James Cameron: Avatar Sequel Will Go Underwater

Unless you’ve been living under a rock on a faraway moon (and keeping all of that unobtainium for yourself, you greedy blue bastard), you probably know that Avatar, the biggest movie of all time, hits Blu-ray and DVD this week. In anticipation of the film’s April 22 (Earth Day) home video release, director James Cameron told the Los Angeles Times that while he’s already taken viewers through the lush jungles of Pandora, he has a new locale in mind for the sequel.

“I’ve already announced this, so I might as well say it: Part of my focus in the second film is in creating a different environment—a different setting within Pandora,” he said. “And I’m going to be focusing on the ocean on Pandora, which will be equally rich and diverse and crazy and imaginative, but it just won’t be a rain forest. I’m not saying we won’t see what we’ve already seen; we’ll see more of that as well.”

As movie buffs might recall, Cameron’s post-Titanic, pre-Avatar documentaries involved underwater exploration, so this is right up his alley. And if the wacky creature designs in the first film are any indication, it’s a safe bet the inhabitants of Pandora’s oceans are at least somewhat nightmare inducing. This is a good thing.

As for a third—and presumably final—Avatar film? Cameron’s ready to take us to other worlds. “We created a broad canvas for the environment of film,” he explained. “That’s not just on Pandora, but throughout the Alpha Centauri AB system. And we expand out across that system and incorporate more into the story—not necessarily in the second film, but more toward a third film.”

Backlash of the Titans

Warner Bros.’ remake of 1980s cult classic Clash of the Titans hits U.S. theaters this weekend, and the early buzz isn’t great. While many critics have taken aim at the paper-thin plot and lackluster performance by Avatar alum Sam Worthington—who plays Greek demigod Perseus in the flick—the primary flaw appears to be the 3D conversion process forced upon the film in post-production. In his less-than-glowing review, Drew McWeeny of HitFix.com calls Clash’s 3D “an unwatchable mess, ugly and strange and difficult to sit through.” He adds, “This is the polar opposite of Avatar, which was designed in 3D, shot in 3D, and which did all of its FX work with 3D in mind.”

Duncan Bowles from Den of Geek writes, “I cannot emphasize this enough: do not pay out for the 3D, as it simply isn’t there. The director [Louis Leterrier, who helmed The Incredible Hulk] didn’t even want it apparently, but lo and behold, Clash of the Titans was retro-fitted to turn a fast buck and the result is shocking. Please, please if you go and see Clash of the Titans, watch it in 2D before this whole mess gets out of hand.”

Indeed, it looks like the 3D post-conversion trend is turning out to be a massive step in the wrong direction, and it’s really just getting started. Fortunately, some directors are taking a stand. Love him or hate him, Michael Bay has emerged as a vocal opponent to the 3D conversion process, which producers have tried forcing on him for the third Transformers film. He’s not impressed.

“Right now, it looks like fake 3D, with layers that are very apparent,” Bay told Deadline.com’s Mike Fleming. “You go to the screening room, you are hoping to be thrilled, and you’re thinking, ‘huh, this kind of sucks’. People can say whatever they want about my movies, but they are technically precise, and if this isn’t going to be excellent, I don’t want to do it. And it is my choice.”

As I posted recently, James Cameron—the man indirectly responsible for this 3D gold rush with the massively successful Avatar—is also opposed to post-production 3D conversion, saying that 3D should be a creative decision made by the director.

“This is another example of Hollywood getting it wrong,” he said. “Now, you’ve got people quickly converting movies from 2D to 3D, which is not what we did. They’re expecting the same result, when in fact they will probably work against the adoption of 3D because they’ll be putting out an inferior product.”

Bottom line? Don’t support half-assed 3D conversions. If you want to see Clash this weekend, see it in 2D as it was meant to be seen.

3D or Don’t?

Nintendo recently announced that a 3D version of the DS, predictably called the Nintendo 3DS, will hit shelves sometime in the next year. And while some gamers are no doubt rejoicing that they will be able to enjoy 3D graphics on the go—and without 3D glasses, no less—the news got me thinking about this whole 3D trend. We’ve already got 3D televisions. Just about every blockbuster movie going into production is getting the 3D treatment, while others released over the next few months—Clash of the Titans, for example—are getting a post-production 3D makeover. Even the iced coffee I’m sipping as I type this is in 3D! When will the madness end?

