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Rottenwatch: AVATAR (82%)

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Sculli, this is for you. Video and recap from the Liberty Science Theater:

James Cameron’s Intricate Insanity on Display at ‘Avatar: The Exhibition'



We recently visited the East Coast premiere of James Cameron and 20th Century Fox’s Avatar: The Exhibition at the Liberty Science Center in New Jersey, where one can learn more about the technology that made the film and see how biology from our own world influenced the world of Pandora. Check out our experience, followed by a video captured of the exhibition.
 
Zoe offers update: Cameron still writing!

“Last I heard, I spoke with his wife, Suzy [Amis], and she told me that he was definitely very reserved right now and taking his time,” Saldana said. “She barely sees him. He’s just locked up writing, finishing up the script. I know that it’s just a matter of time.”
Read more at http://www.inquisitr.com/549366/zoe...and-where-avatar-2-is-at/#8AVFk72I0bdu2l9j.99

Sounds like Cameron is putting a lot of effort into the script, but then I remember he has two of them to write.
 
http://www.independent.ie/entertainment/movies/cameron-im-living-in-pandora-29132571.html
The filmmaker revealed: "As a writer, I need isolation. I'm calling you from New Zealand right now where I'm writing on a little farm. When you live in a special world like Pandora, you have to live in that world.

"The quiet helps. The only problem is it's a little too nice when it comes to the weather. I want to go play outdoors."

He added: "I was talking the other day with Peter Jackson and said, 'You had it easy dude. You had the books when you did the second and third Lord of the Rings. I have to create my own books in my head and extract a script from it.'

"I'm deep into it and I'm living in Pandora right now. There is that start up torque where you feel it's coming to you. Then you build up momentum. That's when it gets fun. The characters talk and it's writing itself. I'm almost there right now. It's building fast."

Meanwhile, the Titanic director has announced his resignation from the board of 3D technology company RealD so he can focus on the films.

He said in a statement: "The increasing demands on my schedule in 2013 have made serving on RealD's board impractical going forward. However, I am excited to continue my long-standing collaboration with RealD to jointly promote the merits of 3D filmmaking."
 

The meeting ended on a boisterous note. “That fuckin’ rocks!” Cameron called out in response to an image of a snarling maw of thin blue-veined tissue, the mouth of the pterodactyl-like banshee that Jake’s avatar domesticates for his ride. “Look at the gill-like membrane on the side of the mouth, its transmission of light, all the secondary color saturation on the tongue, and that maxilla bone. I love what you did with the translucence on the teeth, and the way the quadrate bone racks the teeth forward. It’s a sharky thing. As wacky as this creature is, it looks completely real. Maybe I’m getting high on my own supply.” He was practically out of breath. “The banshee lives! He’s a fierce-looking sonuvabitch.”

Fucking Cameron. Never, die, dude. Just keep going.
 
Peter Jackson: "I know, I can't even comprehend the genius it takes to slap a new coat of paint on the classic mighty whitey tale."
 
Great read. Had no idea about Cameron responding to Turan's negative review of Titanic in the LA Times.

The movie came out just before Christmas. Kenneth Turan, the film critic for the L.A. Times, gave “Titanic” a scathing review. “Just as the hubris of headstrong shipbuilders who insisted that the Titanic was unsinkable led to an unparalleled maritime disaster, so Cameron’s overweening pride has come unnecessarily close to capsizing this project,” he wrote, calling it “a hackneyed, completely derivative copy of old Hollywood romances.” Turan, who continued to write critically of the film even as it became a box-office phenomenon, was besieged with hate mail. One correspondent, a teen-age girl, sent him a letter to which she’d stapled her multiple “Titanic” ticket stubs. In March, Cameron delivered his own rebuttal, which was published in the arts section of the L.A. Times. It was incisive, and maybe more revealing than he knew. “Poor Kenny. He sees himself as the lone voice crying in the wilderness, righteous but not heeded by the blind and dumb ‘great unwashed’ around him. It must be a great burden to be cursed with such clear vision when your misguided flock bray past you, like lemmings, unmindful.” Even now, Cameron resents the media’s treatment of the film. “We were branded as the biggest idiots in movie history,” he told me. “They were just sharpening their knives so they could really take the film apart. Then they couldn’t. So, fuck them. Fuck ’em all.”

Not much of a surprise Turan gave Avatar a positive review after all that :lol
 
I just saw that the sequels are going to be shot at a place that I used to live right by. Fun fact: It's within a half mile of where Tarantino used to be a video store clerk.
 
Interesting stuff about Cameron's writing process. Maybe I'm being optimistic, but hopefully Avatar's massive success will free him to push things further.

Avatar was a huge gamble at the time, and movies like that do need to play it relatively safe (story wise). Now it's established though, the rules have changed.
 
Interesting stuff about Cameron's writing process. Maybe I'm being optimistic, but hopefully Avatar's massive success will free him to push things further.

Avatar was a huge gamble at the time, and movies like that do need to play it relatively safe (story wise). Now it's established though, the rules have changed.
I really hope it's more of an Aliens sequel that shakes the story and universe up a lot, as opposed to a T2 sequel where it recycles the first film but just ups the ante.

