AVATAR, Second Highest Grossing Movie: Arrogant Invaders Defeated by Environmental Forces

January 25, 2010

It is this environmentally sound spirit, he said, that defends itself against the film's antagonists -- a military machine of invading soldiers and misguided scientists who serve a greedy, corporate world.

In a replay of American history -- particularly the country's battles against Native Americans and wars in Vietnam and Iraq -- the invaders are arrogantly bent on destroying the harmonious, native blue planetary beings in order to secure their planet's natural resources.

"Avatar" becoming second highest grossing

LOS ANGELES, Jan. 24, 2010, (Xinhua) --

James Cameron's big-time sci- fi blockbuster "Avatar" sailed into this weekend as the box-office champion for the sixth week running, only trailing behind the phenomenal director's another masterpiece "Titanic," the North America box office authorities said on Sunday.

James Cameron's big-time sci- fi blockbuster "Avatar" sails into this weekend as the box-office champion for the sixth week running.  (Xinhua/Rueters file photo)

"Avatar," from Fox, took in 36 million dollars this weekend for an estimated tally of North American gross of 552.8 million dollars, projected statistics show. This is well enough to replace "The Dark Knight" (533 million dollars) as the second-biggest movie of all time. Fox said it may have to wait another two weeks to sail past the 601 million dollars total of "Titanic" during 1997-98 period.

"Avatar" took away the best drama and best director awards at the 67th Golden Globes Awards last Sunday. This has helped it to win over more U.S. and Canadian moviegoers, and it may ultimately come off as the highest grossing film in the United States and Canada.

Post-apocalyptic action thriller "Legion," from Sony/Screen Gems, debuted in the No. 2 slot with 18.2 million dollars. In the film starring Paul Bettany, Lucas Black, Tyrese Gibson and Dennis Quaid, an out-of-the-way diner becomes the unlikely battleground for the survival of the human race. When God loses faith in humankind, he sends his legion of angels to bring on the Apocalypse.

At No. 3 is Denzel Washington's vehicle "The Book of Eli." The Warner Bros' action drama fetched 17 million dollars as its slipped from last week's second place with a total gross of 62 million dollars in two weeks.

Fox's latest family comedy "The Tooth Fairy" premiered at No. 4 with a promising 14.5 million dollars. Dwayne Johnson played a minor league hockey player who realizes the value of dreams and goals through his role as a real tooth fairy.

"The Lovely Bones," Paramount, is No. 5 which took in 8.8 million dollars this weekend, and 31.6 million dollars over seven weeks.

Editor: Yan

"Avatar" Texas fans awed by hi-tech savvy, good-bests-evil story

English.news.cn   2010-01-20 08:29:12 FeedbackPrintRSS

By Betty Martin

HOUSTON, Jan. 19, 2010, (Xinhua) --

"Amazing," "wonderful," "highly entertaining" are among the adjectives Houston film buffs are using to praise innovative technical achievements and humanistic story behind director James Cameron's high-tech fantasy "Avatar."

The comments reflect those of a growing legion of fans and critics throughout the world who have catapulted the film to its fifth straight week at the top of the box office charts.

The glowing accolades also mirror the sentiment of the Hollywood Foreign Press Corps, which gave it the Golden Globe nod for Best Motion Picture Drama on Sunday night, Jan. 17.

Retired newspaper editor Carol Dobbs in her mid-60s, and 57- year-old freelance geologist Chris Stiteler are older than the teens and twenty-somethings that make up the bedrock of the film's most represented ticket holders.

But Dobbs said the awe that the movie inspired in her, as she watched through three-dimensional glasses soon after its Houston release, transcended all boundaries.

"I looked forward to seeing the movie because I had read about the special effects James Cameron developed for this film," Dobbs said. "I saw it in high-definition 3-D, and I was amazed at the things that seemed to be coming at me from the screen."

She said she felt as if she were part of the film.

The newly released U.S. comedy "It's Complicated" starring Meryl Streep was second with 36.51

"It was like I was there, going through the jungle, on the spaceship, with the actors," Dobbs said.

