So very close!! The Boxoffice take for the weekend is in and Avatar still isn’t the #1 Worldwide seat filler of all time.

Avatar has far exceeded the boxoffice results that I had anticipated. All along I thought the movie was going to be as ground breaking as the rumours implied, but I honestly didn’t see it killing at the boxoffice this much.

And the excuse that it doesn’t deserve it considering the rise in prices, and the additional income brought on by the premium you pay to see it in 3D? I don’t think that takes anything at all away from the achievement.

The 3D added to the appeal of the movie to showcase the technology in a medium in which it truly shines. So that appeal earned it some extra money? Isn’t that what all films do? The appeal of a film makes you go when its not Cheap Tuesdays, and the appeal of the film makes you see it before its a cheap rental at the corner Blockbuster. The 3D made you go see it and the extra 25% premium some paid to see this would still put this film ahead of the previous #2 Worldwide (Lord of the Rings: Return of the King) assuming everyone paid for 3D.

Yes, those numbers are to be considered, but I think that it is the appeal that makes the difference. The only thing I am wondering (if anyone knows how to calculate it) is market value. How is the change of the value of a dollar impact this?

In other boxoffice news, Alvin And the Chipmunks the Squeakquel is sitting at $364m worldwide right now, which squeaks it just past Sherlock Holmes at $363m. Alvin is beating Sherlock. Go figure.

Via

Seems a doctor lays claim that the invigorating excitement caused by watching Avatar is responsible for a frail man’s stroke which lead to his death.

/Film shares

A 42-year-old Taiwanese man died of a stroke, which his doctor claims was likely triggered by “over-excitement” from watching James Cameron’s Avatar in 3D. According to News.com.au, the man began to feel sick during a screening earlier this month and was taken to hospital.

Its a bit of a stretch, but still morbidly amusing that they would place this man in such a high risk that the amusement of watching a visually stimulating movie was enough to trigger the events that lead to his death.

I mean if we are going to set this chain off saying Avatar killed him, shouldn’t we also look at his history of high blood pressure? Perhaps we should they say that a pig killed him because he ate too much bacon? Or say his father killed him for handing down a genetic likelyhood to heart disease?

I find this kind of story interesting, but at the same time it is sensationalism that attaches a very small picture to a life of conditions that all lead to this unfortunate circumstance.

So yeah, the movie was so awesome it caused his head to explode. That’s what happened.

While a small group of Hindus are claiming the word avatar is for their exclusive use and the rest of the world rolls their eyes, the Vatican was quietly waiting its turn to protest James Cameron’s insanely popular film.

In a recent review of the film (I don’t know why they bother to review fiction) the official news outlet of the Vatican has spoken out against James Cameron for attempting to lead the flock away from God with his “Nature Worship”

Huffington Post shares:

The Vatican newspaper and radio station have called the film “Avatar” simplistic, and criticized it for flirting with modern doctrines that promote the worship of nature as a substitute for religion.

L’Osservatore Romano and Vatican Radio dedicated ample coverage to James Cameron’s big-grossing, 3-D spectacle. But the reviews were lukewarm, calling the movie superficial in its eco-message, despite groundbreaking visual effects.

L’Osservatore said the film “gets bogged down by a spiritualism linked to the worship of nature.” Similarly, Vatican Radio said it “cleverly winks at all those pseudo-doctrines that turn ecology into the religion of the millennium.”

“Nature is no longer a creation to defend, but a divinity to worship,” the radio said.

I quite expect ANY film that doesn’t have direct worship of God in the exact manner that they instruct you to will earn their wrath.

Now its not like the Vatican is launching an all out boycott on the film. The official radio station just gave it a poor review for conflicting with the only right way to view the world.

I wonder if the Vatican has ever heard of the concept of FICTION before?

I might have thought I was looking at the wrong report when I saw this weeks boxoffice draw, but then I noticed Leap Year, Daybreakers, and Youth in Revolt (way down) on the list.

