Avatar (film)

Stories 41 - 60 | << Prev   Next >>

China Renames Mountain After Avatar

Hunan province gets its own 'Avatar Hallelujah Mountain'

(Newser) - Avatar fandom has reached new heights: China changed the name of one of its mountains to “Avatar Hallelujah Mountain” in an official ceremony yesterday. The mountain formerly known as “Southern Sky Column” is in a southern province, and the government claims it inspired Avatar’s floating “Hallelujah...

Thank Inflation for Avatar 's Box Office Record
 Thank Inflation for 
 Avatar's Box Office Record 
burning questions

Thank Inflation for Avatar's Box Office Record

Gone with the Wind may trump Cameron's epic

(Newser) - Avatar will soon gross $1.85 billion worldwide, but becoming the box office champ doesn't mean it's the most successful movie of all time. Remember, a ticket to Gone with the Wind cost an average of only 23¢—45 times less than an Avatar ticket. This list ranks films...

Avatar Flies to Blockbuster Record

International sales have already blown Titanic out of water

(Newser) - Avatar is on course to sink the Titanic as the biggest global movie blockbuster in history. The world-wide $1.8 billion take for the 3-D saga is just $2 million shy of the total grabbed in 1997 by Titanic, which was also directed by James Cameron. International sales have already...

Avatar Speaks to Our Inner Science Geek
 Avatar Speaks to 
 Our Inner Science Geek 
OPINION

Avatar Speaks to Our Inner Science Geek

Flick appeals to humans' natural wonder at the weird world

(Newser) - Excuse Carol Kaesuk Yoon if she seems “a bit breathless,” but Avatar has reinvigorated the biologist’s awe of the natural world, and she suspects that effect is what’s really driving the flick’s blockbuster success. People love to puzzle over nature, and try to order it...

Streep, Bullock, Hangover, Avatar Clean Up

Jeff Bridges, Mo'Nique, 'Mad Men,' 'Glee' also among winners

(Newser) - Avatar and The Hangover captured the top film awards, Meryl Streep and Drew Barrymore charmed with stream-of-consciousness acceptance speeches, and host Ricky Gervais generally behaved at tonight's Golden Globes ceremony. Jeff Bridges and Sandra Bullock established themselves as Academy Award favorites with victories in the leading dramatic role categories, as...

Avatar Passes Star Wars as No. 3 Moneymaker
 Avatar Passes Star Wars 
 as No. 3 Moneymaker 
$492M DOMESTICALLY

Avatar Passes Star Wars as No. 3 Moneymaker

Next up, Dark Knight, then Cameron's own Titanic

(Newser) - James Cameron's Avatar had a $41.3 million weekend to shoot past Star Wars as the No. 3 movie on the all-time domestic box office charts. Next stop, The Dark Knight, then Cameron's own Titanic. No. 1 for the fifth-straight weekend, Cameron's sci-fi saga raised its domestic total to $491....

Hurt Locker Wins Critics' Choice Best Picture

Inglourious Basterds and Avatar pick up the most awards

(Newser) - Iraq war drama The Hurt Locker and its director took top honors at the Critics' Choice Awards, while Quentin Tarantino's Inglourious Basterds and James Cameron's Avatar won the most awards. Director-producer Kathryn Bigelow was named best director at last night's ceremony for Locker, winner of the best picture prize. "...

Spider-Man 4 Off Because Director Saw Avatar

Director pushed for special effects studio wouldn't pay for

(Newser) - The problems with the Spider-Man 4 script were genuine, but the real reason the flick got the ax is that the director saw Avatar. Sam Raimi became infatuated with the advanced computer graphics in the James Cameron blockbuster and wanted to take advantage of them, insiders tell New York . Sony...

Russians Claim Avatar Rips Off Soviet Sci-Fi

Critics say Cameron owes a debt to the Strugatsky brothers

(Newser) - Avatar has prompted cries of plagiarism from Russians who say similarities between the 3D blockbuster and the Soviet-era works of the Arkady and Boris Strugatsky are more than just coincidence. James Cameron's movie and the Strugatsky brothers' World of Noon cycle of sci-fi novels both take place in the 22nd...

Steamy Tendril Sex Snipped From Avatar

Blue scenes cut to avoid R rating

(Newser) - Steamy tendril sex (if you go in for that kind of thing) was cut from mega-blockbuster Avatar because director James Cameron wanted to avoid an "R" rating. In the cut "blue" scene Jake and Neytiri join their ponytails together with "trembling anticipation" and the inner tendrils intertwine...

Critics Slam 'White Messiah' Avatar as Racist

Director accused of perpetuating colonial stereotypes

(Newser) - Avatar employs cutting-edge technology but its storyline is outdated and racist, say critics outraged on behalf of the movie's fictional race of blue-skinned aliens. By having a white American rescue the race, it perpetrates the "white Messiah" myth and suggests non-whites can't help themselves, say critics, including David Brooks...

