Re: James Cameron's Avatar

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TC wrote:yeah, repeated viewings are not recommended. once you realize their ponytail is their sex organ, then you see them hook it up to the animals they ride and the tree, it's kind of all over.
Ha!
"I'm like a dog chasing cars, I wouldn't know what to do if I caught one. . . . I'm not a schemer. I just do things."

Re: James Cameron's Avatar

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EW wrote: James Cameron opens up about his long-awaited (and awaited) Avatar sequel
The director returns to Pandora with the first of four planned Avatar sequels, combining innovative performance-capture and his lifelong love for the ocean.

What do you do after making the world's highest-grossing movie of all time, shattering the record you yourself had set more than a decade earlier? If you're James Cameron, you take a breath and then dive headfirst into the deep end — literally. After topping the box office with 2009's Avatar, his fantastic tropical saga of blue-skinned aliens and environmental messaging, the director vowed to return with not one but four planned sequels. He decided the first of these (in theaters Dec. 16, 2022) would be set primarily underwater, requiring years of technological research and months of training actors to hold their breath for lengths that would impress even a Navy SEAL.

Now Cameron is finally ready to welcome audiences back to Pandora with an ambitious aquatic marvel that's been a literal decade in the making.

"It sounds kind of nuts, the process," Cameron, 67, admits with a laugh. "I mean, if Avatar hadn't made so much damn money, we'd never do this — because it's kind of crazy."

Listening to the filmmaker describe Avatar 2's journey makes "kind of crazy" sound like an understatement. Cameron began planning the sequel by himself in 2012, bringing in a writing team in 2013 who helped outline four stories that would stretch across Pandora's diverse geography and continue the first film's tale of man versus nature. Filming on Avatar 2 (an official title has yet to be announced) started in 2017, with a story set about 14 years after the original: Former human soldier Jake Sully (Sam Worthington) and Na'vi warrior Neytiri (Zoe Saldana) have settled down and started a family, and much of the film centers on their preteen offspring.

"Ultimately, the sequels are a story about family, and the lengths parents will go through to keep that family together and keep them safe," producer Jon Landau explains. "I always say that Jim's movies have universal themes — and really, there's no more universal theme than family."

Both Avatar 2 and 3 are mostly set in and around the ocean, introducing a new clan of reef-dwelling Na'vi called the Metkayina. Landau describes the new tropical beaches and shores of Pandora as a seaside paradise: "Bora Bora on steroids." If the first film was all about the rain forest, with its cautionary tale about deforestation, the new entries are a love letter to Cameron's first fascination, the sea. The Titanic director has long advocated for ocean conservation, and he completed a record-breaking journey to the bottom of the Mariana Trench in 2012. "I do the ocean thing when I'm not making movies," he says. "So if I could combine my two greatest loves — one of which is ocean exploration; the other, feature filmmaking — why wouldn't I?"

But setting a story below sea level presents more than a few challenges. The innovative performance-capture process designed for the first Avatar wasn't intended to work underwater, so Cameron and his team had to engineer a way to accurately record the actors' tiniest movements and expressions while submerged. That footage was then animated by artists at the multi-Oscar-winning visual-effects company Weta Digital. Much of the performance-capture filming took place in a 900,000-gallon tank (built specifically for the sequels), which could mimic the ocean's swirling currents and crashing waves. "My colleagues within the production really lobbied heavily for us to do it 'dry for wet,' hanging people on wires," Cameron notes. "I said, 'It's not going to work. It's not going to look real.' I even let them run a test, where we captured dry for wet, and then we captured in water, a crude level of our in-water capture. And it wasn't even close."

Many of the cast members prepared for the plunge by getting scuba-certified, culminating in a field trip to dive with manta rays in Hawaii. But when it came to filming, air bubbles and scuba technology would have interfered with the performance-capture process — so each actor had to train with professional divers until they could free dive, holding their breath for minutes at a time. Cameron says 72-year-old Sigourney Weaver, who's returning in a top secret new role after dying in the first film, could easily hold her breath for six and a half minutes, while new cast member Kate Winslet "blew everybody away when she did a seven-and-a-half-minute breath hold." Avatar 2 marks a reunion between Cameron and his Titanic star Winslet; here, the 46-year-old Oscar and Emmy winner plays one of the Metkayina, a mysterious character named Ronal.