But it does look a lot like last week, with Avatar sitting firmly on top with Sherlock Holmes right behind it, and still filling seats, Alvin and the Chipmunks: The Squeakquel. It isn’t until the #4 spot that we start seeing the week’s new releases.

Boxoffice Mojo dutifully compiles:

Avatar $48,500,000 Domestic Total$429,040,000
Sherlock Holmes $16,610,000 Domestic Total $165,178,000
Alvin and the Chipmunks: The Squeakquel $16,300,000 Domestic Total $178,184,000
Daybreakers $15,000,000 Domestic Total $15,000,000
It’s Complicated $11,007,000 Domestic Total $76,370,000
Leap Year $9,165,000 Domestic Total $9,165,000

I am not at all surprised to see Avatar STILL sitting way out in front, but what I was surprised with is that the current releases couldn’t crack the top three…. even Alvin’s Squeakquel is holding off the competition after its 3rd week in that spot.

I would have thought the buzz on such films might have waned after a couple of weeks leaving the theaters ripe for new audiences to check out a non-sparkly vampire flick, or even Amy Adams latest dose of charm personified.

Even Youth in Revolt, the first Cera flick I have actually WANTED to see in a while came in ninth!

But Cameron won’t give up that top spot, and there is little sign of it slowing down. I wonder just how many weeks it will sit at #1. The January/February release schedule is where they send movies to die, so when will it see any real competition?

There isn’t a lot of high profile/broad appeal films coming out in the next month or so.
Maybe Shutter Island?

While last week Avatar was snuggly fitting into its number five spot in the Worldwide Boxoffice of All Time, it has since cruised right past Pirates and Hobbits alike to cozy right up against the last film Cameron made to land at second place of all time. In 20 days.

Boxoffice Mojo charts it out:

ALL TIME WORLDWIDE
1. Titanic $1,842,879,955
2. Avatar $1,131,752,464
3. Return of the King $1,119,110,941
4. Dead Man’s Chest $1,066,179,725
5. The Dark Knight $1,001,921,825

Yup, so there it is. 20 days.

It still has a bit of a stretch to go to earn a spot in the Top 10 Domestic list. Star Wars Episode III: Revenge of the Sith is currently guarding that spot with a respectable $380million.

But what do we have coming up? Yeah, Avatar’s 4th weekend on the big screen. And it is setting its sights on that next goal with its current $352million.

So all it has to do is rake in some local $28m to take the spot. And in the first three weeks it has easily been bringing in the dough, and has shown only modest declines in boxoffice. Its very achievable.

I was skeptical about each benchmark this film breaks, so I am done doubting. Nothing this film does surprises me anymore.

With Avatar just dominating the boxoffice, it was only a matter of time before it inched ahead of The Dark Knight’s impressive billion.

But will it eventually climb to the top of that list?

Boxoffice Mojo reports the All Time Worldwide takes:

1. Titanic $1,842,879,955
2. Return of the King $1,119,110,941
3. Dead Man’s Chest $1,066,179,725
4. Avatar $1,018,811,000
5. The Dark Knight $1,001,921,825

Avatar sure has a LOT of steam just flying in a staggering 3 weeks to accomplish that cool billion.

However Avatar still hasn’t matched The Dark Knight’s domestic boxoffice.

I have only to wonder how much longer this will last? Can Cameron’s Magnum Opus trump his previous film - Titanic, that currently has a comfy untouchable #1 spot with $1.8billion worldwide?

Here I was wondering if the film would have the broad appeal it would need to even make back its rumoured $500million production budget, let alone the hidden costs of promotion.

Now I was never a fan of the puppet sex extravaganza that was Team America, but I did find this to be a rather clever mashup offering the Avatar Trailer soundclip against scenes of Team America.

Team Avatar: Pandora Police!

Ok, that did make me laugh more than Team America did.

Via

A whole slew of TV spots for Avatar have been put online for the final push to the release, and now a number of them have been collected together and we have them here for you.

