Avatar

[polkablues]

James Cameron starts 'Avatar' hype machine early

are you fucking serious?

release a goddamn still. or a teaser with no footage from the movie in it. no stupid or casual moviegoers (the most profit-giving demographic) even know this thing exists. you dolt.

Yeah, they really seem to be banking on the notion that the AICN/ComicCon crowd alone is going to be enough to recoup that budget.  Beyond them, I can't imagine any other demographic that's anxiously awaiting this thing.  Like pic said, the casual filmgoers haven't even heard of it yet, and likely won't find anything particularly special about it when they do.  If James Cameron is expecting all the Titanic fans to go see it just because his name is above the title, he's even more out of touch with reality than I thought.

[Fernando]

^^ while I agree with you and pic on this and even though the casual moviegoer doesn't know shit about this I still think this will make a killing at the b.o., but yeah, they need to release a poster a teaser or something offical already.

[MacGuffin]

'Avatar' footage shown stateside
Fox played clips for U.S. exhibitors on Thursday
Source: Hollywood Reporter

Domestic exhibitors were envious of European theater owners when Fox flew James Cameron into Amsterdam last month to screen 24 minutes of 3D footage from his upcoming motion-capture fantasy "Avatar" at Cinema Expo.

So on Thursday, the studio brought Cameron and the clips collage to the Mann Chinese theater in Hollywood for a similar event for stateside exhibs. The event was closed to the press, but Fox execs said the response was enthusiastic.

About 220 exhibs attended the screening and lunch held afterwards at a restaurant at the adjacent Renaissance Hollywood hotel. The majority of those on hand flew in at their companies' expense, with reps from all the top circuits attending.

"It was absolutely electric," Fox distribution topper Bruce Snyder said. "I really think it played spectacularly with the exhibitors."

Fox intends to release "Avatar" worldwide Dec. 18 in a mix of conventional and 3D venues. Although the rollout of 3D systems has been held up because of the global credit crunch, more than 2,500 domestic screens are expected to be available for the anticipated release.

The Cinema Expo and Hollywood screenings of "Avatar" footage were aimed in part at encouraging exhibs to pull out all stops to get 3D projection in place in time to play the pic on as many of their screens as possible. As with the European screening, Cameron on Thursday offered introductory remarks, additional comments during the screening and mingled with attendees at lunch afterward.

Fox and Cameron also will promote "Avatar" this month at Comic-Con in San Diego, where an even longer assemblage of scenes -- including images never before shown in public -- will be screened for attendees.

[picolas]

i think i hate you, avatar.

[Gold Trumpet]

I don't get the Avatar hate. First off, who gives a shit about an advertising campaign. There are no certain formulas to promoting a film. When Titanic came out, it got little coverage ahead of time and never had the huge huge opening. It just was number one for an insane amount of weeks thanks to word of mouth. Also, New Line started a campaign very early on announcing that Lord of the Rings would be the biggest thing ever. It was started online and reports came out about every little detail of the film's making. For a while hype existed with no footage available and no idea Peter Jackson could transition from indepedent films to blockbusters. Again, the campaign worked, but was the literary fanbase enough to make it what it is? No. Word of mouth picked up quickly and made it a huge success. Avatar will be a major success based on a lot things that have yet to happen. It seems insane to jump on anyone for anything yet.

Also, reports say Michael Bay was mad too about the under coverage Transfomers 2 got in its promotion but yet the film did near Dark Knight numbers in its first week.

[Stefen]

I don't get the Avatar hate. First off, who gives a shit about an advertising campaign.

What advertising campaign? I can't see shit.

[picolas]

gt, i'm not posing a serious argument or anything. i'm just deeply annoyed by the lack of footage we have + the amount of footage james cameron has shown to the number of people who aren't me/the general filmgoing public despite the fact that this is quite possibly the most expensive movie ever made with less than six months to go before it premieres. i have next to no doubt it will be amazing/do well. i'm not talking about that at all.

[SeanMalloy]

AVATAR DAY/ AUGUST 21/ 2009:  As many IMAX 3D Screens as possible will be screening 15 minutes of AVATAR in 3D for Free.  Cameron announced this at Comic-Con earlier in the evening.

[Stefen]

Isn't he supposed to be showing footage at comic-con?

[Gold Trumpet]

Isn't he supposed to be showing footage at comic-con?

He did. Here is a review of the footage shown.

Comic-Con: Avatar
By Garth Franklin Thursday
July 23rd 2009 06:40PM
Been dying to see James Cameron's "Avatar"? Well now you'll be able to in a month.

James Cameron showed up in San Diego an hour ago to show off 24 minutes of footage from the film at the most anticipated presentation at the show amongst non-Twilight fans.

The collection of around five or so scenes from different sections of the film meant we only got a disjointed look at the story. What it mainly was doing was showing off the visuals which truly are breathtaking, groundbreaking but not earth-shattering.

Specifically the texture rendering and lighting is superb. The movements and skin texture of the all CG blue Na'vi aliens are detailed enough that it often looks like actors in makeup. Only the tiny waists and yellow cat-like eyes took away from the photo-realistic illusion but give the blue pastel zebra/horse/cat hybrid creations a very alien look.

The environment and non-Na'vi creatures were more notably CG, especially one scene with attacking alien beasties that seemed more George Lucas than James Cameron in tone. Plants and jungle recreations though were simply beautiful, especially a night scene where the characters traverse a bioluminescent forest utterly rich in biodiversity. The final scene involving harnessing and flying a winged creature was also pretty spectacular.

Some human scenes at the beginning were shown with Sam Worthington (looking hunky as hell) as the wheelchair-bound combat veteran who gets put into a tube with his mind inhabiting the blue creature which can be seen floating in a tub. Sigourney Weaver is also there as a scientist who inhabits one of the other creatures.

The 3D itself is utilized EXACTLY what the technology should be - never drawing attention to itself, immersing you in the world rather than distracting you with gimmicks. Can't really recall one moment where someone throws or points something outward to deliberately show off that you're watching 3D in action.

Is this the revolution of cinema that years of hype have been saying? No, simply because hype has already risen to ridiculous proportions. What it does look like is what the "Star Wars" prequels should've been - a rich sci-fi action/drama that truly transports you to another world.

Visually it looks like one of the most ambitious projects ever made, and certainly in terms of CG photo realism no other film comes close thus far. The technology is not entirely there yet, but more often than not throughout the runtime the "Avatar" footage managed to make the illusion 100% real for me (and I'm a VERY tough judge on CG visual effects).

Cameron saved the best news for last though. Rather than a 2D Quicktime trailer launch, the first glimpse that audiences will get of "Avatar" will take place on August 21st. On that 'Avatar Day', fifteen minutes of footage from the film will be screened for free in IMAX 3D theaters around the world. At present Fox is apparently trying to secure as many theaters as possible for the event so keep an eye out the week before for where the footage will be shown.

[modage]

hate this poster: http://www.joblo.com/new-avatar-poster

makes me mad how ugly/lazy this is.

[matt35mm]

Looks like the new Dreamworks animated feature.

[Gold Trumpet]

Ehh, standard teaser poster.

[modage]

i'm really hoping its a fake.

[Stefen]

It was the same one that was at Comiccon.