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5:20PM Guillemot introduces ... James Cameron! The crowd goes insane, of course. (There are nerds here, remember?)

5:21PM Cameron delves into some Avatar backstory: He wrote the first treatment over a decade ago, but was balked at by his special effects guys, Digital Domain. Now, with photorealistic CG being attainable, Cameron resurrected the project. The story takes place in 22nd century, with most of the action taking place on an earth-like planet, Pandora.

5:23PM The navi -- humanoid inhabitants of Pandora -- live among a myriad of alien creatures, some beautiful and some extremely dangerous. This is sounding a lot like Los Angeles, but with better draw distances.

5:25PM Jake Sully is the main character, who explores Pandora in an Avatar body. It allows him movement from a distance, even though he's really paralyzed. As he goes deeper into the Navi culture, "he ultimately has to choose sides" in a battle. Oh, which is the "mother of all battles," adds Cameron. Special effects extravaganza confirmed!

5:26PM December 18 is the film's release date. One would assume that Ubisoft's game adaptation will arrive at around the same time. "A fully immersive cinematic experience" is promised by Cameron, who! says it 's the biggest and toughest project he's ever done.

5:27PM Cameron met with Ubisoft in 2006. Ubisoft was pitching a title that was already in line with the spirit of the film, which filled him with confidence that he was choosing the right partner. Cameron's theory: "I didn't want anything associated with Avatar to suck."

5:29PM Cameron notes that the timing for typical game-movie transitions is too brief -- Avatar's game development started over two years ago, which he hopes will avoid that demonstrable problem usually suffered by film tie-ins.

5:31PM Ubisoft came up with a player's choice addition to the Avatar universe, allowing gamers to choose whether they would adopt a Navi perspective during certain events. Ubi is committed to make Avatar the first major stereoscopic 3-D title, adds Cameron. The initial demo blew him away, it seems.

5:32PM The world of the game is, in some ways, a richer version that you won't find in the film. "The perfect confluence between these two different media." Cameron adds, "Neither one is the red-headed stepchild of the other."

5:33PM "Ubisoft has done it." Cameron warns us to not play the demo during E3, however, because it might make us afraid. "It's pretty darn exciting."

Krasan tatkov intervju, straight outta gejming sekcije:

http://www.edge-online.com/features/interview-james-cameron

With a US$300 million budget, a three-month IMAX run, and the hopes of the stereoscopic 3D movement on its shoulders, all eyes are on James Cameron's Avatar. Not just moviegoers', either. The videogame tie-in, in development at Ubisoft Montreal, hopes to spearhead 3D's move from the big screen to the television. But as industry insiders are discovering, the movie isn't just a pioneer for live-action 3D, but for next-gen motion capture as well. This, the director of Aliens and Titanic tells us, will benefit avatars of every description.

How involved have you been on a day-to-day basis with the Avatar game?
I wouldn't say day-to-day but month-to-month. They'd come back with art, storylines, characters, and concepts for how they wanted the gameplay to work. And they'd either come in person or they'd send it to me and I'd make comments. Usually, it was the visits where they brought in the development kit and we'd watch it, play it, and talk about it. But this isn't every day. I'm making my movie every day; they're making their game every day.

I gave them a lot of latitude. I created some boundaries for areas I didn't want to go, if not to protect the movie then to protect the sequel possibilities – stuff like that. It was a really good collaboration. They were really respectful. They wanted to make a great game, but they also weren't inhibited. They came up with some great ideas I wouldn't have thought of, where I thought, 'if I can't work them into this film, I can certainly work them into a sequel'.

Do you play games yourself?
I'm not super into it in that I sit and play for hours on end, but I have five kids. My brother and his two sons are avid gamers – we're talking 100 hours a week. So I use them to get the pulse of the business and what the serious gamers really like. In fact, I incorporated him on this project because I wanted a consultant who really knew what people wanted to see.

So my brother Dave came to me and said the first thing they showed him was a firstperson shooter. And they all loved it and it was really cool shooting a Na'vi bow, but you might not have a good sense of yourself as a Na'vi. So they switched it to thirdperson, where you kind of switch to right over the shoulder when you shoot.

Was the plot of the film a natural fit for a game?
Absolutely. You've got an antagonism between philosophies: you've got technological humans and the Na'vi, who live on a Neolithic level but are very harmonious with their environment. They can harvest from it what they need in a time of great crisis. It's a conflict that will play out over time and over an entire world. And we've seen this conflict – with the Europeans coming to the Americas, and in our own history – and we know it tends to end badly for the indigenous people. But the Na'vi aren't to be discounted. They've certainly got some tricks up their sleeves.

The creature designs are, I think, some of the best I've ever seen. And we drove the creature design group to not only do something really good but incredibly detailed in terms of the lifecycles of the animals and how they move. Their structure is very well thought out, and the flight dynamics: the way they breathe, the way they move, the way they perch. So a lot of that just got dropped straight into the game. There's a richness of imagination where [Ubisoft] started with that foundation and just took off from there.

What were their faces like when you said you wanted full 3D in the game?
To be honest, they were hesitant – they didn't even think it was possible. But I planted the seed. I didn't say, 'Guys, you've got to do this. It's deal or no deal.' But I said they should really think about trying to do this in stereo because it's the right way to do it. They went away, and a couple of months later they came back and showed me a stereo demo that convinced us all that was it.

Will 3D have the same impact on games as it's having on cinema?
These changes are led by individual titles, not ideas or philosophies on new technology. The idea of stereoscopic digital projection has been around for about seven or eight years. It's only taking off now because there've been a number of good films to drive it.

What we're doing with this game is really important, because if the game's successful and other people try to emulate it, then stereo game development will become a major thing. And if it does, it's going to drive stereo in the home. It's going to drive TV companies to build the big screens. We already have Xbox 360 in stereo; the others will have to adopt. I think it's going to be huge.

How will the relationship between games and movies have developed five years from now?
You'll still have the straight licence deals and they'll be OK – as good as the game guys can do. But if we do our jobs well with this one then maybe others will look and say, 'Oh yeah, this is how you do it.' I would look at a sequel to Avatar being something where I sit in a room with their creative people and we think about cool ideas that should be in game and movie simultaneously. So there might be a portal or place in the game that you can't pass through, but there'll be clues in the movie, and vice-versa.

You've been quoted as saying Avatar's motion capture technology was a lot like a game engine.
It was a game engine. A game authoring package.