Or maybe since he's going in knowing about tr third film, we'll get something completely unpredictable. Again, I just hope the second film does feel satisfying as a self-contained story.
 
http://www.bleedingcool.com/2013/03...-right-now-in-preperation-for-avatar-2-and-3/
It’s a little daunting because sequels are always tricky. You have to be surprising and stay ahead of audience anticipation. At the same time, you have to massage their feet with things that they know and love about the first film. I’ve walked that line in the past, so I’m not too worried about it. At the same time, I definitely have to deliver the goods…As for a release date that will be determined by when I get the script out. No pressure!
 
What's funny is that his 'No pressure!' could be taken literally after he explains that the release date is dependent on when he gets the scripts out instead of the other way around.
 
It's strange. Has Cameron ever struggled to churn our a script like he has for the Avatar sequels? I always thought his writing process took the least amount of time when compared to the other aspects of the development process of his films.
 
It's strange. Has Cameron ever struggled to churn our a script like he has for the Avatar sequels? I always thought his writing process took the least amount of time when compared to the other aspects of the development process of his films.
As much as he keeps mentioning the script, I'm sure the delays also have to do with tech that is being developed in parallel.

I'm guessing that he wants to be sure that Avatar 2 will be just a ground breaking visually as the first one was.
 
As much as he keeps mentioning the script, I'm sure the delays also have to do with tech that is being developed in parallel.

I'm guessing that he wants to be sure that Avatar 2 will be just a ground breaking visually as the first one was.

I feel like we're going to experience decreasing marginal returns with the sequel. The first one still has the best and most natural looking cg in any action blockbuster yet. I'm not saying that it can't be improved, but I feel like it can't improve as much as the gap in visual fidelity that existed prior to the first Avatar.

Which is fine by me. Pretty graphics are great and all, but Cameron's directing is what made any of that memorable in the first film.
 
As much as he keeps mentioning the script, I'm sure the delays also have to do with tech that is being developed in parallel.

I'm guessing that he wants to be sure that Avatar 2 will be just a ground breaking visually as the first one was.

Yeah, they've been doing a lot of development on the tech pipeline since the first film wrapped, and Cameron has been active in that. It hasn't been said anywhere, but I suspect Cameron is trying to land the scripts and get the tech ready by about the same time frame.

Which means 2017, as Sculli has been saying. Eight years. Good grief.
 
I believe they should take a longer break between the first second movies

the jump will not be as big or should i say have as big of an impact as the first avatar unless they are using some new technology that wasnt available when Avatar came out
 
As much as he keeps mentioning the script, I'm sure the delays also have to do with tech that is being developed in parallel.

I'm guessing that he wants to be sure that Avatar 2 will be just a ground breaking visually as the first one was.

And still to this day I haven't seen a movie top the visuals of Avatar. Has it ever been revealed what Avatar's budget was?
 
I feel like we're going to experience decreasing marginal returns with the sequel. The first one still has the best and most natural looking cg in any action blockbuster yet. I'm not saying that it can't be improved, but I feel like it can't improve as much as the gap in visual fidelity that existed prior to the first Avatar.

Which is fine by me. Pretty graphics are great and all, but Cameron's directing is what made any of that memorable in the first film.
To a certain extent I agree with you in that there might not be another tier of realism for them to reach, but there is still a lot of new visual ground for them to cover.

I have always considered the first film to be a sort of artificial Planet Earth. If you keep the David Attenborough documentaries in mind, just image the sorts of new and interesting creatures that could still be created that would require new types of rendering.

None of the creatures in the first film even had hair. The first film didn't really show insects.

I suspect the big underwater action setpiece will blow minds.
Exactly.

The abyss was just a taste. Just imagine the sorts of glorious underwater life that Cameron will try to create.
 
And still to this day I haven't seen a movie top the visuals of Avatar. Has it ever been revealed what Avatar's budget was?
I am very interested to know this as well. Sculli would seem to be the definitive person to ask but he has always seemed to downplay Avatar's budget for some reason.

Film budgets generally seem to be difficult to nail down and the unprecedented length of the films pre-production and tech development probably further obscure this.
 
So...why didn't Cameron have a sequel script that was SOMEWHAT done where all he'd have to do is fill in the big details?

I can't imagine creating the world of Pandora and during that time not thinking about where the story could potentially go after the first movie.
 
I am very interested to know this as well. Sculli would seem to be the definitive person to ask but he has always seemed to downplay Avatar's budget for some reason.

Film budgets generally seem to be difficult to nail down and the unprecedented length of the films pre-production and tech development probably further obscure this.

I'm thinking it must have been gargantuan. I mean we have 200+ million budget movies not even coming close the the effects used in Avatar.
 
I'm thinking it must have been gargantuan. I mean we have 200+ million budget movies not even coming close the the effects used in Avatar.

Eh. I'm sure all the actors were dirt cheap though. I doubt it was much higher than the reporter ~250m budget.
 
So...why didn't Cameron have a sequel script that was SOMEWHAT done where all he'd have to do is fill in the big details?

I can't imagine creating the world of Pandora and during that time not thinking about where the story could potentially go after the first movie.

