Avatar is a 2009 American epic¹ science fiction film written and directed by James Cameron. The film is set in the mid-22nd century, when humans are mining a precious mineral called unobtanium on Pandora, a lush habitable moon of a gas giant in the Alpha Centauri star system. The expansion of the mining colony threatens the continued existence of a local tribe of Na'vi—a humanoid species indigenous² to Pandora.

 

Avatar takes us to a spectacular world beyond imagination, where a reluctant hero embarks³ on an epic adventure, ultimately fighting to save the alien world he has learned to call home. James Cameron, the Oscarwinning director of "Titanic⁴", first conceived the film 15 years ago, when the means to realize his vision did not exist yet. Now, after four years of production, Avatar, a live action film with a new generation of special effects, delivers a fully⁵ immersive cinematic experience of a new kind, where the revolutionary technology invented to make the film disappears into the emotion of the characters and the sweep of the story.

 

We enter the alien world through the eyes of Jake Sully, a former Marine⁶ confined to a wheelchair. But despite his broken body, Jake is still a warrior⁷ at heart. He is recruited to travel light years to the human outpost on Pandora, where corporations are mining a rare mineral that is the key to solving Earth's energy crisis. Because the atmosphere of Pandora is toxic⁸, they have created the Avatar Program, in which human "drivers" have their consciousness linked to an avatar, a remotely-controlled biological body that can survive in the lethal⁹ air. These avatars are genetically¹⁰ engineered hybrids¹¹ of human DNA¹² mixed with DNA from the natives of Pandora... the Na'vi.

 

Reborn in his avatar form, Jake can walk again. He is given a mission to infiltrate¹³ the Na'vi, who has become a major obstacle to mining the precious ore. But a beautiful Na'vi female, Neytiri, saves Jake's life, and this changes everything. Jake is taken in by her clan¹⁴, and learns to become one of them, which involves many tests and adventures. As Jake's relationship with his reluctant teacher Neytiri deepens, he learns to respect the Na'vi way and finally takes his place among them. Soon he will face the ultimate test as he leads them in an epic battle that will decide nothing less than the fate of an entire world.

 

Development of Avatar began in 1994, when Cameron wrote an 80-page treatment for the film. Filming was supposed to take place after the completion of Cameron's 1997 film Titanic, for a planned release in 1999, but according to Cameron, the necessary technology was not yet available to achieve his vision of the film. Work on the language of the film's extraterrestrial beings began in summer 2005, and Cameron began developing the screenplay and fictional¹⁵ universe in early 2006. Avatar was officially budgeted at $237 million. Other estimates put the cost between $280 million and $310 million for production and at $150 million for promotion¹⁶. The film made extensive use of cutting edge motion capture filming techniques, and was released for traditional viewing, 3-D viewing (using the RealD 3D, Dolby 3D, XpanD 3D, and IMAX 3D formats), and for "4-D" experiences in select South Korean theaters. The stereoscopic filmmaking was touted¹⁷ as a breakthrough in cinematic technology.

 

The film broke several box office records during its release and became the highest-grossing film of all time in North America and worldwide, surpassing Titanic, which had held the records for the previous twelve years. It also became the first film to gross more than $2 billion. Avatar was nominated for nine Academy Awards, including Best Picture and Best Director, and won three, for Best Cinematography, Best Visual Effects, and Best Art Direction. The film's home release went on to break opening sales records and became the top-selling Blu-ray of all time. Following the film's success, Cameron signed with 20th Century Fox to produce two sequels, making Avatar the first of a planned trilogy.

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