"One of my favorite memories was we had this circular tank, maybe 40 feet wide, with a big glass portal in it. I walked by one day and I see Kate Winslet walking on the bottom of the tank," Landau recalls. "She's walking towards me and sees me in the window, and she just waves, gets to the end of the wall, turns around, and walks all the way back."

The first film was no small task, taking more than a decade to make it to the screen after Cameron first dreamed up the idea. But Cameron and Landau say their goal for the sequels was to aim higher — and dive deeper. Principal photography has already wrapped on Avatar 3 (due in 2024), and Weta has begun early postproduction on some scenes. The fourth and fifth movies are currently set for 2026 and 2028. "What we are doing now, from a story standpoint and a world standpoint, is on a much larger scale," Landau says. "That's both exciting and challenging. We are putting much more detail, first and foremost, into the performances of the cast, but we're [also] putting much more detail and diversity into the world that we are creating."

Still, while a series of big-budget sequels to the highest-grossing movie ever made may seem like a slam dunk, Cameron notes that the theatrical landscape has shifted wildly since the first Avatar hit theaters. In 2009, Netflix streaming was just starting to gain popularity, Blockbuster hadn't yet declared bankruptcy, and original Avatar studio 20th Century Fox was still years away from being absorbed by Disney. In a new era of superheroes and streamers, Cameron hopes — 13 years later — that audiences will still connect with his vision of distant planets and adventure. After all, in 2019 Avengers: Endgame surpassed Avatar as the biggest movie of all time — but Avatar snatched its crown back after a China rerelease in early 2021, setting a new record with an all-time haul of $2.847 billion worldwide (besting Endgame by almost $50 million).

"The big issue is: Are we going to make any damn money?" Cameron says of his planned sequels. "Big, expensive films have got to make a lot of money. We're in a new world post-COVID, post-streaming. Maybe those [box office] numbers will never be seen again. Who knows? It's all a big roll of the dice."

But hey, if you want to make a big splash, you can't be afraid to get your feet wet.

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All the technology and the underwater filming sounds impressive, but I hope they came up with a decent script to go with it. My kids love the Pirates of the Caribbean movies and watch them over and over, and those are mostly a steaming pile of crap after the first movie. The sequels feel like they spent $10 on the script and $100 million on effects and big name actors.

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yeah i'm sure when he started this, it seemed like a no-brainer. problem is, as has been said, who cares about this now? it's going to be like starting over. i'm sure that's why he originally wanted to film all three back to back, so they can have a new franchise pic year over year, or at least all within 5 years.

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Does anyone actually ever re-watch Avatar now? Younger people probably don't even know what the fuck it is. It was only big at the time because of the 3d gimmick. 3d is old news now. The film is almost unwatchable without it. I tried watching the rifftrax of it and even then couldn't make it past about 15 minutes. Who knows, never count out Cameron when it comes to convincing people to enjoy awful shit. But the deck does kind of seem stacked against him this time.
Just cut them up like regular chickens

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Variety wrote: James Cameron’s ‘Avatar 2’ Debuts Visually Dazzling Footage at CinemaCon, Gets Official Title

“Avatar 2” is real, and it’s here — naysayers be damned.

After at least seven delays in the last eight years (the film was originally supposed to open in 2014), director James Cameron is finally ready to show audiences his otherworldly, underwater vision for “Avatar’s” long-awaited sequel. It’s newly titled as “Avatar: The Way of Water.”

Disney, which inherited the franchise after acquiring 20th Century Fox in 2019, unveiled new footage of the highly anticipated film at CinemaCon, the annual gathering of movie theater owners that’s currently unfolding at Caesars Palace in Las Vegas.

CinemaCon attendees were given 3D glasses to watch the minutes-long trailer, which contained almost no dialogue. Instead, exhibitors were immersed into different regions across the dazzling world of Pandora through sweeping visuals of the planet’s crystal blue oceans and lakes. The footage also shows the local tribe of Na’vi interacting with various species resembling whales and pelicans, some of which flew through the screen and into audience member’s faces thanks to the three-dimensional technology.

Set more than a decade after the events of the first film, “Avatar: The Way of Water” begins to tell the story of the Sully family — Jake, Neytiri and their kids — and the trouble that follows them, the lengths they go to keep each other safe, the battles they fight to stay alive and the tragedies they endure.

“I know one thing,” Sam Worthington’s Jake Sully tells Zoe Saldana’s Neytiri. “Wherever we go, this family is our fortress.”

The trailer will debut exclusively in theaters ahead of Marvel’s “Doctor Strange in the Multiverse of Madness” on May 6.

