James Cameron's AVATAR discussion thread

[Khev]

Re: I saw AVATAR in 3D!

James Cameron's AVATAR Script Treatment (featuring all the elements outlined above): 1994

Disney's Pocahontas: 1995



But still, very amusing.

 

[Toni Plutonij]

Re: I saw AVATAR in 3D!

James Cameron's AVATAR Script Treatment (featuring all the elements outlined above): 1994

Disney's Pocahontas: 1995



But still, very amusing.

Yeah, I find it amusing, I don't actually think that Cameron took the script off of the Pocahontas, but that picture up there is priceless!

 

[Khev]

Re: I saw AVATAR in 3D!

In the new issue of Cinefex out right now (featuring extensive coverage of the Avatar production, a great read that I highly recommend) Cameron mentions Avatar being most inspired by stories like Edgar Rice Burroughs' John Carter of Mars and Rudyard Kipling's The Man Who Would Be King. I've heard of both but read neither. Perhaps Disney's Pocahontas borrowed elements from those stories as well.

 

[Bezzerkerr]

Re: I saw AVATAR in 3D!

haaa....great job pointing that out. Pocahontas is a GREAT story.

funny, even with a "Pocahontas" story it still demolished the coveted DARK KNIGHT's box office sales in 17 days...that's what is truly laughable.

 

[Wor-Gar]

Re: I saw AVATAR in 3D!

In the new issue of Cinefex out right now (featuring extensive coverage of the Avatar production, a great read that I highly recommend) Cameron mentions Avatar being most inspired by stories like Edgar Rice Burroughs' John Carter of Mars and Rudyard Kipling's The Man Who Would Be King. I've heard of both but read neither. Perhaps Disney's Pocahontas borrowed elements from those stories as well.

It's my understanding that Avatar originated in Cameron's brain in high school, around the time he was thinking about the Abyss as well. Who knows if that's really true. Sure the story wasn't worked out but probably the basics. Clearly he's been influenced by cinema over the years as we all have and once he was forced to put it down on paper as a story he most likely borrowed elements from all over the place.

Still, no one's arguing that this isn't a story told many times before. Even die hard Avatar fans concur with this.

 

[Khev]

Re: I saw AVATAR in 3D!

Clearly he's been influenced by cinema over the years as we all have and once he was forced to put it down on paper as a story he most likely borrowed elements from all over the place.

Yep. His scriptment indicates he was definitely in a little bit of "Return of the Jedi" mode back in the early 90's as well. While a lot of the final battle was outlined similarly to how it appears on film there were a couple of moments that were straight out of an Ewok movie.

At one point Jake is chased into an alcove by an ampsuit and Na'vi warriors push boulders onto it from above, another time two Na'vi clothesline an ampsuit with a log in between two charging direhorses. Earlier during Jake's training he even tries to throw a bola and wraps it around his face! Thanks for coming to your senses on those Jim.

 

[Bezzerkerr]

Re: I saw AVATAR in 3D!

I concur,

Quentin Tarantino is also guilty of "borrowing" material.

 

[cr`]

I loved Avatar more then corny ass Titanic...I hate that movie.

not saying it's cameron's best film, but titanic's corniness aside it has a stronger narrative when compared to avatar. avatar's story beats is by the number, which was the most surprising thing to me about the film. cameron always throw some twists and turns into his story, nothing he's ever done is THIS predictable. that and titanic has a much better climax.

and you talk like there's nothing corny about avatar at all.

 

[Bamboota]

 

[cr`]

the top 5 billion dollars grossers and how long it took them to reach the magic number:

1. Titanic took 11 weeks (final: $1.84 billion)
2. LOTR: Return of the King took 10 weeks (final: $1.12 billion)
3. Pirates of the Caribean: Dead Man’s Chest took 10 weeks (final: $1.07 billion)
4. Avatar took 17 days (current total, as of yesterday: $1.02 billion)
5. The Dark Knight only hit it with the small Janurary re-release, making just a hair over $1 billion.

avatar's no 2 spot on that list is a guarantee. no matter how i feel about the film itself, you just gotta respect the man who could do two billion dollar grossers back to back. the no.1 and no.2 spots no less. and what's more, look at that list - only titanic and avatar are not sequels to highly popular franchise. that means the films had no built in fanbase, took bigger risks, and it makes the films's place on that list all the more amazing.

17 days, dude. that's just insane. let this be a lesson again to you doubters:

do. not. bet. against. the. king. of. the. world.

 

[Darren Carnall]

Re: I saw AVATAR in 3D!

anyone can borrow ideas..... only the truly talented can make it this entertaining.

