****
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Last edited by Nehkara; 12-19-2009 at 02:09 PM.
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As I posted in the other thread, Fox put on a screening tonight of 15 minutes worth of footage from this movie - the screening was on the Chinook theatre IMAX screen. We were all given goofy looking 3D glasses. Sat and waited for the screening to start, saw the scene from the new Sandra Bullock movie where she sluts up her outfit when she realizes she's going on a date with that ######bag from The Hangover. James Cameron did a little intro spiel where he promised that all the footage was taken from the first half of the film and would have no major spoilers; in 3D it was a little like having James sit in your lap to talk to you.
I haven't actually ever seen a 3D movie before. 3D seems to be making a big comeback these days - almost every new movie being released appears to be in 3D. I have no idea if what we were shown is along the same lines as, or better or worse than what the current technology allows... but it was all 3D. The scenes we were shown were basically extended takes of some of the scenes from the trailer; for example, becoming a blue cat-creature, a battle with a ferocious alien beast, and a scene where a large bird-like alien beast is tamed and then flown from a great altitude down a yawning tropical chasm.
Not really sure what to say - as mentioned, I have no idea what the gold standard of 3D cinema is these days so I can't really comment on how this stacks up. The CG renderings look good - definitely less fuzzy in 3D than the live-action scenes that kicked off the preview - but it was still just a bunch of elaborate CG renderings not unlike a lot of what we see in mainstream movies these days; IMO, as good as it can look, it is somehow lacking. Not much storyline in what was shown; ditto any 'acting' (although one of the cat-people characters had a really annoying accent and general affectation). I will be interested to see how the final product delivers on what I personally think is an insurmountable level of hype and expectation - 12 years of waiting for a follow-up to the titanic Titanic.
I am most intrigued as to what was supposed to be the ultimate goal for today's screening. Is Fox hoping to stir up some kind of immense word-of-mouth marketing machine? For my part I will probably still go and see this movie in December - that was essentially foregone - but if Fox was expecting me to sit spellbound in my seat after the screening, requiring some time to gather myself together before rushing out and over-enthusiastically praising the life-changing experience I had, they're mistaken.
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Well, Cameron promised not to include major story elements in the 15-16 minute preview so I am not surprised that the plot was thin in the preview.
Even if the movie doesn't quite live up to the hype, which I still have some expectation that it will, the technology he has created to make this movie will likely have a significant and lasting impact on movies for a long time to come.
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When I saw Avatar, I thought you were talking about race fail.
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Life is all about ass; you’re either covering it, laughing it off, kicking it, kissing it, busting it, trying to get a piece of it, behaving like one, or you live with one!!!
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I wasn't condemning the preview screener for lacking story, just saying that because there wasn't much story that came through in the scenes we were shown, I couldn't really comment on that aspect of it.
This was an interesting move by Fox - did it work? IMO, not sure if it is building the kind of buzz that was maybe hoped for... this and the other Avatar thread on CP have barely garnered 20 responses from a messageboard that thrives on event films like this. Although it is early yet - could just need a bit more time to gather steam.
I wasn't condemning the preview screener for lacking story, just saying that because there wasn't much story that came through in the scenes we were shown, I couldn't really comment on that aspect of it.
This was an interesting move by Fox - did it work? IMO, not sure if it is building the kind of buzz that was maybe hoped for... this and the other Avatar thread on CP have barely garnered 20 responses from a messageboard that thrives on event films like this. Although it is early yet - could just need a bit more time to gather steam.
Oh, I completely understand that, I didn't mean to try to counter what you said. I was just suggesting the reason for the lack of story in the preview.
In terms of hype it is odd. This is considered a film that is very hyped and very anticipated but apparently not as much by this community... or maybe they are just too awed to say anything.
Anyway, I think that the goal for the screening was to show off the technology a bit. Try to get people excited. It is unfortunate if they fell short of that. I truly hope this movie does well.
The budget ended up as $237 million. I hope it can recoup that and make some money.
The last attempt to make a very photo realistic type of film was Final Fantasy: The Spirits Within which failed miserably, making only $32 million at the domestic box office.
James Cameron brings an interesting element though as he has an excellent resume.
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The movie will make $200 million in the first 4 days, easily. The actual budget is probably 300+ million though but the studios don't want to publicize such a number, too excessive. The studio spent $10 million just to have some "rough" conceptual footage done to get a feel for the project. Based on that, they saw enough in what was done to go forward.
This film will change the way movies are presented for certain. The 3D presentation is not a gimmick or used as in your face objects and shock moments. It's used to give far better immersion and scope. The only question mark is if people will buy into the story and the characters. If they do, the movie will pull in a huge audience. It won't matter much if the CG is not 100% believable, or if some renderings have glitches etc.
There are a fair number of mistakes in Titanic, some even distracting. But the pureness of the emotion carried the film, despite some cheese ball scenes and dialog.
The movie will make $200 million in the first 4 days, easily. The actual budget is probably 300+ million though but the studios don't want to publicize such a number, too excessive. The studio spent $10 million just to have some "rough" conceptual footage done to get a feel for the project. Based on that, they saw enough in what was done to go forward.
This film will change the way movies are presented for certain. The 3D presentation is not a gimmick or used as in your face objects and shock moments. It's used to give far better immersion and scope. The only question mark is if people will buy into the story and the characters. If they do, the movie will pull in a huge audience. It won't matter much if the CG is not 100% believable, or if some renderings have glitches etc.
There are a fair number of mistakes in Titanic, some even distracting. But the pureness of the emotion carried the film, despite some cheese ball scenes and dialog.
I agree.
I do think that the CG and 3D work will be near-perfect though as Cameron has been doing production on this movie for ~ four years. I think that these aspects of the film will be seen as a strength of the film.
It will all come down to how the audience relates to the characters and the story.
This film has the potential to incite a revolution within the film industry in terms of how movies are made... but in order to have its full impact it must be a financially and critical success.
James Cameron is following this film up with Battle Angel which will be filmed using all the same technologies developed for AVATAR.
After seeing what can be done with this technology, I would love for Warcraft to be filmed using it as it would have the capability to create the races and setting seamlessly.
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Am I the only person that thought Titanic was a titanic hunk of crap? Based on what I saw in the trailer, Avatar looks like a neat movie but I don't see what makes it so special or game changing.
Am I the only person that thought Titanic was a titanic hunk of crap? Based on what I saw in the trailer, Avatar looks like a neat movie but I don't see what makes it so special or game changing.
While I thought Titanic was a masterful movie on many levels, I do agree that the trailer for Avatar is underwhelming, at best, given the hype the movie has received. It looks like a glorified Disney movie coupled with Dances With Wolves. At least, that's the impression I got from watching it and I still don't see what the big deal is. Frankly, the effects, while pretty good, still fall quite squarely into the Uncanny Valley, which invokes the same eerie detached feeling I got while watching Final Fantasy a few years back. I've heard the screenplay is different, so it could still turn out really well, but I'm not seeing anything special so far.
AVATAR - See it in 3D if you haven't! #1 Movie All-Time Domestic & Worldwide!