In her Dec. 24 column, CultureMap Houston (http://culturemap. com) writer Caroline Gallay said in her critique of the film that she had tried -- and failed -- to find fault during the nearly three hours it took to watch it.

"Visually, it is simply the most beautiful movie you've ever seen," she wrote. "I cried, I jumped in my seat, I probably drooled. It was, hands down, the best movie I have seen in years. I imagine my parents felt the same way the first time they saw Star Wars."

Rick Ferguson, Houston Film Commission's executive director, pointed out that the film is not only setting attendance records in the theaters, but was also used in the action DVD game of the same name, an increasingly popular technique he called "two-in-one " filming.

Stiteler, an avid movie fan and freelance geologist who works with oil companies, said that the high-tech wizardry merely supports a story with universal appeal.

"The technical achievements support it, but it's the story that makes it... The characters you really care about, that give you people you root for or against," said Stiteler, 57. "But the animation is so good you tend to forget it's animated. The characters come through. It's state-of-the-art technology merged with a great story."

Having a hero protagonist that rises above his limitations -- bound to a wheelchair from some previous unnamed military skirmish -- resonates with Americans, he said.

"To rise above your circumstances, above infirmities, by being in harmony with other people and places around the world is a spiritual aspect, the belief that we are all part of a great whatever, some eternal, rational spirit," Stiteler said. "Only in this movie (unlike Star Wars) it's not called 'the force.'"

It is this environmentally sound spirit, he said, that defends itself against the film's antagonists -- a military machine of invading soldiers and misguided scientists who serve a greedy, corporate world.

In a replay of American history -- particularly the country's battles against Native Americans and wars in Vietnam and Iraq -- the invaders are arrogantly bent on destroying the harmonious, native blue planetary beings in order to secure their planet's natural resources.

Dobbs and Stiteler said they didn't find the anti-war, anti- corporate, pro-environment messages, while obvious, to be so overbearing to the point of being preachy.

"It all comes together in a beautiful way," Stiteler said. "And the ride is a good one."

Editor: Zhang Xiang

Avatar sets box office record in China, grossing 540 mln yuan

BEIJING, Jan. 20, 2010, (Xinhua) --

Global hit "Avatar" had grossed about 540 million yuan (79.7 million U.S. dollars) in China since its premiere on Jan. 4 to become the most successful film in the country.

Tong Gang, director of film bureau of the State Administration of Radio, Film and Television (SARFT) released the figure at a symposium on the Hollywood blockbuster Tuesday.

Weng Li, spokesman of the China Film Group Corporation, the film's distributor in China, was not immediately available for further information of the box office on Wednesday.

The film broke the box office record set by '2012.' The disaster film had raked in 460 million yuan in 2009 after it premiered in China on Nov. 13.

Responding to the recent reports that Chinese cinemas are pulling the 2D version of the blockbuster from screens across the country, Zhang Hongsen, deputy director of the film bureau, said the act was a natural result of the market response, because the box office returns of 2D version had been low.

Tong said the box office for the 2D version of the blockbuster only accounted for one third of the total revenue.

"The screening of 2D version of Avatar will end on Thursday," Li Xianping, general manager of Beijing Ziguang Cinema, told Xinhua Wednesday.

She said the tickets for 2D version simply did not sell in her cinema even on weekends but the two 3D theaters had been crowded with audience.

"I believe the 3D Avatar will continue its run till Spring Festival," She said. The festival, known as Chinese Lunar New Year, falls on Feb. 14 this year.  

Editor: Fang Yang

Confucius squeezes out Avatar

By Kang Juan

BEIJING, Jan. 21, 2010 --

Friday marks the last day of screenings of the non-3D version of Golden Globe-winning blockbuster Avatar in China. The pulling of the movie ahead of schedule has provoked speculation that the decision was to make way for domestic films, an accusation denied by film authorities.

A manager of the China Film Stellar Theater Chain, a company in charge of film distribution under the China Film Group, confirmed Wednesday that cinemas across the country will stop screening the non-3D version of the film from Saturday, the Economic Observer Newspaper reported.