 

[galactiboy]

That is too funny... I honestly haven't seen any Pocahontas flicks so the the parallels had never been that clear for me until now

 

[Superman]

Re: I saw AVATAR in 3D!

I watched Avatar with my wife at a Cinebistro in Miami. WOW is all I can say. Best movie I've seen in 10 years easy.

 

[Sithlord1975]

It's funny, but can you blame the guy? He took a basic story structure we've seen 1000 times before and retold it in his own, style and visual bravado.

Like someone said before, you can make most stories and movies from like 6 main plot structures. Ya got good guys, you got the main hero You got the villians. Some good guys are gonna die, but in the end the good guys wins. Premise of every Star Wars movie too.

Since this movie is driven by the concept of giving you an immersive 3D world to get lost in, and top tech CGI, he doesn't need to be fancy with the story.

 

[Sithlord1975]

the top 5 billion dollars grossers and how long it took them to reach the magic number:

1. Titanic took 11 weeks (final: $1.84 billion)
2. LOTR: Return of the King took 10 weeks (final: $1.12 billion)
3. Pirates of the Caribean: Dead Man’s Chest took 10 weeks (final: $1.07 billion)
4. Avatar took 17 days (current total, as of yesterday: $1.02 billion)
5. The Dark Knight only hit it with the small Janurary re-release, making just a hair over $1 billion.

avatar's no 2 spot on that list is a guarantee. no matter how i feel about the film itself, you just gotta respect the man who could do two billion dollar grossers back to back. the no.1 and no.2 spots no less. and what's more, look at that list - only titanic and avatar are not sequels to highly popular franchise. that means the films had no built in fanbase, took bigger risks, and it makes the films's place on that list all the more amazing.

17 days, dude. that's just insane. let this be a lesson again to you doubters:

do. not. bet. against. the. king. of. the. world.

After this, it will be almost impossible to top himself.
He will have something that will not sit right with audiences or just sucks. I don't want that to happen but it might.

Right now i feel bad for guys like M. Night Shaymalan. Who has tanked ever since his first few films.

And I'm not sure what the hell happened to Peter Jackson, with this Lovely Bones movie lol After the blood sweat and tears put into years of LOTR, then another big epic with King Kong, putting his faith behind District 9, he does this lol
I heard it's not very good. Heard it was even delayed going wide release till January to try to reposition itself better.

 

[CAhobbit]

'The Lovely Bones' isn't an epic type of film/book (unlike LOTR or King Kong) and it's not a sci-fi story like 'District 9' (since he was a producer I guess we'll pull that one in too), so comparing it to some of the previous films PJ has been involved with is like comparing apples and peanuts. A more apt comparison would be 'Heavenly Creatures', but HC would have been an easier story to film IMO.

I'm not sure why 'The Lovely Bones' has been blasted. I haven't seen it, so I reserve judgment till I do. I will say that having read the book, I would think it would be a challenge to bring the story into a visual medium (plus the book goes into stupid land near the end and never fully recovers, so I would imagine the film could suffer a similar fate even if aspects are changed for the screen treatment).

 

[Ktjn]

It's funny, but can you blame the guy? He took a basic story structure we've seen 1000 times before and retold it in his own, style and visual bravado.

Since this movie is driven by the concept of giving you an immersive 3D world to get lost in, and top tech CGI, he doesn't need to be fancy with the story.

But he took a story thats been done 100 times over.

Anyways, i think the reason so many are going to see this film is for the experience, of this new technology in 3d. I don't see how buying this for 'home' is even gonna come close to the same feeling as seeing it in theaters.

 

[Something Sexy]

I had no problem with the story being simple or it being something that has been done before. If you take the deep down roots of any story, nothing is original. Movie was still great!

 

[LOTRFan]

Just had to quote this image again.

 

[IrishJedi]

Re: I saw AVATAR in 3D!

James Cameron's AVATAR Script Treatment (featuring all the elements outlined above): 1994

Disney's Pocahontas: 1995



But still, very amusing.

Two things:

1) Disney's Pocahontas was released in 1995, but as a traditionally animated film it was in production for 3 years prior. Which means it predates this AVATAR scriptment which supposedly everyone knew about before 2 weeks ago.

2) While taken with the usual creative liberties, the basic legend of Pocahontas/Jamestown/John Smith has been around for over 200 years, including the aspect of a mythical tree.

Okay, so three things...

3) I still think a sequel to AVATAR should deal with a "lost colony" of some kind. It's already the same story (with the exact same message) so it'd be neat to see some creepy mystery thrown into the mix. I'm serious. I think that'd be kinda cool.