Avatar is a 2009 American science fiction epic film written and directed by James Cameron, and starring Sam Worthington, Zoe Saldaña,Sigourney Weaver and Stephen Lang. The film is set in the year 2154 on Pandora, a fictional Earth-like moon in a distant planetary system. Humans are engaged in mining Pandora's reserves of a precious mineral, while the Na'vi — the sapient and sentient race of humanoidsindigenous to the moon — resist the colonists' expansion, which threatens the continued existence of the Na'vi and the Pandoran ecosystem. The film's title refers to the remotely controlled, genetically engineered human-Na'vi bodies used by the film's human characters to interact with the natives.

Avatar had been in development since 1994 by Cameron, who wrote an 80-page scriptment for the film. 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. In early 2006, Cameron developed the script, the language, and the culture of Pandora. He has stated that ifAvatar is successful, two sequels to the film are planned.

The film was released in traditional 2-D and 3-D formats, along with an IMAX 3D release in selected theaters. Avatar is officially budgeted at $237 million; other estimates put the cost at $280 – $310 million to produce and an estimated $150 million for marketing. 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. Opening to critical and commercial success, it grossed an estimated $27 million on its opening day and made $77,025,481 in the United States and Canada on its opening weekend. Worldwide, the film grossed an estimated $232,180,000 on its opening weekend, the ninth-largest opening-weekend gross of all time, and the largest for a non-franchise, non-sequel and original film.

Plot

In 2154, the RDA corporation is mining Pandora, a lush, Earth-like moon of the planet Polyphemus. Parker Selfridge (Giovanni Ribisi) is the head of the mining operation, and it employs a small army of former marines for security. The corporation aims to exploit Pandora’s reserves of a valuable mineral called unobtanium, which is worth $20 million per kilogram back on Earth.

Pandora is inhabited by the Na’vi, a neolithic species of sapient humanoids with feline characteristics. Physically stronger and taller than humans, the indigenes have sparkling blue skin and live in harmony with Nature, worshiping a mother goddess called Eywa.

Humans cannot breathe Pandora’s atmosphere for long without passing out and dying. In order to move about Pandora, human scientists have created human-Na’vi hybrids called avatars, which are controlled by genetically matched human operators. Jake Sully (Sam Worthington), aparaplegic former marine, is recruited to Pandora as a last-minute replacement of his twin brother, who was trained to be an avatar operator but killed in a random mugging before he could report to Pandora. Dr. Grace Augustine (Sigourney Weaver), the head of the Avatar Program, considers Sully an inadequate replacement for his brother, who had undergone three years of training for the job, relegating Sully initially to a bodyguard role.

While Jake escorts Augustine and biologist Norm Spellman (Joel David Moore) on an exploratory mission in their avatar forms, the group is attacked by a large predator, and Jake becomes separated and lost. Attempting to survive the night in Pandora’s dangerous jungles, he is rescued by Neytiri (Zoë Saldaña), a female Na'vi. Neytiri brings Jake back to Hometree, which is inhabited by Neytiri’s clan, the Omaticaya. After encountering initial hostility from the clan, Mo'at (C. C. H. Pounder), the Na'vi shaman and Neytiri's mother, shows interest in this first meeting with a warrior "Dream-walker" (the term they call the Avatars), and she instructs her daughter to teach him their ways.

Meanwhile, Colonel Miles Quaritch (Stephen Lang), leader of the security forces for RDA has his own plans for Sully. Quaritch promises Jake his "real legs" back in exchange for intelligence about the natives and what it will take to make them abandon Hometree, which rests above a large deposit of unobtanium.

Over the course of three months, Jake grows close to Neytiri and the Omaticaya and begins to prefer the life he lives through the avatar. Jake's attachment gradually erodes his loyalty toward RDA's agenda. He is initiated into the Omaticaya through a number of tests, and (having passed those tests) he and Neytiri choose each other as mates. Jake's change of loyalty is revealed when he disables a bulldozer's cameras as it destroys the tribe's sacred Tree of Voices. Col. Quaritch disconnects Jake from his avatar and presents Selfridge and Dr. Augustine with a vlog in which Jake admits that his mission is fruitless; the humans have nothing the Omaticaya desire, and the latter will never abandon Hometree. Selfridge is convinced that negotiations will fail and orders Hometree's destruction.