What kind of shot does it allow you to do?
It's not so much that we searched for a strange or wacky CG shot. I actually pulled back from that. I think a lot of stuff looks like CG because it doesn't look like there was a camera there. So by introducing a camera instead of just watching mouse-clicks, it actually takes on a very naturalistic style.

That's much of the strength of what we're doing. I did all the live shots myself – except the Steadicam shots 'cause I don't operate a Steadicam – and operated 100 per cent of the virtual photography. So the same body language was used in both media, and I think they converge in a way where it looks like one piece. So, curiously enough, we were working using game authoring tools to shoot the movie.

What about the uncanny valley phenomenon?
We talked about it a lot. Game cinematics are honestly still in the uncanny valley, but they'll get through it. The limit is in the speed of real time rendering. A given frame in Avatar might take 50 to 100 hours to render. That's per frame, per processor, so they have 6,000 processors running in parallel at a render farm so they can do five or six shots per night. But I think our fingernails are locked in the cliff on the other side of the uncanny valley; sometimes we climb up, sometimes we slip back.

If you watch the movie, is every shot out of the uncanny valley? I think one in ten slips back, but at that point the narrative is propelling you along and it doesn't matter. And interestingly enough, we first thought we were safe because these are blue guys on another planet. I've since realised that it's much harder to light blue skin than human skin – a lot of the tricks don't work. So, in that sense, I think we're a lot closer to doing a human than a Na'vi. I actually think you could do a photoreal human right now, no problem.

But it's a huge investment. The thing that people don't realise is that the technology is not based in how accurate the data set is, but how good the rigging of the model is that the data is then applied to. Yes, you still need good data, and our image-based facial is working very, very well. We've got great eye and eyelid data, and all the facial muscles are properly accounted for. So we're getting extremely accurate performances out the other end. But it's the twelve to 14 months of rigging that model in between that make the characters real.

The first thing you see is a little bit ghastly. But you study it and make little tweaks to the push and pull of the facial muscles, and after a while it all comes into focus. It's an amazing process that could also be applied to the cinematics in games, but it's not an automated one, and I don't think it ever quite will be. Not until we go to a level beyond just scanning, and beyond image-based facial capture, to some kind of realtime MRI scan of the facial muscles firing – something that may not exist for 20 years. It's muscles behind the surfaces that make the expressions. You can't just take a scan, map it to your fantasy character and expect it to work.

James Cameron Shows Twenty-Four Minutes Of AVATAR!!!
Beaks here...



I wonder why James Cameron chose to unveil the first chunk of finished footage from AVATAR in Amsterdam?

Reactions are starting to leak out of today's presentation at CineExpo in Amsterdam (despite Fox's attempts to keep any kind of impression from being reported), and, shock of shocks, they're of the "Holy Fuck!" variety. Here's a sweet tweet from Unique Cinema Systems:

"Footage from "Avatar" at #cinexpo was stunning, literally jawdropping. Amazing visuals unlike any before seen, with incredible detail."
UCS is also posting images from the AVATAR after-party, and while there's no actual footage being looped, this production artwork is pretty sumptuous.



For more, check out UCS' Twitter feed.

According to The Hollywood Reporter, Cameron showed around twenty-four minutes of footage, and declared that the 3-D "renaissance" has arrived. He was joined by AVATAR cast members Sam Worthington, Sigourney Weaver, Zoe Saldana and Stephen Lang, as well as producer Jon Landau and Fox chairman Jim Gianopulus. (No Rothman, huh?) I've learned that the folks at CineExpo saw this via the RealD XL Cinema System. It was a 3D presentation on a 55 foot screen with nearly 10 foot Lamberts of light. Nifty!

Now that the cat's out of the bag, does this mean Cameron's bringing this footage to Comic Con? Or is he going to stash it and make us wait until freakin' December?

Obviously, I'll update this story if we get any more images or reactions.

As always, you should check out MarketSaw, which has been AVATAR news central throughout this film's production.

Regarding the 2-D presentation of AVATAR, the Reporter quotes Cameron as saying, "I just want to say that I think 'Avatar' is going to play great in 3-D, 2-D, any 'D.' "

ComingSoon.net has posted a detailed description of the footage.

http://g4tv.com/comiccon2009/pressconference/20th-century-fox-and-james-cameron-present-avatar/29/

http://www.aintitcool.com/node/41793

nije ni čudo da se pozivaju na titanik, treba da se vrate te pare. realno, ovo kao da je poster za ambis 2, kao da se kameron vraća u okeansku fazu...
jel još neko misli da ovo ima sve obrise katastrofe? ono, daleka planeta, epske razmere, vanzemaljci sumnjivog dizajna... na stranu to što igru rade paceri. želim da verujem, džejmse, ali nisi mi pokazao dovoljno, samo zlokobne nagoveštaje!  

Ovi Na'viji se doimaju kao blueneck civilizacija:

http://specials.divertissements.fr.msn.com/cinema/avatar/default.aspx

pa, izgleda kao da je lajon king upao u farbu tokom parenja sa legolasom u parku iz doba jure sranje

Dobio sam karte za "ekskluzivno: 15 minuta filma AVATAR" u 3D teknologiji u Koloseju večeras, pa javim kako se doima u izvornom mediju...

Već sam se uzvrteo...

...upravo sam se vratio iz Koloseja sa projekcije zbirkice uzoraka iz Cameronovog AVATARa...budući se da se rad o random uzorcima, ne mogu da iznesem sud o kakvoći celine, ali ono što sam video na planu vizuelnog (taj breathtaking hiper-3D mod) je zaista nešto zadivljujuće, i usudio bih se da ustvrdim da je Cameron što se tiče likovnosti probio sve dosadašnje granice i dobacio do poetske lepote; jedino strepim da bi se taj tehnološki aspekt mogao pokazati kao previše agresivna tehnika kada se u obzir uzme čitavo trajanje filma, mislim, po gledaoce... ali, što se mene tiče, već sada - standing ovations bez imalo zadrške!!!

...pored puta, ZS fandom je, sudeći po zastupljenosti na ovoj projekciji, žestoko podbacio... Milosh, Zelič, Kunac i ja, niko više...ŠTETA!!!

