With production costs rumoured to be in the region of $240 million, Avatar needs to do more than moderate business. The reputations of both 20th Century Fox and the film’s creator and Director James Cameron are on the line - with a project of this magnitude and vaulting ambition even the slightest weakness would be seized upon by the internet chatterati.
But, so far, reaction has been entirely positive. Scoring 100% approval on review aggregator Rotten Tomatoes, Avatar currently ranks alongside previous Cameron successes Terminator and Aliens.
The Sun focused on the Cameron’s revolutionary use of 3D technology: “People will look back on in years to come to comment on how it transformed cinema.
Anna Kier in The Independent also marvels at the film’s 3D immersiveness: “The final battle is worth the price of your 3D glasses alone.
Todd McCarthy, writing for Variety notes the long gestation period for the film, made necessary by all this technological development: “Cameron reportedly wrote the story, if not the full script, for "Avatar" at least 15 years ago but decided he had to wait until visual effects capabilities advanced sufficiently to credibly render his imagined world and its inhabitants. On this fundamental level, the picture is a triumph”
Kirk Honeycutt from The Hollywood Reporter felt that the film’s epic length flew by: “The movie is 161 minutes and flies by in a rush. Repeat business? You bet. "Titanic"-level business? That level may never be reached again, but after the film's December 18 release, 20th Century Fox will see more than enough grosses worldwide to cover its bet on Cameron”
Wendy Ide, writing for The Times also expresses some doubt that Avatar will equal the colossal success of Cameron’s previous effort but is still unstinting in her praise: “Will the film match Titanic’s gigantic box office haul of $1.8 billion? Possibly not. The soppy, soggy doomed love story of Jack and Rose hit a particular chord with audiences. But I would be very surprised if James Cameron didn’t have another sizable hit on his hands.”
Chris Hewitt, writing in highly rated specialist movie magazine Empire, is already looking forward to a sequel: “It’s a world, not to give too much away, that Cameron clearly fully intends to return to and further explore. When he does, our bags are already packed”
The only sour note to be found in any current report was a rather sceptical assessment of 3D’s future from Wales Online, quoting film lecturer Dr Nathan Abrams, who believes that the latest generation of the technology will prove to be a fad..
Fad or not, with early notices this positive, and with an even bigger marketing push expected over the weekend, Avatar seems set to be the cinema smash of 2009