Dr. Augustine argues that the destruction of Hometree could affect the vast bio-botanical neural network that all Pandoran organisms are connected to, and Selfridge gives Jake one hour to convince the Na’vi to leave Hometree. When he reveals his mission to the Omaticaya, Neytiri accuses him of betraying them, which results in Jake and Augustine's imprisonment. Jake’s time runs out and Quaritch’s forces destroy Hometree, killing Eytucan (Wes Studi), Neytiri's father and clan chief, and many others. Jake and Augustine are disconnected from their avatars and detained for treason along with Norm. Trudy Chacon (Michelle Rodriguez), a security force pilot who is disgusted by the violence, breaks them out but Augustine is wounded by Quaritch. With Augustine dying, Jake turns to the Omaticaya for help. To regain their trust, he tames the Toruk, an immensely powerful flying beast that only five Na'vi have ever tamed. Jake flies to the Omaticaya, who have gathered at the sacred Tree of Souls, and pleads with Mo'at to heal Augustine. They attempt to transplant her "soul" into her avatar, but her injuries are too severe and she dies.

With the assistance of Neytiri and Tsu'Tey (Laz Alonso), the new leader of the Omaticaya, Jake assembles thousands of Na'vi from other clans. Jake prays to Eywa to intercede on behalf of the Na'vi in the coming battle. Quaritch, seeing the Na'vi's growing strength, orders a preemptive strike on the Tree of Souls; because it is the center of Na'vi religion and culture, its destruction would leave the Na'vi too demoralized to continue resisting.

As the humans attack, the Na'vi fight back but suffer heavy casualties, among them Tsu'Tey and Trudy. As the Na'vi are on the verge of defeat, the Pandoran wildlife suddenly attacks the humans, overwhelming them. Neytiri interprets this as Eywa answering Jake's prayer.

Jake destroys the main bomber before it can reach the Tree of Souls. However, Quaritch escapes in an AMP (Amplified Mobility Platform) suit, finds the avatar interface pod where Jake's human body is located and attacks it, exposing Jake to Pandora's atmosphere. Neytiri kills Quaritch and saves Jake, seeing his human form. With the attack repelled, Jake and Neytiri reaffirm their love, repeating the phrase "I see you", a culturally significant phrase for the Na'vi.

The humans are expelled from Pandora, while Jake and his closest co-workers remain. Jake is seen wearing the insignia of the Omaticaya leader. The film ends with Jake's soul being transplanted into his Na'vi avatar.

Cast and characters

• Sam Worthington as Corporal Jake Sully, a disabled Marine who becomes part of the Avatar Program. Cameron cast the Australian actor after searching the world for promising young actors, preferring relative unknowns to keep the budget down. Worthington, who was living in his car at the time, auditioned twice early in development, and he has signed on for possible sequels. Cameron felt that because Worthington had not done a major film, he was "game for anything", giving the character "a quality that is really real. He has that quality of being a guy you'd want to have a beer with, and he ultimately becomes a leader who transforms the world".
• Sigourney Weaver as Dr. Grace Augustine, a botanist and head of the Avatar Program. She mentors Jake Sully, and was an advocate of peaceful relations with the Na'vi, setting up a school to teach them English. Weaver dyed her hair red for the part. The character was named "Shipley" at one point, a reference to the character she played in the Alien series of films. Weaver said that Augustine reminded her of Cameron, being "very driven and very idealistic".
• Michelle Rodriguez as Trudy Chacon, a Marine fighter pilot assigned to support the Avatar Program. Cameron had wanted to work with Rodriguez since seeing her in Girlfight.
• Giovanni Ribisi as Parker Selfridge, the corporate administrator for the mining operation and one of the film's primary antagonists.
• Joel David Moore as Norm Spellman, a biologist who studies plant and nature life as part of the Avatar Program. He arrives on Pandora at the same time as Jake Sully, and assumes control of an avatar.
• Stephen Lang as Colonel Miles Quaritch, the ruthless head of SecFor, the mining operation's security detail, and another main antagonist. Lang had unsuccessfully auditioned for a role in Cameron's Aliens (1986); the director remembered Lang and cast him in Avatar. Michael Biehn, who was in Aliens, read the script and watched some of the 3D footage with Cameron, but was ultimately not cast in the role.
• Dileep Rao as Dr. Max Patel, a scientist who works in the Avatar Program.
• Matt Gerald as SecFor Corporal Lyle Wainfleet.