Avatar Beyond Imagination

Avatar Greatest Adventure

Avatar Greatest Adventure 2

Avatar TV Spot 12

Avatar From James Cameron

Avatar New Life

Fox Sports even had some fun with it, and Sports Commentator Terry Bradshaw is imported into the film.

Via

My Holiday Season is just Ramped and this will be at the hieght of it. I am so jonesed to see this!

It seems that James Cameron never settles for the easy way out. He could have made Avatar 10 years ago with the existing technology, and had The Phantom Menace level animations. But he developed a new animation techonolgy instead.

He also created a new language. Or rather, he had USC Prof Paul Frommer do it for him.

Worst Previews quotes:

“The constraint, of course, is that the language I created had to be spoken by humans,” Frommer told LA Times. “I could have let my imagination run wild and come up with all sorts of weird sounds, but I was limited by what a human actor could actually do.”

But even though the language was created with humans in mind, “Avatar” actors still struggled to get the words out correctly. “It was so hard and I was really concerned about it,” said Zoe Saldana. “I didn’t think I could get through it. I’m not good with languages. All the actors, we worked together. It was the only way.”

It is impressive enough to think that an entire language was constructed for the characters to speak instead of just paying attention to detail to make sure their babbling sounded a little more structured.

Not since Klingon earned itself a dictionary has a language been laid out so specifically in film. Even the very convincing sounding “Divine Language” that Milla Jovovich spills in Fifth Element made any sense grammatically, but it was there.

This attention to detail fascinates me and scares me at the same time. Does Cameron really think it would be worth it to create a fictional language just to add a level of credbility to the movie?

Wouldn’t semi structured babbling do just as well?

Cameron’s Avatar is so close to being released and finally we will see if the film lives up to its hype. So far it looks like a fun ride but I am keeping my expectations low.

ScreenRant says:

It was speculated that the runtime of Cameron’s big budget 3D epic was over three hours but it is now confirmed to be two and a half hours (150 minutes) or around 156 minutes including the credit sequence. This of course is confirmed theatrical release running length so you can expect to see more on the home video releases that follow.

This is about the same running time that The Dark Knight carried, so with luck the film will keep you captivated enough to have you sitting through this long runtime.

This is also the magic number that allows the theater to still pack in as many viewings a night to maximize boxoffice intake. If it had the expected run time it might cut into the number of potential daily viewings and as mentioned it gives promise of an extended cut to be released on DVD and Blu.

There is also a new clip featuring a less blue character, Colonel Quaritch.

Are you counting down days or will a decade of anticipation lower your buzz?

The Avatar Poster was a bit of a teaser, and it just didn’t impress me that much. But teasers rarely do.

This fake poster was created and I just love the crap out of it.

The dual image of Worthington in the picture speaks volumes of the plot, and the true to the overall feeling of the film.

The person who put this together did a hell of a job. I hope the real poster is half as good as this!

Via

Last week we got to see the full trailer for Avatar, but as of that time, a full HD version had yet to make the rounds. Well over the weekend it was posted at legitimate hosts where it wouldn’t be ganked, so in case you missed it, I am putting it up here.

Its also fun to watch again. And for all those people barking that this looks nothing better than a video game, I am really curious as to what games you are playing because I would LOVE to play something that looks this real!

In a previous post today we have the International Avatar Trailer, but also released recently was this 4 minute featurette clip about the making of the film.

Its been floating around a couple days, but I didn’t want to post it until we got the real one, but to hell with it.

Here is the International Trailer for Avatar:

The aliens do look very real, and the eyes do not have that creepy look to them. The aliens do have a bit of a cartoony look to them with the bold blue skin. That kinda of makes them look a little “fake” but I don’t mind. Their whole world seems to be filled with vibrantly coloured creatures and plantlife, so it works.

I also like that the trailer spells out the story a little better, though it is as we presumed. Human takes an alien “Avatar” form and infiltrates the indigenous population and becomes sympathetic to their plight in the process.

If a better version comes online, I will be sure to post it!

A pile of hi-res images from Avatar has hit the net.

