James Cameron's "Avatar"

Discussion in 'Archive: The Amphitheatre' started by JohnWesleyDowney, Feb 26, 2007.

  1. saturn5 Jedi Master

    Member Since:
    Aug 28, 2009
    star 4
    Apparently Cameron seriously considered casting Michael Biehn as the colonel in Avatar and having him scarred and unnamed implying that he's actually Corporal Hicks from Aliens and Alien 3 never happened (a lot of the technology etc in Avatar is reminiscent of the Colonial Marines in Aliens whilst Michelle Rodrigeuz's character is a dead ringer for Vasquez). In the end he decided against it because him and Sigourney in the same movie would be too much for most people to buy. Shame!
  2. Coruscant Jedi Grand Master

    Member Since:
    Feb 15, 2004
    star 6
    Beat the Gibson movie.

    Beat the rom-com Kristin Bell movie.

    Still No. 1.

    Still over 30 million dollars for a weekend.

    :cool:
  3. The2ndQuest Tri-Mod With a Mouth

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    Member Since:
    Jan 27, 2000
    star 9
    So Larry King Live had Cameron and the Avatar cast on for an hour last night- I'm still in the process of watching it, but one interesting tidbit came up during talk of the sequel- Cameron says he hasn't started working on the script, that he only has a general narrative arc in mind so far and that most of the discussions on the sequel have been more along the lines of how they would do it.

    Then King comments that the shame is they already killed off a great villain. Cameron then quips that "Hmm- well it's a science fiction movie. Nobody's..nobody's ever really dead in a science fiction movie."

    [face_thinking] Could the good Colonel be returning in spirit or mind, even if not in body?
  4. Coruscant Jedi Grand Master

    Member Since:
    Feb 15, 2004
    star 6
    Dear John. [face_plain]

    damned teenage girls. :p
  5. JohnWesleyDowney Jedi Grand Master

    Member Since:
    Jan 27, 2004
    star 5


    Yeah, it's those damned teenage girls that first put Cameron in the billion dollar club in the first place with Titanic.

    Interesting article on the environmental angle of Avatar, which bored me to tears.

    Cameron battled Fox over green theme
  6. The_Face Ex-Manager

    Member Since:
    Feb 22, 2003
    star 5
    The Two Towers
    The Birds
    Jurassic Park
    The Day After Tomorrow
    The Host
    Godzilla
    Ferngully
    The Perfect Storm
    you know what: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_eco-horror_films

    And that's going off the top of my head.
  7. Jabbadabbado Manager Emeritus

    Member Since:
    Mar 19, 1999
    star 6
    [face_laugh] I guess Cameron doesn't get out to the movies much these days.
  8. JohnWesleyDowney Jedi Grand Master

    Member Since:
    Jan 27, 2004
    star 5
  9. Jabbadabbado Manager Emeritus

    Member Since:
    Mar 19, 1999
    star 6
    We've probably said just about all there is to say about Avatar, pending any Oscars it may or may not win. But I thought it would be interesting to note that, by the end of February, Avatar will have earned more money worldwide than all three Star Wars prequels combined.
  10. darth_frared Jedi Grand Master

    Member Since:
    Jun 24, 2005
    star 5
    i was just gonna write more about avatar but now i'm getting shy [face_blush] have we really said it all already?
  11. DaReiste Jedi Youngling

    Member Since:
    Feb 14, 2010
    It still amazes me to see this movie on the box office charts raking in a few million, after all the success it has already garnered.

    You would have thought every person in the world would have seen it by now, right? :p
  12. The2ndQuest Tri-Mod With a Mouth

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    Member Since:
    Jan 27, 2000
    star 9
    Cameron Plans "Avatar" Prequel Novel

    "Avatar" producer Jon Landau tells MTV News that director James Cameron has begun writing a prequel novel to the sci-fi epic which could be released as early as the end of this year.

    Landau says very specifically that this isn't a novelisation, and that "Jim wants to write a novel that is a big, epic story that fills in a lot of things."

    So what can we expect? "It would be something that would 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 - like the schoolhouse and Sigourney [Weaver's character] teaching at the schoolhouse; Jake on Earth and his backstory and how he came here; [the death of] Tommy, Jake's brother; and Colonel Quaritch, how he ended up there and all that" says Landau.

    He adds that some of the scenes from "Avatar" that ended up on the cutting room floor might be resurrected for either the book or other forms of publishing media (e.g. comics) - "There might be opportunities in publishing to tell some of the backstory, tell some of the Earth war stories, what went on in Jake's life before the movie. We'd have that lead up to the sequel that might take place on Pandora several years after our movie closed."

    Landau also tells the site that Cameron has met with Marc Webb, the director of the upcoming "Spider-Man" reboot for Sony Pictures, to discuss the challenge of filming in 3D. Landau says "we want to try to support that as much as possible."


    This suggests that an Avatar sequel might be set several years after the end of the first movie (which would take care of the "time needed to get reinforcements to Earth", etc. Interesting... [face_thinking]
  13. JohnWesleyDowney Jedi Grand Master

    Member Since:
    Jan 27, 2004
    star 5

    Fresh perspectives on the mega-hit. Four Avatar FAILS according to one writer.