Avatar had been showing on 2,500 screens – a third on 3D and IMAX screens, while the remaining two-thirds were on regular screens, which cost an average of 30 to 40 yuan a ticket, half the price of a 3D ticket. IMAX tickets, however, at 130 to 150 yuan, have been criticized as too expensive for many Chinese moviegoers.

According to Tong Gang, director of the China Film Bureau, the box office revenue of the non-3D version of Avatar only accounts for one third of total receipts nationwide, which reached more than 522 million yuan ($76 million) as of January 17, surpassing last year's 2012 and Transformers 2 and becoming the biggest-grossing film in Chinese history.

A torrent of speculation ensued after a Hong Kong newspaper first reported the plan to pull the film, which is a global hit. Some media indicated that the decision obeyed instructions from China's film authorities and was apparently aimed at reducing competition for homegrown films ahead of the nation's biggest holiday season, including Confucius, a biopic of the Chinese philosopher, which opens tomorrow.

Zhang Hongsen, deputy director of the China Film Bureau, denied Wednesday that it was forcing the box office smash Avatar off local cinema screens, saying the move to take down the non- 3D version was a commercial decision.

"The rumor that Avatar was displaced by Confucius is maybe related to a time coincidence," Zhang said. "There ought not to be any conflict as Confucius has no 3D version."

Gao Jun, deputy general manager of the New Film Association, another theater chain under the China Film Croup, explained that the attendance rate of the non-3D version dropped sharply since last week, and a new film might naturally replace it.

The 3D and IMAX versions of Avatar, which contributed half of the box office takings in cinemas of the association, will continue to be screened due to their strong performance, Gao said, without giving an exact closing date. The original running schedule of Avatar, from January 4 to February 28, remains unchanged on China Film Croup's website.

Liu Hui, general assistant manager at UME International Cineplex, told the Global Times that the company received a notice from the China Film Stellar Theater Chain.

According to Liu, the non-3D version has only contributed 0.8 percent to the film's total revenue at UME theaters, while the 3D big-screen version accounts for 72 percent and the ordinary 3D format contributed 27.2 percent.

"It's reasonable that the chain adjust the screening schedule according to the box office revenue of a movie," Liu said. "If the non-3D Avatar gives way to other movies, potential losses could be avoided."

UME has three five-star cinemas in Beijing and is one of the cinema companies that joined the China Film Stellar Theater Chain.

Liu, however, conceded that it is a rare move by the chain to require its cinemas to abruptly stop screening a movie.

The explanation by the theater chains is not being bought by moviegoers. "Most Chinese cities do not have well-equipped cinemas for 3D films. Where should the movie-goers turn to after the 2D version of Avatar stops screening?" a Web user said on sina.com, China's largest Internet portal.

"Audiences will be attracted to the cinema if the movie Confucius turns out to be an excellent choice," another user said. "It's a pity that the local films rely on this method to compete with Hollywood."

One user even called for a boycott of Confucius.

The Xinhua News Agency reported earlier this month that Confucius would open with 2,500 copies, making it a national record. China Film Group is also one of the major investors in the movie.

The Associated Press criticized that China remains highly protective of its domestic film industry, allowing only 20 foreign films into the Chinese market each year.

Li Daoxin, a professor in the School of Arts at Peking University, said that to frame the screening span for a movie wouldn't be beneficial to the film industry in China, although locally produced films deserve a favorable environment and to be protected.

Liu Hui, however, expressed support for the move. "China Film Group is the distributor of both films. So they could make their decision. And when foreign movies constitute a monopoly in the movie market, we should provide some space for homemade ones," Liu said.

Gao Jun suggested that China opening more theaters would be a solution to the fierce competition. The number of screens should be 15,000 to 20,000, he said

Latest official statistics show that the number of screens on the Chinese mainland reached 4,723 by 2009, and gross annual box office returns last year surpassed 6.2 billion yuan, up almost 43 percent from the previous year.

Qiu Wei and Yin Hang contributed to this story

(Source: globaltimes.cn)

Editor: Han Jingjing