class=”alignleft size-thumbnail wp-image-6660″ title=”avatar-posters” src=”https://www.heyuguys.com/images/2009/12/avatar-posters-220×150.jpg” alt=”” width=”220″ height=”150″ />It’s official – the colour of money is blue, and it is being reported that James Cameron’s critically lauded Avatar has made over a billion dollars worldwide as of its third week of release and with $670 million coming from the international market the success of Avatar is truly a worldwide phenomenon.
Despite healthy competition from Guy Ritchie’s fun Sherlock Holmes and the risible Chipmunk sequel (I refuse to dignify it’s chosen moniker) Avatar remains afloat at the box office, and perhaps this is due to the contagious buzz and word of mouth that is keeping Avatar on top; it has become an event and, like Cameron’s last foray into fictional film making, it has transcended the traditional movie fanbase to attract an audience wider than usual.
When one looks at the box office figures, as Variety have done, there will be some hefty backslapping in the offices of Twentieth Century Fox, and you can hear the wheels begin to turn on production of the proposed sequels, but what are the wider implications? Without the built in audiences of Harry Potter or the legion of Tolkien fans, and denied the decades old cultural assimilation of Batman it is notable that Cameron’s story, written decades ago and held off until the technology caught up with Cameron’s vision, has proven so successful.
An opinion which keeps recurring is that the story of Avatar is a ponderous tale populated with one note characters and a script riddled with cliche while the visuals, and in particular (and importantly) the 3D technology makes it a feast for our eyes, if not for our minds. This is a simplistic take on a movie which may point the way forward for the movie making decade its triumph begins. There is no doubt that the hundreds of independent films Avatar’s budget could have funded would provide a rich tapestry of experience and entertainment, but in attracting the entertainment spotlight to a movie whose very technology means that in order to get the fullest experience (and this is the key word) you have to find the best cinema with the latest technological setup, it may have an effect to the advantage of all films.
Bringing the crowds into the cinema to see a, perhaps simplistic, story whose visual proficiency and cinematic flair is rendered powerfully and with no other agenda other than your enjoyment at its heart is exactly why cinema and movie going will continue to attract people in their droves, and Avatar’s success will inspire people to return to the cinema, to look out for other films on offer, and hopefully ignite or fan the flames of a passion for film that is, at its heart, a collective and joyous thing. It is precisely the variety of films on offer, though there is still much more work to do to bang the drum for the promotion of independent film, that make Avatar’s success so important.
In the same way that Titanic attracted thousands of new punters into the cinema it is probable that Avatar has done the same, and will continue to do so. The importance of the 3D technology for this film is that no DVD or Blu-ray will do justice to the film, therefore the cinema remains the only place to see what all the fuss is about, and this opens doors. This is not the eager cinema-aversive Muggle getting their yearly cinematic fix to celebrate their fandom, it is a genuine event that introduces the potential of cinema to show you something that you have not seen before, and it may have a ripple effect that will see more people seek out the next big cinematic treat to sate their new appetite.
Some people will walk back into a cinema for the first time since Titanic, and though they may not return until Cameron’s billion dollar budget follow up to Avatar hits the screens in 2020, the fact that, despite its flaws, Avatar has helped to elevate cinema to reach a larger audience is good for all of us.