I meni se prilično svidelo ovo što sam video. Nekoliko napomena... Način na koji je Cameron iskoristio 3D tehniku, bar koliko se moglo videti iz ovih inserata, je inovativan u tome što 3D nije tretirao poput gimmicka kako se isti koristi u raznim hororima (tj. da je 3D bitan samo kad nešto treba da iskoči sa platna i sl.), već se izgleda potrudio da osmisli same kadrove tako da film može komotno da funkcioniše i u običnoj varijanti dok će mu 3D ipak pružiti jednu dodatnu dimenziju koja bi trebalo da bude relativno ujednačena tokom čitavog filma. To se naročito da videti u scenama jurnjave kroz šumu gde se različiti planovi brzo smenjuju, a vidno je i u relativno statičnim scenama. CGI, oko koga se lome koplja na internetu trenutno, meni deluje sasvim dobro, mada ga ne bih nazvao revolucionarnim na osnovu ovoga što sam video, dok se ne slažem da izgleda kao cartoon. Odnosno, mislim da takav utisak neko može da stekne zbog izgleda sveta (a posebno stvorenja) u kome se film dešava, ali to je, rekao bih, prvenstveno stvar dizajna, izbora boja i sl. a ne toliko efekata, mada za konačni utisak po ovom pitanju čekam da vidim film u celini. I na kraju, kao možda i najvažnije, ono što će po meni da prelomi ovaj film nema veze sa tehničkom stranom, već se odnosi na to koliko je dobra priča i koliko su likovi jaki i upečatljivi. U trejleru je naglasak bio na akciji i sve scene su iz prve polovine filma, kako je i sam Cameron rekao, ali iz same premise se mogu naslutiti neki motivi koji Camerona i inače zanimaju: melodrama kao nukleus oko koga se plete sva akcija, jak ženski lik i sl., i pitanje je kako je to dalje razvijeno. Sve u svemu, ja sam zadovoljan ovim što sam video i jedva čekam da u decembru pogledam film u celini.

da, i u intervjuima je pominjano da dobar 3d film treba da funkcioniše i kada je lišen te mogućnosti (prednosti?).

mene zanima kako su vam izgledala ta plava stopala na platnu kada se uporedi sa trejlerom kod kuće? koliko su naviji uklopivi uz ljudska bića, da li može bez većih problema da se poveruje u to da stoje pored čoveka? jasno je da će u bioskopu štošta biti drugačije; bilo bi skandalozno da kameron u dizajnu džungle ne može da prešiša video igru kakva je crysis makar to tako izgledalo na kompu.

meni je najupadljiviji problem na osnovu viđenog mimika likova, šablon u kretnjama. recimo, navi u jednom kadru pravi maltene identičnu facu kao aladin/simba/koji već pametno sladak i srčan diznijev lik. takođe kada se pojavi onaj monstrum/dinosaurus imamo milion puta viđenu stomp-stomp-CHOMP sekvencu (druga varijacija je ono kad se prodere do krajnika, po mogućstvu nekom u facu). ne mora svako da priželjkuje od kamerona standardno tech okruženje (koje postoji), ali dizajn same džungle i navija deluje šablonski... opet, i world of warcraft je mega popularan. mene je sve to dosta podsetilo na albion, solidan rpg devedesetih.

kameron zaslužuje sav mogući kredit, ali samo na neviđeno.

I ja pogledah, uz izvesne nesporazume i teškoće i Sandru Bulok...


Materijal je fragmentiran ali nije random, daje nam priču u grubim crtama, i ne deluje kao stupidarija. Nisam ni tražio nekakvu dubinu i životne mudrosti od ovoga, te ako na kraju zadrži bar ovaj nivo biće ok.

3D je odlično iskustvo. Semplovao sam Ledeno doba i ovo, i AVATAR je tehnički vidno u višoj kategoriji, ima mnogo više planova i akcije u svakom kadru. U ponekim trenucima mi je bio vizuelno pretrpan jer ima toliko toga što se mrda pred očima da nisam znao gde i u šta da gledam.

Sve u svemu, vrlo sam zadovoljan i jedva čekam film.

Znači, tatko se vratio.

http://www.littlewhitelies.co.uk/blog/avatar-first-look/


Avatar: First Look

Adam Woodward | 21.08.09
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Following the official online release of yesterday's trailer, today at long last comes a first proper glimpse at James Cameron's futuristic fantasy epic. Today is Avatar day, and LWLies got an exclusive seat at the BFI IMAX this morning for the world premiere of specially compiled footage from the film.  As you can imagine our appetites were well and truly whet with anticipation. So has the wait been worth it?

Thrown into complete unknown, the multi-layered world of Avatar is nothing I could have prepared for. The action sequences are astonishing (if a little disorientating at first) and the cinescapes utterly breathtaking. By the looks of it Cameron has got it spectacularly right. The sprawling landscapes are dense and vibrant, but there seems to be a rich story woven into this vast tropical tapestry. For all the innovative special effects on show a film of such grandiose cannot survive without some sort of narrative, and from this sneak peek Avatar seems remarkably closer to home than I initially presumed.

Our protagonist, a wheelchair-bound marine named Jake Sully (Sam Worthington), is given a new lease of life after being transported to Pandora, a distant forest-soaked moon; where he takes host of an alien body. Here we see his first encounter with Neytiri (Zoe Saldana), a native Na'vi warrioress who fits the bill as Sully's extraterrestrial love interest. So there is some heart here, which could prove a vital narrative element if the film is to transcend a fanboy audience.

There is certainly plenty to get your juices flowing then, but let's not forget in the end it is just a film. So far much of the attention has been on the immense budget – anywhere between $250 and $300 million is the ballpark – but Cameron and co have sensibly kept exact details closeted. It would be easy to get carried away, of course, but it is refreshing to see a filmmaker with the clout of Cameron retain an air of modesty. In any case, it will be interesting to see how the marketing campaign continues after today.

While it may look spectacular, however, I couldn't help feel disenchanted by the CGI overload. Such saturation transports you to another world, but once there, there is no escape.  The main problem, however, seems to be that it looks less like a film (in a traditional sense) and more like well polished video game, albeit a bollock-bustingly spectacular one. Ultimately it might not be to everyone's taste, but there is no question Avatar is hugely significant; it's revolutionary new motion capture "fusion camera" system, which Cameron and his crew invented, is already being prophesied to pioneer a new era of digital cinema.

