Besides all of this, the film also boasts of Visual effects that have been done by the Oscar-winning visual effects house WETA Visual (The Lord of the Rings Trilogy). Not just this, even the 20th Century Fox has tied up with Ubisoft for the videogame titled 'James Cameron's Avatar: The Game'. But then how can there be an epic game sans the famous figurines! Hence, Mattel will soon be launching action figures for the film.
Avatar releases worldwide on Dec 18 and will also be dubbed in Hindi, Tamil and Telugu for the India sub continent.
Even as James Cameron is eagerly awaiting his film's global release, he chirps in saying "For me, as a lifelong fan of science fiction and action, Avatar is a dream project. We're creating an entire world, a complete ecosystem of phantasmagorical plants and creatures, and a native people with a rich culture and language. The story is both epic and emotional."
Avatar is the story of a wounded ex-marine, thrust unwillingly into an effort to settle and exploit an exotic planet that's rich in bio-diversity, who eventually crosses over to lead the indigenous race in a battle for survival.
Starring Sam Worthington (Hart's War, Rogue), Sigourney Weaver (Alien) and Zoe Saldana (The Terminal), the film delivers a fully immersive cinematic experience of a new kind, where the revolutionary technology which was invented to make the film, disappears into the emotion of the characters and the sweep of the story.
Vijay Singh, CEO- Fox Star Studios India, says, "There is an incredible buzz building up for Avatar across the India media, our theatrical partners and also the core audiences. The dramatic increase in the number of 3D screens, as well as the strong interest that we are getting from the Hindi, Tamil and Telugu language markets reaffirms the strong buzz for the film."
When Fox recently screened select film footages across the globe on what was celebrated as the 'Avatar Day', the reaction from the industry and movie enthusiasts was alike - that of complete awe and excitement.
While renowned Hollywood filmmakers like Steven Spielberg, Peter Jackson, Abrams, Guillermo del Toro are already planning somebig-budget films with Cameron's latest technology, closer to home directors like Vidhu Vinod Chopra, Mahesh Bhatt and Sanjay Gupta were heard saying that the technology will alter the way movies are made.
Avatar, Cameron's forthcoming action adventure is a fantasy epic, made on a whopping budget of over Rs. 1200 crores (approx USD 230 million), a figure that that clearly makes it the biggest and the grandest film ever made!
Avatar is James Cameron's first directorial effort since Titanic, which was an epic film that still holds the title for the highest collections registered of all time.
Avatar is a film which was conceived by Cameron 14 years ago, with four years of actual production work. The entire film is shot using the proprietary FUSION digital 3-D camera developed by Cameron and Vince Pace (Ghosts of the Abyss, Ocean Odyssey, Spy Kids 3-D: Game Over).
Produced by leading Hollywood studio Twentieth Century Fox, Avatar is a blend of live-action photography and new virtual photorealistic production techniques where Cameron again combines elements of massive spectacle and intimate character to tell a relatable and emotional tale.
Bollywood surely has made its mark in the world, not just by making a staggering number of movies in a year, but also by breaking records with the moolah that's being invested (read 'pumped') in a single project!
One can cite the example of the recently released water extravaganza Blue, which was produced by Shree Ashtavinayak Cine Vision Ltd., and which was also touted to be the biggest and the most expensive movie made till date in Indian cinema, (estimated at a whopping Rs.80 crores), with additional crores spent on the marketing and promotions.
While Bollywood has every reason to rejoice, having integrated the best of both worlds, seamlessly incorporating Indian cinema with state of the art equipments and latest technique in movie-making; the challenge from Hollywood seems to be getting even tougher, by every passing hour!
Just as when everyone in Bollywood was talking about the humungous budgets of Blue, James Cameron (the maker of Titanic and Terminator) is here once again with his next film titled Avatar, that seems to have crossed (read 'surpassed') all records, not only in terms of the budgets but also in the techniques of filmmaking with its path-breaking technology.
