A paraplegic marine dispatched to the moon Pandora on a unique mission becomes torn between following his orders and protecting the world he feels is his home.
Director: James Cameron
Writer: James Cameron
Stars: Sam Worthington, Zoe Saldana and Sigourney Weaver.
Official site: http://www.avatarmovie.com/
Release date: UK 10 December 2009(London) (premiere)
USA 16 December 2009(Hollywood, California) (premiere)
Filming locations:
- Hamakua Coast, Hawaii, USA
- Hughes Aircraft - 909 N. Sepulveda Boulevard, El Segundo, California, USA
- Kaua'i, Hawaii, USA(rain forest)
- Los Angeles, California, USA
- O'ahu, Hawaii, USA
- Playa Vista, California, USA
- Stone Street Studios, Stone Street, Miramar, Wellington, New Zealand(studio)
- Wellington, New Zealand
Budget: $237,000,000 (estimated)
$4,007,750 (USA) (29 August 2010) (812 Screens)
$77,025,481 (USA) (20 December 2009) (3,452 Screens)
£8,509,050 (UK) (20 December 2009) (503 Screens)
Gross:
$760,505,847 (USA) (14 November 2010)$760,462,559 (USA) (7 November 2010)
$760,410,799 (USA) (31 October 2010)
$760,375,018 (USA) (24 October 2010)
$760,339,004 (USA) (17 October 2010)
$760,307,594 (USA) (10 October 2010)
$760,277,873 (USA) (4 October 2010)
$760,237,551 (USA) (26 September 2010)
$760,083,041 (USA) (19 September 2010)
$759,562,778 (USA) (12 September 2010)
$758,247,840 (USA) (5 September 2010)
$4,007,750 (USA) (29 August 2010)
$749,766,139 (USA) (8 August 2010)
$749,748,303 (USA) (1 August 2010)
$749,726,993 (USA) (25 July 2010)
$749,701,420 (USA) (18 July 2010)
$749,657,409 (USA) (11 July 2010)
$749,603,864 (USA) (4 July 2010)
$749,535,574 (USA) (27 June 2010)
$749,434,950 (USA) (20 June 2010)
$749,316,799 (USA) (13 June 2010)
$749,202,090 (USA) (6 June 2010)
$749,073,100 (USA) (30 May 2010)
$748,821,665 (USA) (23 May 2010)
$748,468,373 (USA) (16 May 2010)
$747,946,415 (USA) (9 May 2010)
$747,292,481 (USA) (2 May 2010)
$746,365,137 (USA) (25 April 2010)
$745,023,267 (USA) (18 April 2010)
$743,688,973 (USA) (11 April 2010)
$742,332,678 (USA) (4 April 2010)
$740,440,529 (USA) (28 March 2010)
$736,907,957 (USA) (21 March 2010)
$730,270,443 (USA) (14 March 2010)
$720,607,444 (USA) (7 March 2010)
$706,560,068 (USA) (28 February 2010)
$687,962,011 (USA) (21 February 2010)
$629,344,204 (USA) (7 February 2010)
$601,141,551 (USA) (2 February 2010)
$595,752,416 (USA) (31 January 2010)
$551,741,499 (USA) (24 January 2010)
$504,868,451 (USA) (17 January 2010)
$430,846,514 (USA) (10 January 2010)
$352,114,898 (USA) (3 January 2010)
$283,811,000 (USA) (31 December 2009)
$212,711,184 (USA) (27 December 2009)
$77,025,481 (USA) (20 December 2009)
£93,442,625 (UK) (5 September 2010)
£92,813,108 (UK) (29 August 2010)
£91,354,118 (UK) (4 April 2010)
£91,053,002 (UK) (28 March 2010)
£90,596,474 (UK) (21 March 2010)
£89,856,247 (UK) (14 March 2010)
£88,748,017 (UK) (7 March 2010)
£86,799,652 (UK) (28 February 2010)
£83,265,484 (UK) (21 February 2010)
£71,936,392 (UK) (7 February 2010)
£65,070,599 (UK) (31 January 2010)
£57,441,123 (UK) (24 January 2010)
£49,374,516 (UK) (17 January 2010)
£40,991,797 (UK) (10 January 2010)
£32,815,618 (UK) (3 January 2010)
£18,404,659 (UK) (27 December 2009)
£8,509,050 (UK) (20 December 2009)
Production Dates
March 2005Filming Dates
16 April 2007 - 1 December 2007Production Companies:
- Twentieth Century Fox Film Corporation- The Omen, Fantastic Four, Edward Scissorhands.