When it hits cinemas this winter there will be no avoiding Avatar, but it is difficult to predict how the film will fare. After all it is Cameron's first fictional film since 1997's Titanic, the concept is entirely original and therefore unfamiliar, and it is very, very geeky. Whatever the anticipatory buzz, Avatar is unlikely to reach the wearying heights of The Dark Knight, though, and in that respect it is hard to see how Cameron and 20th Century Fox can possibly make a financial return.

Regardless of how audiences respond come December 18, it is unlikely this sci-fi extravaganza will be forgotten in a hurry. From the looks of things the 3D revolution starts here and from now on it's all eyes on Avatar.

Quote from: crippled_avenger on 22-08-2009, 15:54:20
Znači, tatko se vratio.

nadam se da se vratio tatko na terminatora a ne tatko na titanika.

Ja nisam mogao da odem na 3D prezentaciju zbog nekih neodložnih obaveza (da, bile su do te mere neodložne da nisam mogao da izrespektujem Tatka) ali trejler mi se izuzetno dopao. Live action scene deluju vrlo momački, Worthington ima harizmu, dizajn je na linji ALIENSa što je super jer taj film zaista ima svevremen dizajn. Ono što je naravno ključno pitanje je CGI svet koji uvek po definiciji deluje malo sporno dok se gledalac ne navikne. Ali, kad/ako se navikne, što inače nema veze sa tehnikom, nego sa nekim dubljim psihološkim elementima o kojima sam detaljnije diskutovao prošle godine povodom HULKa, onda to funkcioniše. Od svih CGI univerzuma koje sam do sada gledao a da su pretendovali na fotorealističnost, AVATAR mi je bio najmanje iritantan na prvi pogled, ovi vanzemaljci su mi ubedljiviji od Hulka, i pitkiji od BEOWULFa za koji mi je trebalo malo vremena da se ukačim na film (i posle sam uživao). U tom smislu, verujem da kad se bude pojavio film i kad budemo mogli da percipiramo dizajn likova u kontekstu priče, da će to sve biti odlično.

E sad, čiji je tatko došao, ne znam, ali mislim da je možda došao tatko na teminatora ili tatko na ambisa.

"Sanctum" has found its sea legs. Wayfare Entertainment has committed to finance the $30 million 3-D underwater survival drama that will shoot with James Cameron's "Avatar" cameras and 3-D technology.

Pic is expected to begin lensing in Australia late this year.

Alister Grierson ("Kokoda") will direct from the script penned by Andrew Wight and John Garvin. Wight, who has collaborated with Cameron on such docus as "Aliens of the Deep" and "Ghosts of the Abyss," is the producer. Cameron is executive producer, along with Wayfare principals Ben Browning, Michael Maher and Peter Rawlinson.

FilmNation's Glen Basner is handling offshore sales, and CAA, which put together the package for the filmmakers, will sell domestic. FilmNation's Aaron Ryder is co-producer.

"Sanctum" is a fictional drama inspired by Wight's near-death experience when he led an expedition of 15 divers into a remote underwater cave system below Australia's Nullarbor Plain, and then watched a freak storm collapse the cave entrance. It became a two-day battle to survive until all 15 were rescued, an ordeal recounted in the 1989 docu "Nullarbor Dreaming."

In "Sanctum," a hard-edged father and his teen son lead a diving team, and the true character of the divers surfaces when they are faced with adversity.

"As one who was nearly killed in that cave collapse, I thought there was great stuff in how people react in crisis, and become heroes or cowards," Wight told Daily Variety. "Jim and I spoke about all this while working on these 3-D adventure projects, and we had a burning desire to make a gritty film about what it's like to be on an expedition and have it all go horribly wrong. We wanted to show that the 3-D equipment and technology can be used to tell a story in a modest budget independent film."
More than one option

    * (Co) Daily Variety
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    * (Co) Daily Variety

"Sanctum" was originally developed at Rogue, then came loose when Universal sold Focus Features' genre arm to Relativity. CAA is shopping domestic rights at a potentially fortuitous time by following the out-of-left-field success of the Peter Jackson-produced "District 9."

Like "District 9," "Sanctum" is also a modestly budgeted drama with a director new to Hollywood, godfathered by an iconic filmmaker using his facilities. "Sanctum" is an example of Cameron's post-"Avatar" desire to generate films to feed exhibitors' growing appetite for 3-D titles.

Gotham-based Wayfare is funded by hedge funds and institutional investment companies, according to Browning. Wayfare is prepping for production on the Focus Features adaptation of the Ned Vizzini novel "It's Kind of a Funny Story," with the "Half Nelson" team of Ryan Fleck and Anna Boden. Wayfare is also packaging an adaptation of Neil Gaiman's "The Graveyard Book," with a script by Neil Jordan.

When James Cameron and Fox Filmed Entertainment co-chair Jim Gianopulos slipped into the back row of the Bridge Imax Theater on Friday night, it was for one of the more daring test screenings in recent memory.

The public was getting its first glimpse of Cameron's 3-D pic "Avatar," which blends live-action with CGI on a large scale.

Screenings of 16 minutes of footage from "Avatar" were held across the country in 102 Imax locations and in 238 additional theaters overseas. Tickets were free and given out during an online lottery.

The reason behind Fox's decision to mount "Avatar Day" was two-fold: To whip up a fan base among moviegoers and encourage theater owners to install more 3-D screens before "Avatar" opens Dec. 28.

Filmmakers are generally leery about showing clips so early in the game, but in this case, Cameron and Fox have decided it is more important to get the word out.

"Jim Cameron's use of technology is groundbreaking. He's created the most immersive 3-D experience yet, leaving preview audiences around the world wanting more," said Fox senior VP of distribution Chris Aronson, who intro'd the "Avatar" clip at the Bridge Imax screening in West L.A. on Friday.

It was an experience that rival studios wanted to check out as well, considering "Avatar" is Cameron's first film since 1997's "Titanic." Attending one of the shows Friday at the Bridge were Paramount co-chair Rob Moore and Marvel's Kevin Feige.

There are roughly 1,700 3-D locations domestically, including Imax. That's well short of the 2,500 locations Fox would like to be in place before "Avatar" bows. There are north of 2,100 3-D playdates overseas.

"Avatar," like other 3-D movies, also will be released in 2-D on conventional screens.

Many theater owners remain reluctant to spend the money to convert conventional screens to 3-D. But if the demand is there, exhibs will have incentive to convert.

The upcharge of a 3-D ticket can dramatically boost a film's box office revenues. Rarely are studios and exhibs able to create an added stream of revenue.