Look, I’m no Luddite. Clearly. I thought the 3D in Avatar was masterfully done, and I’m always supportive of new ways to play, watch and immerse ourselves in the things we love. But with studios, developers and consumer electronics manufacturers cramming this new technology down our throats following Avatar’s commercial success, I wonder whether this hurried, across-the-board 3D media upgrade will do more harm than good.

Since audiences have proven that they’re willing to pay more for content if it’s in 3D (3D Avatar tickets were about $5 more than standard ones), an increasing number of consumer electronics manufacturers, studios—and now game designers—are exploring the exploitative potential of 3D everything, which is very likely a move in the wrong direction for the entertainment industry as a whole. That extra dimension is expensive, but it won’t always be worth it.

I’ve yet to see Tim Burton’s Alice in Wonderland, the first big post-Avatar 3D release (like Titans, the 3D was added in post), but most of my friends that have said the film itself wasn’t great but the 3D was “pretty cool,” almost apologetically. Interestingly enough, I remember the same reactions to the mind-numbing Transformers Revenge of the Fallen when it hit theaters; just replace “3D” with “CGI.” CGI (computer-generated imagery) is used masterfully by some (like Pixar), while an unfortunate majority use it as pretty packaging for a mediocre product. Can anyone argue that 3D will be any different?

Humorously enough, Avatar director James Cameron—lauded as the progenitor of this 3D revolution—is among its harshest critics.

“After Toy Story, there were 10 really bad CG movies because everybody thought the success of that film was CG and not great characters that were beautifully designed and heartwarming,” Cameron told Deadline Hollywood’s Mike Fleming. “Now, you’ve got people quickly converting movies from 2D to 3D, which is not what we did. They’re expecting the same result, when in fact they will probably work against the adoption of 3D because they’ll be putting out an inferior product.”

Cameron added that, as was the case with Avatar, the decision to release a film in 3D should be a creative one made by the director and not a cash grab by the studio.

“This is another example of Hollywood getting it wrong,” Cameron said. “Sony says, ‘We’re doing Spider-Man in 3D.’ The director doesn’t say, ‘Hey, I want to make the movie in 3D.’ The studio says, ‘You want to direct this movie? You’re doing it in 3D, motherfucker!’ That’s not how it should be.”

Nope, it’s not; not in film, not in television and, no, not even in video games. Although, I have to say, this 3D coffee is delicious.

Will Avatar Hit Theaters Again This Year?

While Avatar is still doing strong business on regular-sized 3D digital screens after Alice in Wonderland forced it from IMAX theaters, Fox is already thinking ahead and planning for a re-release of the box office juggernaut later this year, according to The Hollywood Reporter. This extended cut of Avatar—which would be shown primarily on 3D screens—will likely be no more than 10 minutes longer, as films presented on analog IMAX screens cannot run longer than 170 minutes (the original theatrical cut of Avatar is just over 160 minutes). Not to spoil anything, but the new footage is expected to include nine-foot-tall blue people. And loincloths.

The trade notes that IMAX CEO Richard Gelfond recently said Cameron cut as many as 40 minutes from the film, but releasing all of that footage outside of a future DVD/Blu-ray release seems unlikely. As fun and awe-inspiring as Avatar is, I doubt people would be willing to sit through 200 minutes of it at a time in a theater. Well, the Na’vi cosplayers will be lining up regardless, but then again, blue body paint tends to get runny after about two and a half hours. Or so I’ve heard.

Gelfond said a 2D version of Avatar will be available on DVD and Blu-ray no later than May, while the re-release would probably happen in the fall.

Avatar Spoof Pulled from the Oscars

It’s pretty safe to say at this point that James Cameron’s Avatar is a cultural touchstone. It’s the highest-grossing film of all time, it’s up for nine Oscars, it’s inspired a heap of merchandise there’s already talk of sequels. Like any phenomenon, it’s ripe for parody, right? Well, apparently not at the Academy Awards, which air March 7 on ABC.

Vulture reports that Ben Stiller and Sacha Baron Cohen were planning a skit lampooning the blockbuster film and its “King of the World” director, but the send-up was canceled yesterday. While Baron Cohen was announced as a presenter last week, his name has been removed from the list. Why? An insider said that one of the telecast producers was worried that Cameron would be offended.

According to the article, Baron Cohen was to appear as a female Na’vi (Pandora’s nine-foot-tall blue inhabitants), with Stiller acting as her interpreter. She would reveal that she’s pregnant with Cameron’s love child and confront the director. The skit sounds pretty lame, and not quite as clever as Baron Cohen’s usual stunts, but I guess it’s something we would have to actually see to judge properly.