- Dune Entertainment- Jenifer's Body, Borat, The Devil Wears Prada
- Ingenious Film Partners- The Golden Compass, Night At The Museum, Hot Fuzz
- Lightstorm Entertainment- Titanic
Distributors:
- FS Film Oy (2009) (Finland) (theatrical)
- FS Film Oy (2010) (Finland) (DVD) (Blu-ray)
- 20th Century Fox Australia (2009) (Australia) (theatrical)
- 20th Century Fox Australia (2009) (New Zealand) (theatrical)
- 20th Century Fox Netherlands (2009) (Netherlands) (theatrical) (through Warner Bros.)
- 20th Century Fox (2009) (Belgium) (theatrical)
- 20th Century Fox (2009) (Canada) (theatrical)
- 20th Century Fox (2009) (France) (theatrical)
- 20th Century Fox (2009) (Japan) (theatrical)
- 20th Century Fox (2009) (Malaysia) (theatrical)
- 20th Century Fox (2009) (Sweden) (theatrical)
- 20th Century Fox (2009) (Singapore) (theatrical)
- 20th Century Fox de Argentina (2010) (Argentina) (theatrical)
- 20th Century Fox of Germany (2009) (Germany) (theatrical)
- Bontonfilm (2009) (Czech Republic) (theatrical)
- Castello Lopes Multimédia (2009) (Portugal) (theatrical)
- Forum Cinemas (2009) (Estonia) (theatrical)
- Forum Cinemas (2009) (Lithuania) (theatrical)
- Forum Cinemas (2009) (Latvia) (theatrical)
- Odeon (2009) (Greece) (theatrical)
- Tatrafilm (2009) (Slovakia) (theatrical)
- Twentieth Century Fox C.I.S. (2009) (Belarus) (theatrical)
- Twentieth Century Fox C.I.S. (2009) (Kazakhstan) (theatrical)
- Twentieth Century Fox C.I.S. (2009) (Russia) (theatrical)
- Twentieth Century Fox Film Corporation (2009) (USA) (theatrical)
- Warner Bros. (2009) (Netherlands) (theatrical) (through)
- 20th Century Fox Home Entertainment (2010) (Argentina) (DVD)
- 20th Century Fox Home Entertainment (2010) (Argentina) (DVD) (Blu-ray)
- 20th Century Fox Home Entertainment (2010) (Belgium) (DVD)
- 20th Century Fox Home Entertainment (2010) (Belgium) (DVD) (Blu-ray)
- 20th Century Fox Home Entertainment (2010) (Canada) (DVD)
- 20th Century Fox Home Entertainment (2010) (UK) (DVD)
- 20th Century Fox Home Entertainment (2010) (UK) (DVD) (Blu-ray)
- 20th Century Fox Home Entertainment (2010) (USA) (DVD)
- 20th Century Fox Home Entertainment (2010) (USA) (DVD) (Blu-ray)
- FX Network (2012) (USA) (TV) (cable)
- Home Box Office (HBO) (2010) (USA) (TV)
- Twentieth Century Fox Film Corporation
- Twentieth Century Fox Home Entertainment Germany (2010) (Germany) (DVD)
- Twentieth Century Fox Home Entertainment Germany (2010) (Germany) (DVD) (Blu-ray)
- Twentieth Century Fox Home Entertainment (2010) (Netherlands) (DVD)
- Twentieth Century Fox Home Entertainment (2010) (Netherlands) (DVD) (3-disc collector's edition)
- Twentieth Century Fox Home Entertainment (2010) (Netherlands) (DVD) (Blu-ray)
- Twentieth Century Fox Home Entertainment (2010) (Netherlands) (DVD) (Blu-ray) (3-disc collector's edition)
- BUF
- Blur Studio
- Framestore CFC
- Framestore
- Gentle Giant Studios
- Giant Studios (motion capture technology provided by)
- Halon Entertainment
- Hybride Technologies
- Hydraulx
- Industrial Light & Magic (ILM)
- Kerner Optical (3-D stereo photography)
- LOOK! Effects
- Legacy Effects (character designs and specialty props)
- Lola Visual Effects (visual effects)
- Pixel Liberation Front
- Prime Focus
- Stan Winston Studio (character effects)