    Trouble on Pandora
  14. Spider-Fan Jedi Grand Master

    Member Since:
    Jul 15, 2008
    star 4
    So the four biggest failures of the movie are things beyond the movie itself???
  15. Fire_Ice_Death Jedi Grand Master

    Member Since:
    Feb 15, 2001
    star 7
    Yes, but I think it either shows: a) that the movie isn't as 'popular' as people think and the expensive tickets are what got it where it's at or b) outside of the plot there are even crappier parts to Avatar.
  16. Spider-Fan Jedi Grand Master

    Member Since:
    Jul 15, 2008
    star 4
    That aside my issue is with a critique of a film that doesn't actually critique a film...
  17. Fire_Ice_Death Jedi Grand Master

    Member Since:
    Feb 15, 2001
    star 7
    Yeah, that is pretty trigged.
  18. The2ndQuest Tri-Mod With a Mouth

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    Jan 27, 2000
    star 9
    Yeah, that article is somewhat idiotic to blame the fault of some of those things on the film itself.

    1) Soundtrack sales have been in decline for a very long time (a lot of movies aren't even releasing soundtracks), to compare them to sales 13 years ago is ridiculous. Even then, Avatar's score hasn't been acknowledged as it's strong suite anyways.

    2) A movie tie-in video game sucks/doesn't sell well? You're kidding me! Again, more the state of the industry wanting tie-ins for the movie release date, which limits development times and the scope of things.

    3) Toys not selling well- at this point there's only so much you cna do with Avatar toys- you have like 6 characters and a couple vehicles and creatures, but the vehicles and creatures aren't going to sell as well as the characters since they're more expensive. And, it's not like toys sales for the movie wouldn't have declined 2 months after the movie came out, so using amazon rankings for late February seems kinda silly. Let's see what those figures were like for xmas and just after xmas.

    4) The song. Ok, it's legitimately "meh". But not a failing of the film itself since it's just a credits song.

    Well, again, expensive tickets can only be attributed to so much- at most it's 30% of the total. 70% of 2+ billion is still a massive box office performance.
  19. Darth Dark Helmet Manager Emeritus

    Member Since:
    Dec 27, 1999
    star 6
    And when you adjust the box office for inflation, by the end of the weekend, it should be #15 all time. In the last 30 years only 4 other movies have grossed higher, and only 7 in the last 40. By the time all is said and done, it should overtake Return of the Jedi which will mean, only 3 in the last 30 and 6 in the last 40. That's a damn impressive box office run.

    All Tim adjusted for inflation
  20. Jabbadabbado Manager Emeritus

    Member Since:
    Mar 19, 1999
    star 6
    The musical score really is one of Avatar's few weaknesses as a film. It doesn't have anything remotely comparable to the iconic score of the original Star Wars or even the not quite so iconic Titanic score. It's nearly impossible to overestimate the role John Williams' programmatic orchestral scores had in the success of movies like Star Wars and Raiders of the Lost Ark, and it's frankly surprising that a film as good as Avatar doesn't have the music to match.
  21. darth_frared Jedi Grand Master

    Member Since:
    Jun 24, 2005
    star 5
    does anyone have a good reading on why the na'vi call the invaders 'dreamwalker'?
  22. Darth Dark Helmet Manager Emeritus

    Member Since:
    Dec 27, 1999
    star 6
    Because the human driving the Avatar is essentially asleep and dreaming when in the Avatar body.
  23. darth_frared Jedi Grand Master

    Member Since:
    Jun 24, 2005
    star 5
    oh...! i must have understood it as a name for all humans. thanks a lot.
  24. JohnWesleyDowney Jedi Grand Master

    Member Since:
    Jan 27, 2004
    star 5
    This was Cameron's master stroke as it relates to the essence of what cinema is...to me, many movies are "dreams" on some level.

    When a movie is working and completely engaging an audience's attention, it's as if the audience is "asleep" and experiencing the dream within the frame. Cameron bumps this up a notch by having his main character experience his adventure in a dream state, duplicating the audience's experience of watching it. And for the 3D viewers, even more so.

    That's the first thing I noticed when I heard the story and for me it's the most interesting aspect of Avatar. Very crafty Mr. Cameron.

    All of the greatest filmmakers have always been interested in the subconscious relationship between the audience and the film, people such as Hitchcock and David Lynch.

    It's nearly impossible to overestimate the role John Williams' programmatic orchestral scores had in the success of movies like Star Wars and Raiders of the Lost Ark, and it's frankly surprising that a film as good as Avatar doesn't have the music to match.

    Truer words were never written. It's also nearly impossible to imagine Lucas and Spielberg's career without the contribution of John Williams.

    How John Williams scores a film
  25. darth_frared Jedi Grand Master

    Member Since:
    Jun 24, 2005
    star 5
    i thought it's a comment on what is real as well. pretty explicitly so, when jake begins to feel that what his avatar goes through is more real.
    jake's experience seems to mirror that of some fans who felt that they wanted to live on pandora and became depressed over its lack of availability.

    i think there is an interesting discussion to be had somewhere there but i cannot put my finger on it quite yet.