Fox's 3-D toon "Ice Age: Dawn of the Dinosaurs" has grossed $615 million at the international B.O., the most of any film this year and surpassing "Titanic" in a handful of Latin American markets. On "Ice Age 3's" opening weekend, the 3-D screens repped only 18% of the total theater count, but made up more than 35% of the gross, at least.

In the months prior to the release of "Monsters vs. Aliens," DreamWorks Animation topper Jeffrey Katzenberg became a 3-D ambassador, urging exhibitors around the world to take the plunge and go 3-D.

Fox and Cameron decided to go a different route and use "Avatar" itself to do the talking. Nearly all the 3-D films up until now have been animated or motion-capture, making "Avatar" distinct.

The public screenings capped a busy travel schedule for "Avatar" filmmakers. Cameron and Fox first showed clips of the movie to international exhibitors gathered in Amsterdam for CinemaExpo. They repeated the event for U.S. exhibs in July, just before they went to Comic-Con.

Audiences attending worldwide screenings of a 16-minute preview of James Cameron's Avatar applauded enthusiastically Friday night. The reaction was in stark contrast to the mixed reaction that a two-minute trailer received when it was posted online a day earlier. A common reaction then was that the movie looked more like a videogame than a movie and such being the case, "I'd rather play it than watch it," in the words of one online viewer.

...

Donekle i jeste olakšanje čuti pozitivne stvari o Cameronovom Avataru, nakon ovog malecnog pretprikazivanja, medjutim sve fanovske panegirike treba uzeti sa zrnom sumnje. Trejler je zbilja djelovao odurno, meni recimo nije ličio na vidio-igricu koliko na apdejtovanu verziju Lion Kinga, ili možda crtka Wall-e. S te strane, ne mogu reći da mnogo očekujem od Avatara, pošto pompa oko njega polako počinje da podsjeća na nevjerovatnu The Last Action Hero marketinšku kampanju iz 1992-93., što nije tipično za Camerona.

Ipak, The Last Action Hero promijenio je način na koji gledamo i pravimo filmove, u eri kada je tzv. Novi Holivud postao nešto nadasve novije. Nakon njega, uslijedio je i nezaboravni True Lies... tako da film koji držim za posljednji akcioni – žanrovski – film Novoga Holivuda, megabudžetni The Fugitive iz 1993, više skoro nikada nije snimljen na staroškolski gritty način na koji je to uradio Endru Dejvis. Naravno, snimani su još mnogi slični filmovi na slične načine, ali samo iz razloga nevelikog budžeta, ili jednostavno zato što je svaki iole senzacionalistički imaginativan stvor ukapirao koliko se tek prilika pruža u ovakvome postmodernističkom pristupu Holivudu što je eventualno priprijetio da postane pretjerano djetinjast.

Najzad, ne mogu da prokljuvim šta to novo i originalno treba da nam pruži Avatar u Holivudu koji je sve osim originalan. Po sinopsisu filma, a i sada već zastarjelom trejleru, bih rekao da je to svaki fentazi film koji smo gledali do sada u novom ruhu od $300 miliona. Pritom, naravno, ne mogu da ostavim Cameronovu dramaturgiju po strani, obzirom da sam Titanic nedavno odgledao i po treći put, ali sa velikom glavoboljom, kao uostalom i prva dva puta. Potom je uslijedila ona decenijska pauza gdje je snimio par dokumentaraca, igrao u par epizoda serije Entourage (gdje je zbilja bio cooler than cool) i onda uvjerio nas anti-religiozne konspiracioniste da je neki Isus sigurno postojao (ne zna se, pak, je li njemu prezime bilo Hrist), što je bila najniža tačka u njegovoj karijeri, vjerovatno je jednim dijelom potpuno i obesmislivši.

Prirodno je da ne mislim da će Avatar biti katastrofa i u to se nikada ne bih mogao kladiti, kao što za Tarantina jesam mislio da će biti skoro negledljiv. Na kraju krajeva, Cameron je čovjek koji je potpisao toliko smiješno dobrih scenarija da ne bi imalo smisla uopšte ih i nabrajati. Moj omiljeni je Strange Days, techno-noir koji rado redovno stavljam među 15 najboljih filmova.

Iako je potpuno preuzeo a potom i modifikovao premisu filma Trambalovog SF-a iz 1983, Brainstorm, uspio je napisati, kako je sam izjavio, ultimativni Memetovski SF noir. I jedini SF noir u stanju da mu se iole primakne, ako ne i da stane rame-uz-rame sa njime, jeste Watchmen, 15 godina docnije. A sve ono što je, i prije toga, uslijedilo nakon Camerona – Alien 4 (pa i Alien broj 3, na neki način) + Terminator 3 i 4 – toliko je jalovo i ništavno da ima moć i da nasmije čim se spomenu ti naslovi.

Odgovor na debatu kako je moguće da su dvadeset godina mlađi filmovi tehnički i dramaturški bolje realizovani od današnjih, veoma je jednostavan: zbog dobrog scenarija. Po čemu je Cameron, makar u mome univerzumu, najviše prepoznatljiv. Tako da zaista, pa i da hoću, ne mogu da osudim Camerona zbog Avatara. U najmanju ruku očekujem solidnu priču, ali ne i nešto što će me prikovati za sjedište vizuelnim ugođajem, jer je toga u međuvremenu bilo tušta i tma i a zato što sam prilično oguglao na to. Naime, radije bih sada odgledao u bioskopu Termish 2 (i to onu njegovu verziju sa dodatih par scena za Artisanov DVD) ponovo, nego Avatar. Makar znam da ću dobiti besprijekornu avanturu. A opet, nedavno sam odgledao i prvog Terminatora i zaprepastio se koliko film izgleda svježe. 

Druga stvar je da Cameronu – nakon toliko vremena – treba originalan PG-13 hit a la The Lord of the Rings, a moguće je i sjeme za buduću trilogiju ili tetralogiju (zato se udružio sa Wingutom Petera Jacksona; isto je uradio i Spilberg za svojega Tintina). Bilo kako bilo, $300 miliona u Americi jedva da mogu da naslože i sva djeca koja su čitala i odrasla uz Harija Potera, a opet jedan simpatični R-rangirani The Hangover – i bez djece – lagano je došao nadomak $200 miliona. Međutim, nakon Titanica, očito ne vrijedi raspravljati o stvarima ekonomske prirode, premda se Titanic danas, u godinama, čini udaljen od nas ništa manje nego poput Isusovog groba u Cameronovom dokumentarcu.