I am hopeful about the film, and its looking great. And not at all uncanny or gappy.

Via

It’s so trendy to announce or hint at sequels before a film comes out. Its a subtle statement of confidence when they let it leak that they are already planning a sequel. They know it will be a hit. Kind of like when they planned for a sequel to Street Fighter: Legend of Chun Li and Dragonball Evolution.

Filmonic shares:

If all the hype and marketing pays off Avatar could be a big earner for Fox, and they will no doubt want a sequel. James Cameron seems keen on an Avatar 2, and now producer Jon Landau has dropped a small hint at what we could see:

If the public likes Avatar, it’s a possibility. After all, here we are exploring the surface of the planet Pandora. The interior remains to be seen.

Clearly if Avatar gets a good boxoffice result they will want to make another go at it. That’s just what Hollywood does.

However I think there may be more motive to recoup some of the vast debt developing this uncanny gap technology that Cameron has been bragging about that is making Avatar a reality. This 90 minute tech reel will be a commercial for those wishing to also use the tech, and in that will be Cameron’s real money maker even if the film doesn’t overcome the costs of developing the tech.

Short of the full on Trailer, this gameplay footage of the console game based on James Cameron’s Avatar is the closest peek we will get into the fantasy world of the alien conflict.

The game looks pretty much like any third person view first person shooter game I have seen, but it does give us a peek at the kind of action and fun tech we will see in the film. And the game looks to let you play both factions, so player vs player matches are a certainty!

I just hope the effects are better than a console game. Still looks fun.

Via

Via

With the highly anticipated Avatar finally showing its footage this summer, the comparisons to the failed animated Delgo were fast to make it around the net.

Now it seems that the producers of Delgo are in fact considering their legal options and might just sue James Cameron’s Avatar.

Worst Previews quotes:

Fathom has been bombarded with emails on the topic and have now released a statement that says that the studio may actually consider suing. “From what we have seen, we are amazed by the visual similarities between the two films and we are reviewing what legal options may be available to us,” said the statement.

Now while it has been pointed out that Avatar was in development in 1996 and was to be the film that would be James Cameron’s followup to Titanic (which Ironically it is). There seems to be some proof that Cameron’s Avatar predates the 1998 birth of Delgo.

However Cameron’s team started working on the visuals and production began after a script rewrite in 2006.

They may just have a case here if the courts deem there is enough similarities.

And it may be the only way that Delgo could recoup some of its money after the $40million film raked in an embarassing $700,000 take at the boxoffice.

I am amazed by the footage of Avatar that we have already seen and now the first trailer for the film is online.

First, let me share the Trailer, as we haven’t posted it here (busy, not intentionally ignoring it)

Via ThinkHero

I think this looks utterly fantastic. One thing to keep in mind is that aside from some people, very little of this exists. Its reportedly 60% CGI and there were no real sets. I didn’t see a single moment that wasn’t convincingly real to me. (aside from the obvious fantasy/scifi elements)

Here are my random thoughts on it all.

This Avatar Day thing doesn’t bug me that much. Yeah they are going to offer the clip that thousands suffered in line to see, but its just publicity. We post clips all the time on this site that give you a sneak peek into a film, so why not Avatar. Calling it Avatar Day is just the PR people playing off the diety like status Cameron has earned. The anticipation is huge, so why not play on it.

But all that aside, I think the imagery looks amazing. John doesn’t see eye to eye with me on this, but I am flat out amazed how real these CG parts look, and I am thrilled with how the “blue alien” things look. From the posters I was expecting them to be a little more cartoony real, but they look real-real.

Makes me wonder how long before we just don’t need actors anymore.

So while John might be less than impressed with it, I am thrilled and can’t wait to see it.

We got our first peek at Avatar, and now that 12ft naked cat lady seems to be the spokes model for the film.

And now the first poster with the character has hit the net.

Its a nice first impression to give on the poster. For those who were not following the online buzz around this film, this might be the first hint of the film that the mass market sees.