• Zoë Saldaña as Neytiri, princess of the Omaticaya, the Na'vi clan central to the story, who is attracted to Jake because of his bravery. The character, like all the Na'vi, was created using performance capture, and is entirely computer generated. Saldaña has also signed on for potential sequels.
• C. C. H. Pounder as Mo'at, the Omaticaya's spiritual leader, Neytiri's mother, and consort to clan leader Eytucan.[32]
• Laz Alonso as Tsu'Tey, heir to the chieftainship of the tribe, and Neytiri's betrothed, prior to the events of the film.
• Wes Studi as Eytucan, the leader of the Omaticaya, the husband of Mo'at and Neytiri's father.
• Peter Mensah as Akwey, leader of a plains clan of Na'vi.

In 1994, director James Cameron wrote a 80-page scriptment for Avatar and he reportedly wrote it in just two weeks. Cameron said his inspiration was "every single science fiction book I read as a kid", and that he was particularly striving to update the style of Edgar Rice Burroughs' John Carter series. In August 1996, Cameron announced that after completing Titanic, he would film Avatar, which would make use of "synthetic", or computer-generated, actors. The project would cost $100 million and involve at least six actors in leading roles "who appear to be real but do not exist in the physical world". Visual effects house Digital Domain, with whom Cameron has a partnership, joined the project, which was supposed to begin production in the summer of 1997 for a 1999 release.

In June 2005, Cameron was announced to be working on a project tentatively titled "Project 880", concurrently with another project, Battle Angel. By December, Cameron said that he planned to film Battle Angel first for a summer 2007 release, and to film Project 880 for a 2009 release. In February 2006, Cameron said he had switched goals for the two film projects –Project 880 was now scheduled for 2007 and Battle Angel for 2009. He indicated that the release of Project 880 would possibly be delayed until 2008. Later that February, Cameron revealed that Project 880 was "a retooled version of Avatar", a film that he had tried to make years earlier, citing the technological advances in the creation of the computer-generated characters Gollum, King Kong and Davy Jones. Cameron had chosen Avatar over Battle Angel after completing a five-day camera test in the previous year.

Cameron's early scriptment for Avatar had circulated on the Internet for years. When the project was re-announced, copies were subsequently removed from websites. From January to April 2006, Cameron worked on the script. Working with Dr. Paul Frommer, linguist and Director of the Center for Management Communication at USC, he developed a Na'vi language and culture, the indigenous race on Pandora. The language has a vocabulary of about 1000 words, with some 30 having been invented by Cameron. The tongue's phonemes include ejective consonants(such as the "kx" in "skxawng") that are found in the Amharic language of Ethiopia, and the initial "ng" that Cameron may have taken from New Zealand Māori.

In June 2006, Cameron said that if Avatar was successful, he hoped to make two sequels to the film. In a 2009 interview, he stated that the story arc he developed is large enough to cover two more films.

In July, Cameron announced that he would film Avatar for a summer 2008 release and planned to begin principal photography with an established cast by February 2007. The following August, the visual effects studio Weta Digital signed on to help Cameron produce Avatar. Stan Winston, who had collaborated with Cameron in the past, joined Avatar to help with the film's designs. In September 2006, Cameron was announced to be using his own Reality Camera System to film in 3-D. The system would use two high-definition cameras in a single camera body to create depth perception.

In December 2006, Cameron described Avatar as "a futuristic tale set on a planet 200 years hence [...] an old-fashioned jungle adventure with an environmental conscience [that] aspires to a mythic level of storytelling". The January 2007 press release described the film: "Avatar is also an emotional journey of redemption and revolution. It is the story of a wounded former Marine, thrust unwillingly into an effort to settle and exploit an exotic planet rich in biodiversity, who eventually crosses over to lead the indigenous race in a battle for survival," and "We're creating an entire world, a complete ecosystem of phantasmagorical plants and creatures, and a native people with a rich culture and language."

Estimates put the cost of the film at about $280 million – $310 million to produce and an estimated $150 million for marketing, noting that about $30 million in tax credits will lessen the financial impact on the studio and its financiers. However, a studio spokesperson, speaking with film website The Wrap, said that the budget "is $237 million, with $150 million for promotion, end of story".

External links

• Wikipedia
• Official website
• Official AVTR program website
• Pandorapedia an official wiki
• Avatar at the Internet Movie Database
• Avatar at Allmovie
• Avatar at Rotten Tomatoes
• Avatar at Metacritic
• Avatar at Box Office Mojo
• James Cameron's Avatar at Wikia

Multimedia

• Official Trailer + Related Clips
• Official Featurette: Planet Pandora
• B-Roll: Behind the Scenes Footage