An Oscars insider told Vulture that Cameron doesn’t really have a sense of humor about things like this. “Let’s just say that Cameron isn’t known to be, shall we say, ‘self-deprecating,’” they explained.

Oh really? Then why did Cameron appear in a Saturday Night Live skit in January that essentially spoofed all of his films, including Avatar, in one fell swoop? Did a producer got skittish for absolutely no reason?

Watch the skit, “Laser Cats 5,” below.

James Cameron on Terminator Sequels: “The Soup’s Kind of Been Pissed In”

Remember Terminator Salvation? Neither do a lot of people. But, believe it or not, a fourth Terminator film actually came out last summer. And you know what? It wasn’t terrible. But when the highlight of your multi-million dollar Hollywood blockbuster is a pseudo-cameo by 1980s-era Arnold Schwarzenegger, it might be time to reroute.

Rights to the Terminator sequels were recently acquired by Pacificor, a hedge fund. David Wisher, who wrote Terminator and Terminator 2: Judgment Day, has since revealed that he’s sketched out some ideas for two more films, which would take place after Salvation. Evidently, the series isn’t ready to say “hasta la vista, baby” just yet.

So what does Terminator creator James Cameron think about all of this renewed interest in the franchise he kicked off 26 years ago? The Avatar director told MTV that, in his opinion, the series has “run its course” and he has zero interest in being involved in any future Terminator films.

“[T]he soup's kind of been pissed in a little bit by other filmmakers, so I don’t have any personal desire to go back to it,” Cameron explained. “So I certainly wouldn't want to be a dog in the manger and disallow my friends from making a little money off it. Why would I do that?”

Why indeed. Click here to watch MTV’s interview with Cameron.

Avatar Becomes the Biggest Movie of All Time

On Monday, January 25, James Cameron’s Avatar was officially crowned the all-time worldwide box office champion, Variety reports. The film toppled the $1.84 billion global box office record held by Cameron’s Titanic, which was released in 2007.

Does this mean Cameron has to send himself a congratulatory fruit basket?

In the U.S., the film has earned $551.7 million since its December 18 release, beating The Dark Knight’s record $533.3 over the weekend. That means Avatar is just $49 million shy of Titanic’s record $600.8 million.

PETA Honors James Cameron for Avatar

I know, I know. Yet another Avatar news story. But this announcement threw me for a loop yesterday and I just had to share. PETA (People for the Ethical Treatment of Animals) has awarded director James Cameron with its 2010 Proggy (progressive) Award for Outstanding Feature Film.

Wait, what? I’m guessing that no (computer-generated) animals were harmed while making the film, but the honor seems a bit odd—at least on the surface.

PETA blogger Logan Scherer writes, “Through a mastery of CGI and an unparalleled script, Cameron beautifully shows that all nature is interconnected and that all beings—no matter their species or race—deserve to be treated with kindness, respect, and dignity.”

Okay, so now it makes sense. Scherer goes on to say that the visual-effects technology on display in Avatar hint at “the coming end of the use of live animals in entertainment,” which raises an interesting point about animal cruelty in film.

I’d love to be snarky about this, but it’s actually a pretty cool nod. So…congrats?

Avatar Blue Away the Competition at the Golden Globes

At the 67th Annual Golden Globe Awards on January 17, James Cameron’s Avatar came away with awards for Best Motion Picture-Drama and Best Director. It looks like Cameron’s gonna need a bigger trophy case, especially since Oscar season is right around the corner.

In addition to applauding Avatar’s sweeping critical and commercial success (it just passed the $500 million mark domestically), I’d also like to extend kudos to Christoph Waltz, who took home a Golden Globe for his supporting role in Quentin Tarantino’s Inglourious Bastards. If you haven’t seen it—and you really should—Waltz played the slimy Nazi colonel Hans Landa, one of the best screen villains in quite some time.

Click here for a full list of winners and nominees.

Avatar Earns More Than $1 Billion Worldwide

Admittedly, I doubted Avatar in the months leading up to its release, largely due to the underwhelming theatrical trailers that did little to showcase the overall look and scope of the 3D sci-fi epic. But, like many of you out there, I wound up loving it and will probably see it again while it’s in theaters.

The Associated Press reports that James Cameron’s technological gamble has paid off in a big way: the film has earned more than $1 billion worldwide. Cameron is now the only director to have two films pass the $1 billion mark internationally. His last film, Titanic, earned $1.8 billion worldwide in 2007. It should be noted that ticket prices for 3D screenings, which account for about 75 percent of Avatar’s business, are a few dollars higher than 2D screenings.