'Avatards' Go Blue, Bonkers
 'Avatards' Go Blue, Bonkers 

'Avatards' Go Blue, Bonkers

Avatar fans in throes of nostalgie de la blue

(Newser) - Get ready for the blue people. Fans are so enamored of the back-to-the-earth Tarzans-on-growth-hormone Na'vi people of Avatar that they want to join the tribe. The chock-a-block-buster film, that has now raked in an astonishing $1.30 billion, is drawing repeat customers who yearn to join their fantasy world and...

Directors Who Should Go Sci-Fi
 Directors Who Should Go Sci-Fi 
CAMERON'S COOL, BUT ...

Directors Who Should Go Sci-Fi

Coen brothers, Scorsese, Tarantino could give Cameron a run

(Newser) - With Avatar whipping up Oscar buzz for James Cameron, io9 nominates five great directors who could make magic with the “wondrous freedoms” available in the science-fiction genre:
  • Paul Greengrass: The man behind The Bourne Ultimatum thrives on a “mixture of chaos and intimacy”—perfect to document the
...

5 Reasons Avatar Is a Mega-Hit
 5 Reasons Avatar Is a Mega-Hit 

5 Reasons Avatar Is a Mega-Hit

Escapism, corporate tie-ins, and savvy marketing all help

(Newser) - James Cameron's Avatar is inventive and smart, but it's become such a huge success so quickly that one has to wonder if some larger cultural factors aren't at work. Here are five theories from io9 :
  1. Escapism. The Great Recession fills our lives with endless drudgery, and this film is the
...

Right-Wingers Go Ballistic Over Avatar

 Right-Wingers 
 Go Ballistic 
 Over Avatar  
SCREEN SCREEDS

Right-Wingers Go Ballistic Over Avatar

Anti-military sci-fi 'hippies' giving conservatives fits

(Newser) - Here's one more thing that's sure to rocket hyper-popular Avatar to even greater heights: right-wingers hate it. America's "prickly cadre of political conservatives" can't stand its eco message, negative portrayal of vicious military contractors and its "can't-we-all-get along counterculture vibe," writes Patrick Goldstein in the Los Angeles ...

Avatar Rakes In $1B
 Avatar Rakes In $1B 

Avatar Rakes In $1B

Cutting-edge film passes milestone in 17 days

(Newser) - Cutting-edge techie-dream movie Avatar has netted $1 billion in ticket sales in record time as holiday film goers spent another weekend packing theaters. Avatar raked in $63.8 million over the New Year's weekend to boost it over the billion-dollar milestone in just 17 days. Sherlock Holmes, Alvin and the ...

Why Inglourious Basterds Will Win Best Picture
 Why Inglourious Basterds 
 Will Win Best Picture 
tough luck, avatar

Why Inglourious Basterds Will Win Best Picture

Tarantino's flick has the best shot at top Oscar

(Newser) - Though everyone is buzzing about Avatar’s best-picture prospects, Tom O'Neil was an early predictor of Inglourious Basterds snagging the top Oscar prize—and now he’s defending his position. Even though it came out eons ago (in August), the disappointing performance of many much-hyped late-year films leaves Basterds in...

Why Avatar Still Won't Win Best Picture
 Why Avatar 
 Still Won't 
 Win Best Picture 
NOT KING OF THE WORLD

Why Avatar Still Won't Win Best Picture

Sorry, James Cameron: Sci-fi, computerized actors will scare Academy

(Newser) - OK, so Avatar scored soaring reviews and scads of money, blah, blah, blah: That still doesn’t mean James Cameron is going to win another Oscar for best picture. Lane Brown details five reasons why not in New York :
  • Special effects: As in, the special effects are the only rave-worthy
...

Avatar Wraps Weekend With $73M
 Avatar Wraps 
 Weekend 
 With $73M 


bOX OFFICE ROuNDUP

Avatar Wraps Weekend With $73M

James Cameron scores 2nd-biggest Dec. opening ever

(Newser) - Avatar plowed through an East Coast blizzard to score $73 million at the box office this weekend, falling short of only I Am Legend for a December opening, reports Variety . The James Cameron blockbuster recouped its hefty $220 million pricetag with worldwide sales. The Princess and the Frog fell to...

Avatar Pulls In $27M
 Avatar Pulls In  
 $27M 

Avatar Pulls In $27M

Numbers are strong, but not record-setting

(Newser) - James Cameron's Avatar grossed $27 million in its opening day yesterday. The numbers for the 3-D epic are strong but unspectacular and may have been dinged by the East Coast blizzard. The storm will likely eat into overall weekend figures as well, but Cameron should take solace in the news...

Stories 41 - 60 | << Prev   Next >>