I only use ROTK as an example because of the release date, the awards buzz, and frantic fanboys, and the mammoth box office return, both here, and abroad. Think of how HUGE ROTK's daily box office was, and how the legs were. Most of you were following in 2003-2004.

In 3 weeks of release, Avatar will have blown past it domestically and world wide. That's mind-numbing to think about! One is the final chapter to an immensely well received classic novel and film series, and the other is nothing anybody demanded to be made. Nothing says "Cameron is King" more than that does!

Even reducing AVATAR's gross by 20-30% (in an effort to take away the 3D prices), it still will beat ROTK domestically (and probably overseas as well). Incredible.

Cry me a river!

Actually, it's a tool to counter piracy. But nice try.

Avatar needs 600m to actually beat Return of the King. It was only 6 years ago. You can compare the numbers.
Sorry Avatar is not actually beating it at the moment.

It's both.

And Mav, Avatar may not be based on any previous source, but it's pretty clear that there were people DEMANDING this movie gets released for years. I've been telling people about Avatar since at least 2005. Cameron just got us movie geeks on the 'net soo excited for this movie that we became the pre-release hype!

Exactly. He got the geeks on board for this film. Yes yes these same geeks were spewing shit when the teaser came out but they all went to watch it.

Enough with new Avatar threads here. Any further ones without important content that can't be posted anywhere else will be locked.

You'd think that I haven't been online at all. Fine, you can show me the websites and all the hype for Avatar, and I'll take my statement back. Very few even talked about it. Remember, I'm a big Cameron fan, and I found no talk about it until recently. You can show me, though, I'd like to read some of it!

http://www.nytimes.com/2007/01/08/movie ... meron.html
Titanic’ Director Joins Fox on $200 Million Film
By SHARON WAXMAN
Published: January 8, 2007

LOS ANGELES, Jan. 8 — James Cameron, the director whose “Titanic” set a record for ticket sales around the world, will join 20th Century Fox in tackling a similarly ambitious and costly film, “Avatar,” which will test new technologies on a scale unseen before in Hollywood, the studio and the filmmaker said today....

The film, with a budget of close to $200 million, is an original science fiction story that will be shown in3D in conventional theaters. The story pits a human army against an alien army on a distant planet, using live actors and digital technology to make a large cast of virtual creatures who convey emotion as authentically as humans.

Earlier movies like the “The Lord of the Rings” did so on a limited basis, while those like “The Polar Express” have used live actors to drive animated images with so-called “motion capture” technology. But none has gone as far as “Avatar” will do to create an entirely photorealistic world, complete with virtual characters on that scale, Mr. Cameron said in a telephone interview.

“This film is a true hybrid — a full live-action shoot, with C.G. characters in C.G. and live environments,” he said, referring computer-generated images. “Ideally at the end of the of day the audience has no idea which they’re looking at.”

...........

“This will launch an entire new way of seeing and exhibiting movies,” said Jim Gianopulos, co-chairman of Fox Filmed Entertainment. “It’s once again Jim is transforming the medium. Jim’s not just a filmmaker; every one of his films have pushed the envelope, in its aesthetic and in technology. This is an astounding undertaking, and one only Jim could do justice to.”

Even the NY Times was publishing articles on how incredible Avatar was supposed to be in the first few days of 2007! That was around the same time the Avatar Thread was started. You can look through the first few pages to see how in at least Jan. 2007 there were people dead set convinced this movie would be a 'game changer.' And that thread was created for a reason - people had been wondering since Titanic came out how Cameron could follow it up! For a long time people thought he might make a live action 'Battle Angel Alita' film. Those rumors stemmed from talk that he'd be making a big science fiction movie. Here's MadGez and ElMurato discussing it in 2005: http://www.worldofkj.com/forum/viewtopi ... &sk=t&sd=a

There may be older posts of mine talking about Avatar in BOM, but I can't search those forums. Search my name and James Cameron and let me know if you find anything more.

There was definitely some press and diehard movie fans knew it was being developed, but compared to other major tentpole releases things were very, very quiet until Comic-Con this year. Even then (and after Avatar Day), the movie only started hitting the general public's consciousness around the end of October.

Remember all those rants about how terribly Fox was mis-marketing/not marketing it at all?

Not sure how a film that was only the second ever to cross $1B can be "bitchslapped."