Domestically, Avatar raked in $68.3 million to top this weekend’s box office, bringing its U.S. total to $352.1 million in just 17 days. Wow.

Click here to read my full Avatar review.

Wild Blue Yonder

Let me get my hyperbolic fanboy raving out of the way: Avatar is a groundbreaking technological achievement. Heralded as a cinematic game-changer that would forever transform the way we look at movies, James Cameron’s highly anticipated 3D sci-fi epic had a lot to live up to. Predictable storyline aside—if you’ve seen the trailer, you know exactly what happens—Avatar is satisfying in ways most big-budget blockbusters simply aren’t. Yes, Cameron places a heavy emphasis on visual effects wizardry. But those visual effects tell the story; they don’t replace it.

The Rodent Problem

While I’d hoped to see Avatar on its release weekend, weather and holiday-related scheduling conflicts prevented me and my friends from getting to the theater until Sunday, December 27. The place? City Center 15: Cinema De Lux in White Plains, New York. The time? 8:15 P.M. Beverage of choice? Diet Coke. It was on. Or was it?

Even though the movie had been out for more than a week, this screening was sold out, and my friends and I had to sit fairly close to the front of the theater when we got to our seats a few minutes before show time. We sat through the trailers as the remaining seats were claimed by grateful latecomers. But something didn’t seem right. The family-friendly coming attractions didn’t seem at all tailored to the type of audience Avatar would attract. We sat through an advert for a terrible babysitting comedy starring Jackie Chan. Another for a movie in which Dwayne “The Rock” Johnson becomes the Tooth Fairy called, you guessed it, Tooth Fairy. Then came the Twentieth Century Fox logo, while three prepubescent rodents started singing “You Really Got Me.”
No.

We were watching Alvin and the Chipmunks: The Squeakquel. We were in the right theater, but whoever was running the projector screwed up big time. An angry mob of movie nerds wearing oversized 3D glasses leapt from their seats demanding blood, or, at the very least, that someone fix the problem. We didn’t pay $15 to get jerked around while anthropomorphic chipmunk shenanigans played out on screen. Fortunately, the problem was fixed in a timely manner. We all put on our 3D glasses and began our journey to Pandora.

And what a journey it was.

The Movie

Avatar takes place in the year 2154, when a corporation called RDA has set up camp on Pandora, a moon of a planet called Polyphemus. On Pandora is a mineral called unobtainium, which is highly sought after by the corporation and its slimy administrator, Parker Selfridge (Giovanni Ribisi). Standing in the way of RDA’s ravishing of Pandora’s landscape are the Na’vi, the moon’s nine-foot-tall, blue-skinned inhabitants.
To interact with the natives in the hope of learning from them and ultimately earning their trust, the corporation has created human-Na’vi hybrids called avatars, which are remotely operated from a laboratory. Each of the avatars is genetically matched to a human driver, but when one of the drivers is killed, his twin brother Jake Sully (Sam Worthington) is called in to take his place. Jake, a former marine, is wheelchair-bound, lacking his brother’s PhD and formal training. Dr. Grace Augustine (Sigourney Weaver), head of RDA’s avatar program, has her doubts about this newly enlisted jarhead. But because avatars require a genetic match, she has little choice but to accept Jake into the program to serve as a bodyguard on an exploratory mission into the lush jungles of Pandora.

Linked up to his nine-foot-tall blue body, Jake relishes the ability to once again use his legs while exploring Pandora, but he soon runs afoul of some of the native wildlife and is separated from his group. He is rescued by a female Na’vi named Neytiri (Zoë Saldaña) who, after initial trepidation, brings Jake back to her tribe, where she is instructed to teach him the ways of their people.
Grace views Jake’s acceptance into Neytiri’s tribe, the Omaticaya, as a fantastic learning opportunity. However, Colonel Miles Quaritch (Stephen Lang), head of RDA’s mercenary security force, sees things differently. If Jake can use his newfound influence to feed him military intelligence on the Na’vi and convince them to leave their so-called Hometree—which sits atop a massive deposit of unobtainium—then he’ll make sure to pull the strings necessary to get him his legs back. If the Na’vi can’t be convinced to move, the site will be bulldozed regardless.

So, with Neytiri’s help, Jake begins immersing himself in Na’vi culture, keeping in mind the infiltrative goal of his mission. But as he ascends the social ladder of the Omaticaya—and begins falling for Neytiri—life with the Na’vi becomes far more attractive than his relatively constrictive life as a human. When the corporation grows impatient and begins its assault on Hometree, Jake must make a choice: is he human or Na’vi? You already know the answer.