S druge strane, 3D tehnologija nema tako jak imprint na američku bioskopsku svijest, a poznato je da se gubi jedna mala nijansa kvaliteta kada se takvo ostvarenje prikazuje u 2D bioskopu (tek na mahove sam toga bio svjestan dok sam gledao Monsters Vs. Aliens). Na TV-u sam vidio tu, istina daleko grozomorniju, distinkciju kad je jedna epizoda bljutave NBC serije "Chuck" snimljena u 3D; gledanje te epizode bez onih cvikera bilo je kao gledati one prve najgore VHS pirate filmova Cape Fear v.1991 i Clockers. 

Treća stvar je sva ta pompa oko Avatara, pretprekazivanja i slično, što se prvi put dovodi u vezu sa Cameronom, manijakalnim zaštitnikom svojih filmova. On do sada nije bio vičan tim stvarima, a naročito kada se napravi retrospektiva njegovih ranijih filmova. Avatar je, naime, jedini projekat što je najednom postao dostupan svima. Moguće je da je to zbog toga što je sada Fox odlučio da raspusti uzde oko marketinga – ipak ovaj film navodno košta $300 miliona i to bez marketinga; troškovi marketinga nikada se ne zaračunavaju u finalni budžet filma. A moguće je da se čovjek i raspilavio od kada je otkrio Isusov grob i voljan je više komunicirati sa ljudima; štaviše, na plakati bi, ispod naslova, trebalo da piše "čovjek koji je otkrio Isusov grob". Recimo, na Artisanovom DVDu Terminatora 2 Cameron je dao svoj prvi komentar, koji je kao što se i očekivalo, izvrstan. Vjerovatno će i Avatar doživjeti sličnu sudbinu, ako ikada izađe na nečemu što mogu prihvatiti naši PC i kućni plejeri.

Na kraju, gostovao je Tom Arnold kod Howarda Sterna prije par nedjelja i, na pitanje da li ima šta od True Lies 2 (pitanje koje mi je u tom trenutku zvučalo sasvim beznadežno), Arnold je s entuzijazmom izjavio da on i Švarceneger uskoro trebaju da se sastanu sa Cameronom i popričaju o True Lies 2. Navodno Cameron ima par izuzetnih ideja i da će sigurno raditi taj film nakon dva projekta za koje je trenutno vezan. Švarceneger je takođe potvrdio svoje prisustvo u True Lies 2.

Kao što rekoh, današnji Super-novi Holivud uopšte nije originalan. Ali kada već treba da gledam reciklažu, neka to bude od ljudi koji su i stvorili originale.

Hitler learns that the Avatar trailer sucks.

Jel ima neki tekst o počecima upotrebe ovog klipa? Čini mi se da sam pogledao desetak potpuno različitih verzija, Hitler ovo, Hitler ono...

Hahah, da, Hitler je potpuni meme na JuTjubu, evo ti sa wikipedije:

QuoteThanks to YouTube and other video sites, parodic clips from the 2004 film Downfall have proliferated internationally.[8] They are subtitled with references to Hitler getting angry about Australian Rules Football, online gaming, gridiron football, X-Box Live, the downfall of Morris Iemma, the Vancouver Canucks signing of Mats Sundin and other events - this meme is current in August 2009. The phenomenon started in English but has spread to other languages including Dutch, Spanish, Malaysian and Bulgarian (It was used to ridicule Bulgarian president Georgi Parvanov for being a State Security agent during the communist dictatorship and for being a poacher[9]). Some of the parodies turn on surrealism and intentional anachronisms to make a comment on present day subjects, especially the everyday prevalance of failures of computer and internet resources, while other parodies centre more on humorously interpreting events in the bunker on April May 1945. A further driver of the jokes would be collective memories of the overall poor standards of subtitling and dubbing internationally in cinema during the mid twentieth century, especially with low budget films such as the sword and sandal genre, including poor synchonisation and comically inaccurate translations. The most popular clip is the scene where Hitler receives news of the advancing Red Army vastly outnumbering the forces commanded by Felix Steiner. However, other clips from Downfall are beginning to appear with subtitles.

Kao sto rekoh, Cameronovi nastavci su kategorija sama za sebe, pa i po misljenju casopisa EMPIRE.

    http://www.empireonline.com/50greatestsequels/

 Hitler learns that the Avatar trailer sucks.

Road_warriore, koncentriši se malo. Kačiš klip koji se već nalazi na ovom topiku. Čak čitava četiri posta prije tvog.

to on vraća dimbu, koji takođe ne čita tuđe postove, i ima sklonost da kači vesti i linkove koje su drugi - na tom mestu ili drugde - već okačili.

To okacih sinoc u neko zlo doba i odmah sam video sa sam se zajebao  ali me mrzelo da brisem. 

sočno štivo:

http://io9.com/5354315/avatar-concept-designer-reveals-the-secrets-of-the-navi

QuoteWhat about the sex appeal aspect of it? Was the sexiness something James Cameron emphasized with you?

Well, he wanted them to be very beautiful. And I do believe that, at some point, he said something to the effect of...the audience has to want to fuck her. I mean, Jim is very plain in his language.

So, I went, "All right?" So I made something that, I don't know if I really particularly wanted to fuck it, but it was certainly a beautiful alien. He definitely, he wanted it — because he really prefers women that are kind of athletic, and buff and stuff like that, so I, you know, designed something with big hands and feet, a big presence that felt really big and strong.

So it was designed for his personal preferences in terms of sexiness?

It certainly wasn't mine. I mean, I would have sculpted, I don't know, Gretchen Mol or something. But I sculpted this big, tall, buff, kind of tough-looking, kick-ass woman.

QuoteWhat about the feline aspect? Do you have any indication of why they are so feline?

I don't know. It's probably because he thinks that cats are elegant, and they are. I mean, so are horses, but we don't have horse-faced aliens, I guess. So, I think it was a matter of elegance, and he wanted them all to be trim — I guess they don't have Ding-Dongs on Pandora.

dakle, iza tatkovog pet projecta krije se furry fetiš.

I to butch fury fetish. Drugi furry fanovi pišu fen fikšn i crtaju smešne manga crteže, a Kameron je uspeo da prevari ljude da mu daju pare da snimi ceo film o tome. Rispekt.

izašo trejler - recimo da sam tek sada blago uzbuđen.

