James Cameron's AVATAR is without any doubt the most awaited movie of this year, and there is a good reason: it's James Cameron first "real" movie - not a documentary - since Titanic! You will find the incredibly awesome trailer below, but first let's learn a bit more about the story line.
Here is what IMDB tell us about the story: "A band of humans are pitted in a battle against a distant planet's indigenous population. In the future, Jake, a paraplegic war veteran, is brought to another planet, Pandora, which is inhabited by the Na'vi, a humanoid race with their own language and culture. Those from Earth find themselves at odds with each other and the local culture."
And Here is another plot summary, released by Fox: "Avatar is the story of an ex-Marine who finds himself thrust into hostilities on an alien planet filled with exotic life forms. As an Avatar, a human mind in an alien body, he finds himself torn between two worlds, in a desperate fight for his own survival and that of the indigenous people."
And more from Wikipedia: "The story’s protagonist, Jake Sully, is a former Marine who was wounded and paralyzed from the waist down in combat on Earth. In order to participate in the Avatar program, which will give him a healthy body, Jake agrees to travel to Pandora, a lush rainforest environment filled with incredible life forms – some beautiful, many terrifying. Pandora is also the home to the Na’vi, a humanoid race that lives at what humans would consider to be a primitive level, but are actually much more evolutionarily advanced than humans. Ten feet tall, with tails and blue skin that sparkles, the Na’vi live harmoniously within their unspoiled world. But as humans encroach on Pandora in search of valuable minerals, the Na’vi’s very existence is threatened – and their warrior abilities are unleashed.
Jake has unwittingly been recruited to become part of this encroachment. Since humans are unable to breathe the air on Pandora, they have created genetically-bred human-Na’vi hybrids known as Avatars. The Avatars are living, breathing bodies in the real world, controlled by a human driver through a technology that links the driver’s mind to the Avatar body. On Pandora, through his Avatar body, Jake can be whole once again. Moreover, he falls in love with a young Na’vi woman, Neytiri, whose beauty is matched by her ferocity in battle.
As Jake slides deeper into becoming one of her clan, he finds himself caught between the military-industrial forces of Earth, and the Na’vi – forcing him to choose sides in an epic battle that will decide the fate of an entire world."
More than 10 years in the making, “Avatar” marks Cameron’s return to feature directing since helming 1997’s “Titanic,” the highest grossing film of all time and winner of 11 Oscars including best picture. WETA Digital, renowned for its work in “The Lord of the Rings” trilogy and “King Kong,” will incorporate new intuitive CGI technologies to transform the environments and characters into photorealistic 3-D imagery that will transport the audience into the alien world rich with imaginative vistas, creatures and characters."
Sam Worthington, Sigourney Weaver and many others are playing in the movie which will be released in 3D - and even IMAX 3D - next December, and you can count on stunning digital effects.
Here is a picture of Sam Worthington with "his" Avatar...
One of James Cameron in the "Avatar" chamber...
And a last one of James Cameron with Sam Worthington.
In December 2006, Cameron explained that the delay in producing the film since the 1990s had been to wait until the technology necessary to create his project was advanced enough. The director planned to create photo-realistic computer-generated characters by using motion capture animation technology, on which he had been doing work for the past 14 months. Unlike previous performance capture systems, where the digital environment is added after the actors' motions have been captured, Cameron's new virtual camera allows him to directly observe on a monitor how the actors' virtual counterparts interact with the movie's digital world in real time and adjust and direct the scenes just as if shooting live action; "It’s like a big, powerful game engine. If I want to fly through space, or change my perspective, I can. I can turn the whole scene into a living miniature and go through it on a 50 to 1 scale."
Other technological innovations include a performance-capture stage, called The Volume, which is six times larger than previously used and an improved method of capturing facial expressions. The tool is a small individually made skull cap with a tiny camera attached to it, located in front of the actors' face which collects information about their facial expressions and eyes, which is then transmitted to the computers. This way, Cameron intends to transfer about 95% of the actors' performances to their digital counterparts.
Before you have a look at this awaited trailer, a great news: tomorrow friday 21st there will be a special screening of 15 minutes of Avatar - yes, FIFTEEN! - all around the world - not only in the U.S! Look on internet to find which theatre near your home is part of this special event!
And now, let's discover the first images from Avatar! As you will see it is over awesome, no words exist to describe this amazing, stunning trailer! Highly recommanded to watch it in full screen, and remember that all "Blue" creatures are digital creatures... amazing!
If the video below was disabled from Trailer addict, please go on Apple Movie Trailers to watch this awesome trailer!
Picture and Video: copyright 20th Century Fox