Cameron, who is still in New Zealand putting the final touches on “Avatar 2,” appeared in a pre-recorded video to tell exhibitors about the film. He says it is “designed for the biggest screen and the most immersive 3D available,” adding that he “set out to test the limits of what cinema can do.”

Producer Jon Landau, who flew in town from New Zealand for less than 24 hours, indicated that “family” will be at the center of the four sequels. Each follow-up film will play out as a standalone movie and will come to its own conclusion.

“We need to make sure [audiences] have an experience they can’t get anywhere else, and that needs to be exclusively in theaters,” Landau said.

Along with Cameron, Worthington and Saldana, the $250 million-budgeted “Avatar 2” brings back Giovanni Ribisi, Sigourney Weaver, CCH Pounder and Stephen Lang. Those actors will be joined by new faces to the franchise, including Kate Winslet, Vin Diesel, Michelle Yeoh, Edie Falco, Cliff Curtis and Jemaine Clement.

There are understandable fears that enthusiasm for all things “Avatar” has dwindled in the decade since its historic run in theaters. But Na’vi Nation still appears to be loyal. During the pandemic, Cameron’s groundbreaking sci-fi epic returned to the big screen and reclaimed the title as the highest-grossing movie in history with $2.802 billion globally, taking the crown back from “Avengers: Endgame.” In anticipation for “The Way of Water,” Disney plans to re-release “Avatar” in theaters on Sept. 23.

“Avatar” premiered in December 2009, a time when ticket sales were significantly less expensive than they are these days. However, the movie had an unparalleled life in cinemas and played on the big screen for nearly 10 months, a phenomenon driven by repeat viewings and premium screenings. The unmatched success of “Avatar” inspired theater operators to speed up the deployment of digital cinema so their venues were equipped with the technology needed to play 3D.

For the follow-up, Cameron has again turned to new technology, this time to capture scenes underwater. That means Disney must convince the heaps of film exhibitors in the audience at CinemaCon that “Avatar 2” will push cinematic boundaries, so much so that it’ll be worth the expensive equipment upgrades needed to match Cameron’s dazzling vision. Based on the audible gasps in the room, exhibitors may not need much urging to pull out all the stops for “The Way of Water.”

“Avatar 2” debuts on Dec. 16, with sequels to come on Dec. 20, 2024, Dec. 18, 2026, and Dec. 22, 2028.

“The Way of Water” footage capped off Disney’s 90-minute CinemaCon presentation, which also showcased exclusive footage from “Doctor Strange in the Multiverse of Madness;” “Lightyear,” a “Toy Story” spinoff about Andy’s beloved toy; David O. Russell’s new film “Amsterdam” and “Bob’s Burgers.”
four fucking sequels over the next six years? And only certain theaters will be able to display as intended? LOL. I guess the answer to “what would james cameron do with ‘fuck you’ money and he doesn’t care what happens” is this.

source

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Does anyone actually re-watch the original Avatar? I tried once with the Rifftrax and even then I was bored out of my mind. The 3d revolution has come and gone. Though maybe that might play into the film's favor. There's a bunch of kids out there now who aren't used to seeing things in 3d. I guess maybe this will be new and exciting to them, or so Disney hopes. I personally can't fathom sitting though another one of these things. Though I suppose history says don't count Cameron out. Everytime someone does he somehow manages to pull out a miracle. This guy has more lives than a cat.
Just cut them up like regular chickens

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saw this over the weekend. my previous assessment was correct - i don't think there's one shot that doesn't have CGI. it's an amazing technical feat. as a film, i actually liked it more than i thought i would. it's very action-y, especially compared to the first one. there are very few lulls in this 3h epic. do i care about any of these characters? no, not really. hard to really have "stakes" when that's the case. but it was fun and pretty incredible to look at, i guess.

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The first hour was like staring at an AI-generated screensaver, although it does pick up once the whales appear and the action ramps up. It bugged me that the antagonists can physically upload into their Avatars, as this would seem to completely undermine the rules established in the first film, but okay...

Don't really understand how it did quite so well TBH, but Cameron always seem to pull it off. I'd much rather he did his Hiroshima film next.

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I don't know about the new one, but I've found the original impossible to watch without seeing it on a giant screen in 3d. Because that's really all there is to the film, the 3d visuals. Character and storywise it's weak as hell. I can't make it more than 15 minutes. I really don't have any desire to see the new one.
Just cut them up like regular chickens