Director James Cameron has thrilled “Avatar” fans by committing to at least one more installment of the sci-fi epic following its upcoming sequel
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The Titanic filmmaker has been busy collecting deep sea footage for a second Avatar film, which will be set underwater and released in 2015.
And Cameron reveals he’s decided to stop taking on projects outside of the franchise so he can instead devote his time to producing an additional one or two Avatar movies that carry a hidden message about the fragile state of the world.
He tells The New York Times, “Last year, I basically completely disbanded my production company’s development arm. So I’m not interested in developing anything. I’m in the Avatar business. Period. That’s it. I’m making Avatar 2, Avatar 3, maybe Avatar 4, and I’m not going to produce other people’s movies for them. I’m not interested in taking scripts.
“And that all sounds I suppose a little bit restricted, but the point is, I think within the Avatar landscape, I can say everything I need to say that I think needs to be said, in terms of the state of the world and what I think we need to be doing about it. And doing it in an entertaining way.”
Avatar became the highest-grossing film in movie history in 2009, grossing more than $2.7 billion worldwide.
Cameron previously admitted that he’d hoped the film’s storyline inspired viewers to take better care of Earth’s natural resources before it’s too late
James Cameron teases more ‘Avatar’ movies
Rabu, 12 Juni 2013
AVATAR Cast – Where Are They Now?
Sam Worthington (Jake Sully) will star as a Texas homicide detective in The Fields with Jessica Chastain playing his wife—another homicide detective working the same killing, blogs Cinema Blend. AusGamers says he's spent some time voicing Captain Alex Mason in the massively successful Call of Duty: Black Ops game andWXYZ reports he pulled down the Australian Film Institute's International Award for Best Actor. Meanwhile,Reel Movie News reports that Worthington will return as Perseus in Wrath of the Titans, the sequel to this year's Clash of the Titans which, while it got just a 28 percent favorable rating on Rotten Tomatoes, sold more than enough tickets worldwide to justify a follow-up.
Zoe Saldana (Neytiri) continued in an action-hero vein with 2010's just-okay The Losers, and Tom's Gamesreports she followed Worthington's video-game lead by starring in a Flash game called Zoe Saldana Makeover. She then took some time to strip for a Calvin Klein underwear ad, then headed back to movie work: Zoe Saldana Web has the actress lined up for the back-to-back AVATAR sequels slated for 2014 and 2015 release dates.
Sigourney Weaver (Grace Augustine) will star in Cedar Rapids in 2011, the story of a Midwestern insurance salesman's struggle to save his colleagues' jobs, and is rumored to also have a role in Ghostbusters III for 2012.
Stephen Lang (Col. Quaritch) will play the villain Khalar Zym in the upcoming Conan the Barbarian, andCollider has a nice post-Oscars interview with him in which he discusses filming in Bulgaria with Jason Momoa as Conan.
Michelle Rodriguez (Trudy Chacon) continued appearing in LOST after AVATAR wrapped, and will extend her string of tough-chick roles in 2011's Battle: Los Angeles as a marine technical sergeant. If you want to follow Michelle day to day, see her official Web site (which also streams her Twitter feed).
AVATAR on Earth: Inspirations for Pandora
Cameron also told MTV that growing up in rural Canada and catching anything that moved to study it sparked his interest in the beauty of animals and plants. And thanks to his interest in scuba diving and all things undersea, Cameron is exceptionally well-versed in places and creatures most of us only glimpse in National Geographic.
To see some of those earthly critters, Thewondrous.com has over a dozen side-by-side comparisons of Pandoran fauna and their earthly counterparts—see thanator, think black panther, see helicoradian, thinkChristmas tree worm.
But let's stay focused on landscapes. There's wide agreement that China's Huangshan mountains inspiredAVATAR's Hallelujah Mountains—so savvy tourism officials in Hunan province re-named one of their peaksAVATAR Hallelujah Mountain, blogs DOGONews, while Amusing Planet has some great photos of the spire in question.
The AVATAR Blog posts a photo of someplace on Earth that may have inspired Pandora, but then left us guessing where it is. Luckily io9 reveals it's somewhere in Scotland, which is packed with its own exotic landscapes. Meanwhile Mongabay features a Borneo rainforest photo that's remarkably Pandora-like, especially if you recall the shuttle landing during AVATAR's opening sequence.