- Third Floor, The (pre-visualization)
- Weta Digital
- Atlantic Records soundtrack
- Billionaire's Catering catering (as Billionaires Catering)
- Chapman/Leonard Studio Equipment camera cranes
- Chapman/Leonard Studio Equipment camera dollies
- Chapman/Leonard Studio Equipment hydrascope telescoping crane arm
- Chapman/Leonard Studio Equipment stabilized remote camera systems
- Codex Digital digital recording equipment
- Cunning Stunts Limited stunt equipment
- Direct Tools & Fasteners expendables
- Dolby Laboratories sound post-production
- Fairfield Studios post-production sound services
- Filmtools expendables
- Fisher Technical Services Rentals camera & performer flying system
- Gallagher Entertainment insurance (uncredited)
- Intelligent Media international monitoring agency
- Modern VideoFilm digital intermediate
- Movie Movers cast trailers
- Moving Pictures Anywhere Company shipping by
- Newman Scoring Stage, Twentieth Century Fox Studios, The music recorded at
- On Tour Productions transportation services
- PACE Fusion camera system
- Pacific Studios Inc. chromatrans background
- Panasonic special thanks
- Playback Technologies HD video assist equipment
- Rockbottom Rentals nextel cell phone rentals
- Rockbottom Rentals walkie rentals
- Scarlet Letters end titles
- Skatedolly camera dolly
- Skywalker Sound post-production sound services
- Spitfire Audio custom orchestral samples
- Star Waggons star trailers
- Stereo D 2D to 3D conversion
- Synxspeed post-production facilities (foreign dub)
Technical Specs:
Runtime:
162 min | 171 min (special edition) | 178 min (extended cut)Sound Mix:
Dolby Digital | DTS | SDDS | Sonics-DDP (IMAX version)Color:
ColorAspect Ratio:
1.78 : 1James Cameron originally planned to have the film completed for release in 1999. At the time, the special effects he wanted increased the budget to $400 million. No studio would fund the film, and it was shelved for eight years.
One of the most expensive movies ever made (as of December 2009), with an estimated budget of US $280,000,000.
The Na'vi language was created entirely from scratch by linguist Paul R. Frommer. James Cameron hired him to construct a language that the actors could pronounce easily, but did not resemble any single human language. Frommer created about 1000 words.
Though he is not credited in the film, several locations look very similar to paintings by English surrealist Roger Dean, most notably his works "Floating Islands" and "Arches".
The year is never stated, but the video log shows that the year is 2154. The final battle takes place during August 2154, 200 years from the date of James Cameron's birth.
The actors playing the Na'vi had cameras attached to their head so that they filmed close-ups of their faces. Dots painted on their faces allowed motion-capture software to record their facial expressions, providing a 'framework' from which the CG artists worked.
James Cameron's first directorial feature film since Titanic (1997).
Each frame (1/24 of a second) of the CGI scenes took an average of 47 man-hours to complete.
The film reached the US$500 million dollar mark in 32 days, beating The Dark Knight (2008)'s previous record of 45 days. James Cameron's previous film, Titanic (1997), took 98 days to reach the US$500 million dollar mark.