"Patience is a virtue." - James Cameron
 
Eh. I'm sure all the actors were dirt cheap though. I doubt it was much higher than the reporter ~250m budget.

If that budget figure is true, Cameron must have some awesome discount vouchers.

Whenever I read that crap like Jack and the Giant Slayer commanded a 200 million dollar budget, I throw up a little.
 
If that budget figure is true, Cameron must have some awesome discount vouchers.

Whenever I read that crap like Jack and the Giant Slayer commanded a 200 million dollar budget, I throw up a little.
As the saying goes: Fast-Good-Cheap, pick two.

Avatar's development was quite different from traditional Hollywood films. The scope of the project was enormous but its lengthy development could have, in a sense, helped to reduce
the budget. If they were trying to rush the project out in 15 months to meet a specific release date it almost certainly would have cost even more.
 
I feel like we're going to experience decreasing marginal returns with the sequel. The first one still has the best and most natural looking cg in any action blockbuster yet. I'm not saying that it can't be improved, but I feel like it can't improve as much as the gap in visual fidelity that existed prior to the first Avatar.

Which is fine by me. Pretty graphics are great and all, but Cameron's directing is what made any of that memorable in the first film.

Cameron making sure that HFR is done right and looks perfect. That will be the biggest push he does with this one.
 
I am very interested to know this as well. Sculli would seem to be the definitive person to ask but he has always seemed to downplay Avatar's budget for some reason.

Film budgets generally seem to be difficult to nail down and the unprecedented length of the films pre-production and tech development probably further obscure this.
I don't downplay the budget. The reported budget is $230m, but the actual budget accordin to any source you might find is really somewhere around $300m. I would consider Cameron makin the most expensive film ever yet again another notch on his belt, so there really is no need to downplay the budget.

The only people who claim it's higher are those that read the NYT article that got eviscerated for trying to come up with its attention-grabbing $500m headline without the numbers to back it up. That number even included marketing and they were still $100m away from their fantasy headline number.
 
So...why didn't Cameron have a sequel script that was SOMEWHAT done where all he'd have to do is fill in the big details?

I can't imagine creating the world of Pandora and during that time not thinking about where the story could potentially go after the first movie.
He had an outline of both movies before the first one ever filmed.

Remember that T2 came 7 years after T1 (and Aliena 7 years after Alien; dat magic number). This time he's been writing two films, building subs and exploring the bottom of the ocean, majorly expanding and heading up his Cameron-Pace camera company worldwide, serving on Real-D's 3D board (until recently), working with WETA on new tech while living between NZ and LA, serving as a department head on Planetary Resources (fucking asteroid mining), all while sweet-talking the major distributors and production houses in China.

Whether or not the sequels gross more than the original film, they are going to make an absolute fucktonne worldwide and an absolute goddamn killing in the Chinese market. Last time was just a taste of what China could do.
 
I don't downplay the budget. The reported budget is $230m, but the actual budget accordin to any source you might find is really somewhere around $300m. I would consider Cameron making the most expensive film ever yet again another notch on his belt, so there really is no need to downplay the budget.

The only people who claim it's higher are those that read the NYT article that got eviscerated for trying to come up with its attention-grabbing $500m headline without the numbers to back it up. That number even included marketing and they were still $100m away from their fantasy headline number.
I intentionally used a mildly inflammatory tone to make sure you would respond. Sorry for being manipulative.

I had tried to look this up a few years ago and I remember running into a lot of obfuscation. I just did some quick googling after reading your post and this seems to be more of settled issue now. Anyway, thanks.
 
http://www.hollywoodreporter.com/behind-screen/nab-avatar-editor-says-new-436983

Stephen Rivkin, who edited Avatar with John Refoua and director James Cameron, said Wednesday at an editors panel at the NAB Show that a new editing pipeline is being developed for the sequels.

"After Avatar's release, we got together to discuss how to improve the process," he said. "We are developing a new pipeline that helps with what we were making up as we were going along."

Rivkin continued, "Editorial is working very closely with Avid and Weta Digital. We are trying to develop a pipeline that will track metadata for each character as the virtual production proceeds."

"Jim is going to continue to push the envelope," he added. "We are working with higher resolution, which will enable a much easier hand off to Weta. Jim is also experimenting with high frame rates.“
 
"Jim is also experimenting with high frame rates.“

Oh noes. Sculli, I never asked -- did you like 48FPS in The Hobbit? As I've gotten further away from it I don't, but perhaps that was just the poor film it was used for. Maybe with more mo-cap stuff it could look better.

I really like HFR, but agree in that I'm not sure it was right for The Hobbit in that it drew a lot of attention to pieces of the sets that couldn't stand up to the scrutiny that HFR allowed. I think it will be a much different story when it comes to experiencing Pandora - where the sets don't actually exist and everything is congruous.

Another thing is that I don't believe PJ approached his filming style any differently when using 48fps, which I think is a mistake. Cameron is very different in that regard and I think the Avatar sequels will be the real eye-opener for the benefits of HFR. I'm hoping he goes 60fps as has been rumored.

The benefits that HFR have on 3D are unquestionable, however.
 
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