I should say at this point that Avatar might be seen as a bit heavy handed in its left-leaning political commentary and military demonization, but those same criticisms could be leveled at the original Star Wars. In fact, the similarities between George Lucas’ space opera and Cameron’s burgeoning sci-fi franchise (you know there will be sequels) are numerous: both are simplistic modern myths showcasing revolutionary visual effects for their respective time periods, and both have been criticized for being shallow by those who’ve missed the point entirely.
Yes, from a story perspective, Avatar is nothing new, but the familiar narrative hardly detracts from the overall experience. This film is all about falling in love with Pandora: its strange creatures, its exotic bio-luminescent plant life and its dreamlike, otherworldly beauty. The 3D technology—because that is the only way to see this movie—makes Pandora tangible, and the stunning motion-capture effects courtesy of Weta Digital make the Na’vi just as compelling as any flesh-and-blood actor. You never feel like you’re watching special effects, even though you’re immersed in them for the majority of this film’s 162-minute running time. The best visual effects are the ones that draw attention to what they bring to life: not how expensive they look.

As far as performances go, I must say I was pleasantly surprised by Worthington. He didn’t exactly blow my mind in Terminator Salvation earlier this year, and I can’t say I necessarily looked forward to him carrying yet another multi-million dollar blockbuster. But Worthington is quite good as Jake, both as a pained, paraplegic human and a cunning warrior in his avatar form. He has genuine chemistry with Saldaña, who remains absolutely stunning even underneath all of that digital makeup. Not that I have a thing for nine-foot-tall blue cat aliens or anything.

The Final Word

At this point, it’s unclear whether or not Avatar will go down as the movie milestone Cameron has purported it to be, but is it one of the best movies of 2009? Absolutely. This is escapist cinema at its finest.

2009 Christmas Weekend the Biggest in Box Office History

It’s no secret that people love going to the movies during the holidays, whether it’s to share an experience with loved ones or to escape from all of that togetherness for a few hours. But, Variety reports, the 2009 Christmas weekend was the biggest domestic box office weekend of all time.

Weekend ticket sales reached an estimated record-breaking $280 million, led by James Cameron’s Avatar, which earned $75 million in its second weekend of release. The number two film was Guy Ritchie’s Sherlock Holmes, which opened to $65.4 million. In third place was Alvin and the Chipmunks: The Squeakquel with $50.2 million.

In other Avatar news, the film has earned $212.3 million domestically with a worldwide total of $617.3 million in its first 10 days of release. Having seen the film, I can safely say it’s earned every cent.

Look for my full Avatar review later this week.

James Cameron’s Avatar Earns $242.5 Million Worldwide Over Debut Weekend

The self-proclaimed “King of the World” might have another titanic (tee hee!) hit on his hands. Variety reports that Avatar—James Cameron’s ambitious 3D sci-fi epic—raked in $77 million domestically in its opening weekend. Overseas, the film earned $165.5 million, bringing its worldwide total to $242.5 million.

These numbers are impressive, but Avatar failed to wrest the best December opening title from I Am Legend, which earned $77.2 million domestically in 2007. It did, however, earn a record-breaking $9.5 million on IMAX screens. Worldwide, the film generated $13.6 million on IMAX screens, beating the $11.3 million opening weekend record set by Transformers: Revenge of the Fallen this summer.

Experts say Avatar would have performed even better had a blizzard not hit the East Coast over the weekend. I know it prevented me from getting to the theater when it hit New York Saturday night. So, while I pretty much figured out the plot months ago after watching the first theatrical trailer, I’ll need to avoid potential spoilers for a few more days.

Avatar Trailer Debuts Online

The first trailer for James Cameron’s Avatar has finally hit the Web, giving many fans their first real glimpse at the highly anticipated 3D sci-fi epic.

I watched the trailer (a few times) and, to be honest, I’m not 100 percent blown away at this point. Cameron certainly has an eye for detail, as the alien world of Pandora is very well realized. That said, the special effects still have a rubbery, artificial look to them. Avatar just doesn’t seem like the major step forward in visual storytelling that we’ve been promised.

However, I have faith in Cameron, and Avatar will probably make for a great theatrical experience. Having seen the trailer, I’m definitely excited. I’m just not geeking out. Yet.

Avatar opens worldwide December 18. Watch the trailer below.