Became the highest-grossing film of all time on January 26th, 2010, with a final worldwide gross of US$ 2,779,404,183. The previous record-holder was Titanic (1997), also written and directed by James Cameron, with a worldwide gross of US$1,843,201,268.
To appease 20th Century Fox's fears, and remembering the harrowing experience of Titanic (1997) and its production overruns and costly delays, James Cameron promised to forgo his director's fee if Avatar (2009) flopped.
The first completely digitally shot movie to win the Oscar for Best Cinematography.
It stars:
The Avatar Three-Disc Extended Collector's Edition on DVD and Blu-ray was released on November 16, 2010. Three different versions of the film are present on the discs; the original theatrical cut, the special edition cut, and a collector's extended cut (all split into three parts on the DVD, but each in one part on the Blu-ray). The collector's extended cut contains 6 more minutes of footage, thus making it 16 minutes longer than the original theatrical cut. Cameron mentioned, "you can sit down, and in a continuous screening of the film, watch it with the Earth opening". He stated the "Earth opening" is an additional 4 1/2 minutes of scenes that were in the film for much of its production but were ultimately cut before the film's theatrical release.
Each frame (1/24 of a second) of the CGI scenes took an average of 47 man-hours to complete.
The film reached the US$500 million dollar mark in 32 days, beating The Dark Knight (2008)'s previous record of 45 days. James Cameron's previous film, Titanic (1997), took 98 days to reach the US$500 million dollar mark.
Became the highest-grossing film of all time on January 26th, 2010, with a final worldwide gross of US$ 2,779,404,183. The previous record-holder was Titanic (1997), also written and directed by James Cameron, with a worldwide gross of US$1,843,201,268.
First movie to ever cross the US$ 2,000,000,000 mark worldwide (and later the US$ 2.5 billion mark), making it the highest grossing film in history.
The first film to gross $700 million domestically in the United States. James Cameron's previous film Titanic (1997) was the first film to gross $500 and $600 million domestically.
The first movie to be shot with a 3D camera, to be released in 3D, and released in IMAX 3D to be nominated for the Best Picture Academy AwardTo appease 20th Century Fox's fears, and remembering the harrowing experience of Titanic (1997) and its production overruns and costly delays, James Cameron promised to forgo his director's fee if Avatar (2009) flopped.
The first completely digitally shot movie to win the Oscar for Best Cinematography.
It stars:
- Sam Worthington
- Zoe Saldana
- Stephen Lang
- Michelle Rodriguez
- Joel David Moore
- Giovanni Ribisi
- Sigourney Weaver
Development on Avatar began in 1994, when Cameron wrote an 80-page scriptment for the film. Filming was supposed to take place after the completion of Cameron's 1997 film Titanic, for a planned release in 1999, but according to Cameron, the necessary technology was not yet available to achieve his vision of the film. Work on the language for the film's extraterrestrial beings began in summer 2005, and Cameron began developing the screenplay and fictional universe in early 2006. Avatar was officially budgeted at $237 million. Other estimates put the cost between $280 million and $310 million for production and at $150 million for promotion. The film was released for traditional viewing, 3-D viewing (using theRealD 3D, Dolby 3D, XpanD 3D, and IMAX 3D formats), and "4-D" viewing. The stereoscopic filmmaking was touted as a breakthrough in cinematic technology.
Avatar was nominated for nine Academy Awards, including Best Picture and Best Director, and won three, for Best Cinematography, Best Visual Effects, and Best Art Direction. The film's home release went on to break opening sales records and became the top-selling Blu-ray of all time. Following the film's success, Cameron signed with 20th Century Fox to produce two sequels, making Avatar the first of a planned trilogy.
Marketing:
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. 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 onOctober 23, 2009, then soon after premiered online on Yahoo! onOctober 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 first place of all trailers viewed on Apple.com with 4 million views. On October 30, to celebrate the opening of the first 3-D 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, one of 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 Coca-Cola Company collaborated with Twentieth Century Fox to launch a worldwide marketing campaign to promote the film. The highlight of the campaign was the website AVTR.com. Specially marked bottles and cans of Coca-Cola Zero, when held in front of a webcam, enabled users to interact with the website's 3-D features using augmented reality (AR) technology. The film was 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. A week prior to American release, Zoe Saldana promoted the film on Adult Swim when she was interviewed by an animated Space Ghost.
