James Cameron's AVATAR series

Rumour mills: Avatar to be nominated for Golden Globes' Best Picture and Best Director... http://www.hitfix.com/blogs/2008-12-11-awards-campaign-2009/posts/golden-globes-ready-to-go-gaga-for-avatar

After a screening yesterday morning, very reliable sources have told Awards Campaign that the HFPA were incredibly positive about Cameron's latest endeavor. In fact, it's now very likely to be nominated in both the Best Picture - Drama and Best Director categories when the Golden Globe nominations are announced next Tuesday. This was almost unthinkable a week ago and may push expected Globe nominees such as "The Hurt Locker" or "An Education" out of the Best Picture - Drama race.

AVATAR to open on 16 549 screens in 106 countries + `10,000 additional screens in the U.S/Canada
http://www.hollywoodreporter.com/hr/content_display/news/e3i6b990557a161eea81a930bcef5c0539d?pn=1

"It's very common to go to his editing suite and see people like Ang Lee, David Fincher, Steven Spielberg and Robert Zemeckis and actors like Will Smith walking out after spending the whole morning while he has been showing them what he has been doing."

Saldana believes that Cameron's breakthroughs will be taught in universities in years to come.

“Yeah, I went to the set… I can tell you that sh*t was mindblowing. The sh*t I saw was crazy. Like, craaaazy. I think it’s gonna be gigantic. It’s gonna be another one of those benchmarks. There’s gonna be Before that movie and After.”
-Steven Soderbergh (Director of Ocean's Eleven and Che)

"I’m filming a book by Joe Haldeman called Forever War. I’ve got a good writer doing it. I’ve seen some of James Cameron’s work, and I’ve got to go 3D. It’s going to be phenomenal."
-Ridley Scott (Director of Alien and Blackhawk Down | Will possibly shoot an Alien prequel in 3D in the near future)

"And you know, with something like Avatar coming out, it sort of helps me reclaim the childhood sense of discovery I got from Jim Cameron when I saw Alien or when I saw Terminator for the first time, seeing the trailer for that film brings back all of those memories and makes me realize why I got into this business so…"
-Jason Kelly (Director of Donnie Darko and the Box]

"Some of them seriously artistic and ungimmicky!! I’ve seen AVATAR and I was absolutely blow away by it!! I myself expect to explore 3D soon enough
-Guillermo Del Toro (Director of Pan's Labyrinth)

News Headline: Peter Jackson Pledges to Shoot in 3D From Now On after seeing Avatar
-Peter Jackson

"It's funny, Paramount talked to me about doing the first one in 3D and having it only be my second film I was petrified," the director said. "I thought it would be another dimension of pain-in-the-ass. I just wanted to make a descent 2D movie. I was so worried that rather than being a descent 2D movie it would be a bad 3D one so I'm open to looking at it because now I feel a little bit more comfortable. If I in fact direct the sequel of our Star Trek film 3D could be really fun. So I'm open to it. What I've seen of Avatar makes me want to do it because it's so crazy cool looking."
-J.J Abrams (Director of Star Trek)

-Is there anything you’d like to try out with style or special effects in your later films?
"I want to make a huge special effects movie. I have seen James Cameron’s Avatar, that 17 minute clip. It was amazing. I want to make one."
-John Woo

"Yes! I’d love to shoot a 3D movie, it’s something that fascinates me! The more the audience is immerse the better it is!“ -Michael Mann

And one area I was particularly interested in was his thoughts on James Cameron's Avatar, since he's one of the lucky few who has seen a few finished scenes from the film. "He's trying to present this format in a way where it is a game-changer and in seeing it I think it's the future," -Jon Favreau (Director of Iron Man and Iron Man 2 will be in 3D)

When I caught up with 20th Century Fox co-chairman Jim Gianopoulos at last Thursday night's BAFTA/LA Britannia Awards at the Century Plaza, he had just seen the latest cut of James Cameron's eagerly awaited 3-D extravaganza, "Avatar," and was full of more genuine enthusiasm than I have ever heard him express for any of his films. He said there are about six scenes that just blow him away every time he sees them.

Another person, not connected to the film in any way, tells me he has seen 90% of the movie in 2-D and it's definitely best picture fodder. This counteracts bad buzz I heard two weeks ago, so take it all in cautiously until Fox shows the finished movie.

Cameron, who was just named today as the recipient of this year's Santa Barbara International Film Festival's Modern Master Award, is racing to complete the film before its Dec. 18 opening. However, the director will take an afternoon off on Nov. 21 to participate in a Q&A following a screening of footage from "Avatar" in 3-D and a sneak peek at the new 3-D version of his last film, 1997's Oscar giant, "Titanic." It's part of a benefit on the Fox lot for MUSE elementary school and is co-hosted by Cameron's wife, Suzy Amis. By the way, wouldn't it be interesting if Cameron finds himself nominated for best director this year opposite one of his ex-wives, "The Hurt Locker's" Kathryn Bigelow? I actually think this could happen, and that would be an academy first to be sure.

Linda Picard, the head of marketing for Empire International, which distributes films from Sony and Twentieth Century Fox to the Gulf region, expected the film about a human who fights to save an alien world under threat to be one of the biggest-grossing releases not only for the UAE, but for other Gulf markets as well.

“Absolutely it is a game-changer,” she said. “It’s a first-of-its-kind experience, technologically groundbreaking. It’s going to take moviemaking to the next level.”

Mr Rashid said that the film was likely to be the biggest movie of 2009, at least in scope.

Unlike the Twilight sequel New Moon, he said Avatar could snare a much larger demographic because it will combine action, romance and special effects that have been billed as unrivalled.

“People are going to remember there were films before Avatar and films after Avatar. It’s really going to be like a watershed on how films are made from this point onwards,” he said.
http://www.thenational.ae/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20091201/NATIONAL/711309850/1010

That person went with some of his colleagues who weren't really interrested by what they saw or heard about AVATAR, and apparently, the response was AMAZINGLY POSITIVE. Even them thought the movie was incredibly awesome, and the journalist in question said that it was amazing too. And, what strikes me the most, is that they saw the movie........in 2D...!
-November Pre-Screening in France (but only in 2D)

Footage from "Avatar" at #cinexpo was stunning, literally jawdropping. Amazing visuals unlike any before seen, with incredible detail.
-Norwegian Unique Cinema Systems

this technology will change moviehistory. And trust me, i'm not shitting ya. It's insane. -Lucky Annonymous Twitter

[I]t took my breath away. I thought—just like you guys—that I've seen it all with Gollum, or The Hulk, but Cameron has done it again. These creatures seem so real, that within minutes you forget you're watching an enormous and very blue CGI character. Even the eyes are totally convincing. The characters have real personalities and a soul... The effects are in a league of their own. After some disappointing or even pointless 3-D movies, "Avatar" may be the first movie where 3-D is properly utilized. -Coming Soon Correspondent

SIGOURNEY Weaver has high hopes for her new movie Avatar — she says it’s so good, people want to see at least FOUR times!
http://www.showbizspy.com/article/195671/sigourney-weaver-my-new-movie-is-amazing.html

"Director James Cameron will be receiving three awards for Avatar over the next month, according to Variety: the New York Women in Film and Television Muse Award, the Santa Barbara Film Festival's modern master award, and the Visual Effects Society's lifetime achievement award."