NEW Avatar Trailer! Cam

James Cameron's megabudget sci-fi spectacle "Avatar" is one of the most anticipated films of the year. The road to its upcoming December release has been filled with artistic, financial and creative obstacles. For production designer Rick Carter, the big challenge was getting inside Cameron's head.

Working on "Avatar," Carter had to envision the planet Pandora in detail.

"It was literally as if Jim had been to this place," says Carter, a Hollywood Award honoree for production design. "He was coming back with fragments and glimpses he could express to us, but then we had to try to figure out how to make that come alive for him and something we felt an audience could relate to."

"Avatar" tells the story of an extreme rehabilitation program: In an attempt to walk again, a paraplegic former Marine named Jake travels to the jungles of the extraterrestrial realm called Pandora, home of the Na'vi, a technologically primitive but physically superior race.

To picture Pandora, Carter created what he calls a "lush homegrown forest that's way overscale for anything we've ever experienced, but also has enough alien qualities that you realize what you're seeing is not just a few flowers poked into the midst of an otherwise normal environment. The essence of it is very different."

At night, the forests of Pandora light up like a psychedelic black-light poster. Cameron's inspiration for that, Carter believes, came from his deep-sea diving experiences.

"The whole idea of (that) bioluminescent world at night is something he'd actually witnessed when he was down at the bottom of the ocean during his 'Titanic' time," Carter says. "That bioluminescence is almost like a nervous system of the planet, and that's what's at stake in the movie, as you start to get past the initial foray into the Na'vi culture and seeing the drama start to emerge between the military-industrial complex that wants to exploit the world."

In order to breathe on Pandora, humans have created human-alien hybrids (the eponymous avatars), and it's through one of these creatures that Jake is able to walk again. But will he remain human or go native after he falls in love with one of the locals, a girl named Neytiri? Intergalactic peace depends on it.

What spells success for "Avatar," however, is good old human identification. "The real challenge is whether you feel the emotion coming through from the characters, especially the Neytiri character and ultimately Jake's avatar," says Carter. "When you look into those eyes, do you feel the connection's real? And then, can you give yourself over to it and not look at it at arm's distance and think, 'Yes, that's wonderful technically, but I don't really feel anything.' "

For Carter, "Avatar" is a movie "where the form and the content come together. We can really relate to the digital imagery in a way that not only suspends our disbelief but invites us to be immersed in this new world."

Definitely, "the medium has evolved," says Carter, looking back at his first production-designer gig, on Hal Ashby's "Second Hand Hearts," in 1981. "And with the introduction of all the digital imagery, there's been a whole new ability to create worlds far beyond what it was when I started."

Carter was also there on "Back to the Future" II & III, "Jurassic Park" and "Forrest Gump," among others, and he's moved into worlds where it's all digital and there's motion capture, he says. Along the way, Carter has "found it very interesting to tap into some of the visual effects designers who are coming from the other side of the equation, the post-production, bringing them forward. The two of us collaborate from the beginning on the look of the movie, especially with things that have never been done before."

Carter uses the words "us" and "we" a lot when he talks about his film work. On "Polar Express," he brought on Doug Chang, a visual effects designer. On "Avatar," which Carter calls "a hybrid movie comprisedof live action and motion capture," he turned to Bob Stromberg.

"Bob had been instrumental in the design of much of the ecosystem of the planet Pandora. It just seemed natural to have him share credit. So it's unusual," Carter says of his penchant for collaboration, "but I see it as a way to move into these films. We used to joke we're creating the airplane in flight, because we're actually making the movie but we don't even know the road we're on to create the movie until you do it."

Recently, Cameron told his "Avatar" production designer, "I'm the one who could pose the question, but it took everybody to collaborate, to come together and find the answers."

"He'd never said that before," says Carter, "I just thought I'd leave you with that."

http://www.playboy.com/articles/james-cameron-interview/index.html

Quote from: crippled_avenger on 09-01-2007, 02:22:41
http://www.aintitcool.com/node/31185
http://www.nytimes.com/2007/01/08/movies/08cnd-cameron.html?ei=5094&en=0bc81ed724640090&hp=&ex=1168318800&adxnnl=1&partner=homepage&adxnnlx=1168292526-5jQDX0DlIh2XSEtq+0aaiQ

Novi Kameronov film, sudeci po onome sto sam dosad procitao, ima da bude teski flop. Zaplet je neverovatno, ali NEVEROVATNO sraaaanje!!! A ako je plot shit onda nema tu produkcije koja ce to da popravi.

A i zelim im da puknu bar pola milijarde! Dosta bre vise epic djubreta...

Ma otkad je zaplet presudan, bitno je dal se uzmu na kraju filma!

Pogledao sam trailer za AVATAR. Ovo je UŽASNO (sic!)!! Izgleda da je tatko konačno izgubio i posljednje zrnce razuma - iz aviona se vidi njegova tradicionalna moronska patetika koja, apparently, iz filma u film poprima sve strašnije dimenzije (u Aliens je bilo malo, ništa strašno, već u Abyss je ozbiljno nervirala i ometala gledanje inače simpatičnog filma, onda je došao Titanik o kome ne treba trošiti riječi, a Avatar će njega na tom polju naprosto da pregazi), imbecilni likovi bez trunke harizme (o smislu za humor da i ne govorim), bla bla čojstvo, bla bla junaštvo, bla bla ljudska prava, bla bla borba protiv ugnjetavanja...
Avatar će sasvm sigurno biti jedan od najgorih filmova decenije, ali nadam se da će u 3D bar biti prijatan za oko. Oh, let's face it, od "tri de prikaza" na bosanski način dobiću samo glavobolju

I u Terminatoru i u Ejlijenu su žene iznele glavni teret a ne on.

Saut Park ga lepo oplete sa onim "Dances with Smurfs," i kako sada da se ne kikocem dok ga budem gledao?

Dragi svi,

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Vasu MOBI-Kartu za premijeru  filma ''Avatar'' kao korisnik MTS mreze, mozete obezbediti i putem SMS-a tako sto cete poslati poruku sa tekstom AVATAR 1 za 1 kartu ili AVATAR 2 za 2 karte na broj 5000.



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Premijera filma ''Avatar'' je zakazana za 16. decembar u Sava centru sa pocetkom u 20:30h.