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. HarperFestival 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 Jon Landau wrote the foreword, Cameron wrote the epilogue, and director Peter Jackson wrote the preface. In October 2010, Abrams Books also released The Making of Avatar, a 272 page book that detailed the film's production process and contains over 500 color photographs and illustrations.
In a 2009 interview, Cameron said that he planned to write a novel version of Avatar after the film was released. In February 2010, producer Jon Landau stated that Cameron plans a prequel novel forAvatar that will "lead up to telling the story of the movie, but it would go into much more depth about all the stories that we didn't have time to deal with", saying that "Jim wants to write a novel that is a big, epic story that fills in a lot of things".
Video games
Main article: James Cameron's Avatar: The Game
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.
Action figures and postage stamps
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 3-D 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 were also distributed in McDonald's Happy Meals in Argentina, Brazil, Canada, China, Colombia, the United States and Venezuela.
In December 2009, France Post released a special limited edition stamp based on Avatar, coinciding with the film's worldwide release.
Home media:
20th Century Fox Home Entertainment released the film on DVD and Blu-ray in the US on April 22, 2010 and in the UK on April 26. The US release was not on a Tuesday as is the norm, but was done to coincide with Earth Day. The first DVD and Blu-ray release does not contain any supplemental features other than the theatrical film and the disc menu in favor of and to make space for optimal picture and sound. The release also preserves the film's native 1.78:1 (16:9) format as Cameron felt that was the best format to watch the film. The Blu-ray disc contains DRM (BD+ 5) which some Blu-ray players might not support without a firmware update.
The Avatar Three-Disc Extended Collector's Edition on DVD and Blu-ray was released on November 16, 2010. Three different versions of the film are present on the discs; the original theatrical cut, the special edition cut, and a collector's extended cut (all split into three parts on the DVD, but each in one part on the Blu-ray). The collector's extended cut contains 6 more minutes of footage, thus making it 16 minutes longer than the original theatrical cut. Cameron mentioned, "you can sit down, and in a continuous screening of the film, watch it with the Earth opening". He stated the "Earth opening" is an additional 4 1/2 minutes of scenes that were in the film for much of its production but were ultimately cut before the film's theatrical release.
The release also includes an additional 45 minutes of deleted scenes and other extras.
Avatar set a first-day launch record in the U.S. for Blu-ray sales at 1.5 million units sold, breaking the record previously held by The Dark Knight (600,000 units sold). First-day DVD and Blu-ray sales combined were over 4 million units sold. In its first four days of release, sales of Avatar on Blu-ray reached 2.7 million in the United States and Canada – overtaking The Dark Knight to become the best ever selling Blu-ray release in the region. The release later broke the Blu-ray sales record in the UK the following week. In its first three weeks of release, the film sold a total of19.7 million DVD and Blu-ray discs combined, a new record for sales in that period. As of January 9, 2011, DVD sales (not including Blu-ray) totaled over 10.2 million units sold with$185 million in revenue.Trailer:
Cameron initially stated that Avatar would be released in 3-D around November 2010, but the studio issued a correction: "3-D is in the conceptual stage and Avatar will not be out on 3D Blu-ray in November." In May 2010, Fox stated that the 3-D version would be released some time in 2011. It was later revealed that Fox had given Panasonic an exclusive license for the 3-D Blu-ray version and only with the purchase of a Panasonic 3DTV. The length of Panasonic's exclusivity period is stated to last until February 2012. On October 2010, Cameron stated that the standalone 3-D Blu-ray would be the final version of the film's home release and that it was, "maybe one, two years out".
On Christmas Eve 2010, Avatar had its 3-D television world premiere on Sky.
Trailer: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5PSNL1qE6VY
Trailer: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5PSNL1qE6VY
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