Finally, if you thought bioluminescence was just for Pandoran life-forms, Ecorazzi blogs that you should try a night swim in Vieques, Puerto Rico to see how billions of glowing microorganisms light up the night, or head to Angel Falls in Venezuela to see a landscape that looks remarkably like where Jake and Neytiri approach the Banshees.
Ultimate AVATAR Fans
But possibly the most committed fan of AVATAR is IGGY, a.k.a. Mr. AVATAR, of Edmonton, Alberta and a member of this site. He's also known as the AVATAR Tattoo Guy, and with good reason: He has at least eight AVATAR-related tattoos on him, six of which are Neytiri, according toGeekologie. His license plate reads "NEYTIRI" as well, and the back gate of his pickup sports a montage of AVATAR scenes.
Unreality interviewed IGGY—who with his shirt on looks like anyone else you'd see on the street, and is actually named Raymond Knowles—and found that he's seen the movie over 40 times and counting, and isheaded to the gym to sculpt better spaces for future tattoos. That's what total commitment looks like.
Sometimes fandom leaps off the Internet (or your truck) and into society at large, according to Metro: Forestry officials in Hunan Province, China began offering Pandora-themed tours and weddings in the Wulingyuan area, whose peaks inspired AVATAR's Hallelujah Mountains. Unfortunately one of the brides thought the visiting Na'vi (actually forestry workers in costume) were pathetic, according to Digital Spy. Meanwhile, By: Beckett mistakenly thought the two Na'vi in this photo were grooms and wondered where the third woman's husband was.
More Favorite Avatar Movie Quotes
"I told myself I can pass any test a man can pass."—Jake, in voiceover at the start of AVATAR, giving the first hint of the inner toughness that will help him face Pandora's challenges.
"It's my job to keep you alive. I will not succeed. Not with all of you."—Col. Quaritch telling the group of new arrivals (including Jake) that Pandora is an extremely hostile environment.
"You should see your faces!"—Trudy Chacon, flying Jake and Norm on their first tour of the Hallelujah Mountains. Haven't they ever seen million-ton slabs of rock floating in midair before?
"Out there, beyond that fence, every living thing that crawls, flies or squats in the mud wants to kill you and eat your eyes for jujubes."—Col. Quaritch, getting more specific.
"What about this one? Run? Don't run? What?"—Jake, in his avatar body, looking for guidance from Grace. Having just faced down a charging titanothere by standing his ground, Jake turns to find a much more dangerous thanator—and it's ready to pounce.
"Run, definitely run!"—Grace's reply.
"How will I know if he chooses me?"
"He will try to kill you."
"Outstanding."—Jake asking Neytiri how to tell if the ikran (mountain banshee) he's chosen is really his or not. Little does he realize the wrestling match that's about to take place. ...
"Shut up and fly straight!"—Jake to his ikran a few moments later, as he tries to get the hang of communicating with a mountain banshee.
"Today we made a kill, and I ate it. At least I know where that meal came from."
"Other body. You need to take care of this body."—Jake, fresh out of his avatar, being forced to eat packaged food by Grace. [From the extended cut]
"What did happen at the school, Grace?"—Jake, asking why the humans' school for Na'vi was closed. [From the extended cut]
"They set the AMP suit on fire. Driver's toast."—Lyle, describing a Na'vi attack on a mining party. [From the extended cut]
"You're not the only one with a gun, bitch!"—Trudy Chacon, in appropriately Pandoran war paint, as she turns her AT-99 Scorpion gunship against Quaritch's fleet as it attacks Hometree.
"Sometimes your whole life boils down to one insane move."—Jake, just before seeking out a great leonopteryx and becoming toruk makto.
"The aliens went back to their dying home. Only a few were chosen to stay."—Jake in voice-over, as the defeated humans march toward the ship that will take them away from Pandora—for now.
Something Blue: AVATAR Weddings
So have any of these AVATAR-themed weddings taken place stateside? Earlier this year, Daughter of Design wrote about her Avatar-inspired wedding ideas: “Your officiant would ask you to bond hair-to-hair at which time the groom reveals his ‘ponytail’ from the back of his tux jacket and the bride, maybe have a small strand tied under her hair-do that you can easily release and then recite to each other: ‘Oel ngati kameie’…Supplies: For the ponytail you can either go to a wig shop or costume shop and get one of those Manchu queues or use a strand of black rope. Then just fray the tip a bit and spray paint it white at the one end. Then you need to adhere somehow a strong magnet to both ends so that during the bonding ceremony they'll connect.” Okay. Yeah!
More AVATAR Gift ideas