S postovanjem,



Nevena Radulovic

PR Manager

Da se mi lepo organizujemo za tu premijeru, da idemo svi?

Meho je pogledao screener AVATARa čija je specifičnost u tome da se pušta na XBOXu i da moraš da kontrolišeš glavnog junaka...

Muahahaha

Jel to film za decu?

Simon Pegg Tweetuje:

simonpegg
 
Avatar ........................ tweetless. Just tweetless in the best possible way.

Dok se broje dani do premijere, evo muzike iz filma:

http://rapidshare.com/files/318931381/avascoree.rar

Tom Kameronu bi najbolje bilo da otvori štand sa limunadama jer je to jedino što zna da pravi.

AP review: Effects wow but story limps in `Avatar'

By JAKE COYLE, AP Entertainment Writer Jake Coyle, Ap Entertainment Writer   – 1 hr 53 mins ago

When a film brashly asserts that it will change moviemaking forever, one feels the urge to either take its "king of the world" arrogance down a notch or hail it as the masterpiece it claims to be.

But — and forgive us if this sounds too much like the dialogue in President Obama's war room — what if there's a third option?

James Cameron's 3-D "Avatar" has all the smack of a Film Not To Miss — a movie whose effects are clearly revolutionary, a spectacle that millions will find adventure in. But it nevertheless feels unsatisfying and somehow lacks the pulse of a truly alive film.

"Avatar" takes place in the year 2154 on the faraway moon of Pandora, where, befitting its mythological name, the ills of human life have been released. The Earth depleted, humans have arrived to mine an elusive mineral, wryly dubbed Unobtainium.

The Resources Developmental Administration, a kind of military contractor, is running the operation. At the top of the chain of command is the CEO-like Carter Selfridge (an excellent, ruthless Giovanni Ribisi), who's hellbent on showing quarterly profits for shareholders. His muscle and head of security is the rock-jawed Col. Miles Quaritch (Stephen Lang), who curses Pandora's inhabitants (the Na'vi) as savages and considers the place worse than hell.

In fact, it's a paradise. In Pandora, Cameron has fashioned a sensual, neon-colored, dreamlike world of lush jungle, gargantuan trees and floating mountains. Its splendor is easily the most wondrous aspect of "Avatar."

Cameron, like the deep sea diver that he is (his only films since 1997's "Titanic" have been underwater documentaries), lets his camera peer with fascination at the glow-in-the-dark plant life, the six-legged horses and — especially beautiful — the nighttime frog-like creatures that, when touched, open a bright white sail and spiral into the air.

It's this sense of discovery — in Pandora, in the wizardry of the filmmaking — that makes "Avatar" often thrilling.

Our main character is Jake Sully (Sam Worthington), a brawny former Marine who lost the power of his legs in battle on Earth. His scientist twin brother has just died and Sully, having a matching genome, is invited to replace him in a mission to Pandora.

He joins a small group of scientists lead by Dr. Grace Augustine (Sigourney Weaver) who are attempting to learn more about the Na'vi by conducting field studies and doing a bit of undercover science. They've created avatars of themselves to go about Pandora as a living, breathing Na'vi, while their human bodies lie dormant in a sort of tanning bed (they return to them when their avatars sleep).

The Na'vi are a 10-foot-tall species with translucent, aqua-colored skin, 3-fingered hands and smooth, lean torsos. They have long, neat dreadlocks for hair and wide, feline foreheads. The smart freckles on their brow faintly light up like tiny constellations.

With beady headdresses and skimpy sashes, the Na'vi are clearly meant to evoke Native Americans, as well as similarly exploited tribes of South America and Africa. They pray over a slayed animal and feel at one with nature. Their tails (oh, yes, they also have tails) even connect — like nature's USB port — to things like mystical willow branches, horse manes or the hair of pterodactyl-like birds.

It's no coincidence that the Na'vi chief Eyukan is played by the Cherokee actor Wes Studi, whose credits include "Dances with Wolves," perhaps the film most thematically akin to "Avatar."

"Avatar" is essentially a fairy tale that imagines a more favorable outcome for the oppressed fighting against the technology and might of Western Civilization. Sully, who quickly takes to life as a Na'vi, begins to feel his allegiances blurred.

Though he has promised Quaritch to spy on the Na'vi (their home lies atop an Unobtainium deposit), he begins to appreciate their ways. He also falls for Neytiri (Zoe Saldana), the Na'vi princess and the one who introduces him to the tribe.

Many Na'vi are suspicious of Sully — "a demon in a fake body" — but they eventually embrace him. They accept him as a leader, even though he occasionally goes limp and vacant when his human body isn't connected. This off-switch makes for questionable leadership skills — as if George Washington had been a narcoleptic.

The inevitable battle has overt shades of current wars. Quaritch, drinking coffee during a bombing with a cavalier callousness like Robert Duvall in "Apocalypse Now," drops phrases like "pre-emptive strike," "fight terror with terror" and even "shock and awe," a term apparently destined to survive for centuries in the lexicon.

These historical and contemporary overtones bring the otherworldly "Avatar" down to Earth and down to cliche. The message of environmentalism and of (literal) tree-hugging resonates, but such a plainly just cause also saps "Avatar" of drama and complexity.

It's also a funny message coming from such a swaggering behemoth of technology like "Avatar." As for the effects, they are undeniable. 3-D has recently become en vogue, but only know has it been used with such a depth of field.

The movie is also a notable advance for performance capture, which is how the Na'vi were created. As was done with Gollum in "The Lord of the Rings" and King Kong in "King Kong," the Na'vi were made with cameras and sensors recording the movements of the actors and transposing them onto the CGI creatures.

Seldom has this been done in a way that captured the most important thing — the eyes — but Cameron employed a new technology (a camera rigged like a helmet on the actors) to capture their faces up close. The green, flickering eyes of the Na'vi are a big step forward, but there's still an unmistakable emptiness to a movie so filled with digital creations.

Ultimately, the technology of "Avatar" isn't the problem — moviemaking, itself, is an exercise in technology. But one need look no further than Wes Anderson's "Fantastic Mr. Fox" to see how technique — whether it be antique stop-motion animation or state-of-the-art 3-D performance capture — can find soulfulness at 24 frames per second.

"Avatar," a 20th Century Fox release, is rated PG-13 for intense epic battle sequences and warfare, sensuality, language and some smoking. Running time: 161 minutes. Two and half stars out of four.