Avatar collections

Avatar is a 2009 American science fiction epic film written and directed by James Cameron and starring Sam Worthington, Zoe Saldana, Sigourney Weaver, Michelle Rodriguez and Stephen Lang. The film is set in the year 2154 on Pandora, a moon in the Alpha Centauri star system.[5] Humans are engaged in mining Pandora's reserves of a precious mineral, called unobtanium, while the Na'vi—a race of indigenous humanoids—resist the colonists' expansion, which threatens the continued existence of the Na'vi and the Pandoran ecosystem. The film's title refers to the genetically engineered Na'vi bodies used by a few of the film's human characters to interact with the Na'vi.[6]

Avatar had been in development since 1994 by Cameron, who wrote an 80-page scriptment for the film.[7] Filming was supposed to take place after the completion of Titanic, and the film would have been released in 1999, but according to Cameron, "technology needed to catch up" with his vision of the film.[8][9] While Cameron developed the script, as well as the culture of the Na'vi in early 2006, work on the language had already started in summer 2005 with the help of Paul Frommer.[10][11] Cameron said sequels would be possible if Avatar was successful,[12] and in response
to the film's success, confirmed that there will be another two.[13]

The film was released in traditional 2-D, as well as 3-D, RealD 3D, Dolby 3D, and IMAX 3D formats. Avatar is officially budgeted at $237 million;[2] other estimates put the cost at $280–310 million to produce and $150 million for marketing.[14][15][16] The film is being touted as a breakthrough in terms of filmmaking technology, for its development of 3D viewing and stereoscopic filmmaking with cameras that were specially designed for the film's production.[17]

Avatar premiered in London, UK on December 10, 2009, and was released on December 18, 2009 in the US and Canada to critical acclaim and commercial success. It grossed $27 million on its opening day domestically (in the United States and Canada)[18] and $77 million domestically[19] on its opening weekend. It opened two days earlier internationally and grossed $232 million worldwide in its first five days of international release.[20] Within three weeks of its release, with a worldwide gross of over $1 billion, Avatar became the second highest-grossing film of all time worldwide, exceeded only by Cameron's previous film, Titanic.[21]