The New York Times on the hype around James Cameron’s upcoming 3-D sci-fi epic Avatar:
To date, neither a trailer nor even a still photo from the film, which tells the story of a disabled soldier who uses technology to inhabit an alien body on a distant planet, has been made public by Mr. Cameron or Fox.
But a number of enthusiasts who have been swapping notes on the message boards at IMDB.com claim to have already seen the movie—in their dreams. “The special effects were mostly drawings and cartoons, but they looked 3-D still,” wrote one “planetshane,” whose particular dream involved a pirated copy of an early version.
“It was the best movie I had ever seen,” the post continued.
Only a few weeks ago, Joshua Quittner, a technology writer for Time magazine, fed the frenzy when he reported feeling a strange yearning to return to the movie’s mythical planet, Pandora, the morning after he was shown just 15 minutes of the film. Mr. Cameron, Mr. Quittner wrote, theorized that the movie’s 3-D action had set off actual “memory creation.”
Questioned by telephone recently at his home in Mill Valley, Calif., Mr. Quittner said he was still reeling from the experience.
“It was like doing some kind of drug,” he said, describing a scene in which the movie’s hero, played by Sam Worthington, ran around “with this kind of hot alien chick,” was attacked by jaguarlike creatures and was sprinkled with sprites that floated down, like snowflakes.
Definitely worth a read if you’re a Cameron fan. (And if you’ve already been told that Avatar is the next Star Wars, and if you’re finished scouring J.J. Abrams’ t-shirt for clues about the film.) The whole story’s here.
I can’t wait for this. But I am wondering how the experience will translate to the average home theater after its out of theaters.
@ Marq Young: I don’t think it will. While Avatar might work in some lesser 2-D form on Blu-Ray–or while it might work as it is in 3-D, once 3-D living room displays become a reality–I don’t think home video is the endpoint for this film.
I’m guessing 20th Century Fox sunk so much money into Avatar because they view it not only as a solid financial investment in its own right–it’s Cameron returning to action sci-fi, after all–but because they’re hoping it’ll be the film that redefines the moviegoing experience as one that can’t be duplicated at home. With 3-D, studios (and theaters) can charge more for tickets, studios can release and rerelease films in theaters and market it as an “event,” and–maybe most importantly from the studios’ perspective–they can avoid piracy. True, studios might lose some home video revenue from a shift to theater-based 3-D, but in doing so, they’ll likely be making the theatrical moviegoing experience a far more profitable and unique one. By using new technology, they’re essentially trying to turn back the clock to a time before home video and Bit Torrent.
That’s my guess, anyway. Now if you’ll excuse me, I think there are still a few more aspects of J.J. Abrams’ t-shirt that require a bit more analysis.