"It's like a big, powerful game engine. If I want to fly through space, or change my perspective, I can. I can turn the whole scene into a living miniature and go through it on a 50 to 1 scale. It's pretty exciting." If that's not enough to get you drooling like Jabba the Hut when presented with a bikini-clad Princess Leia, there's the fact that Avatar was shot with Fusion digital 3D cameras and will be projected in RealD, Dolby 3D and IMAX 3D cinemas. Audiences will thus be required to wear 3D glasses to fully inhabit the alien world presented before them.
There will be a simultaneous 2D release but make no mistake, Avatar is all about the 3D. As we speak, 20th Century Fox is furiously championing the film as the necessary tool to get the public back in cinemas. On August 21st 2009, we finally got the first Avatar teaser but the reactions weren't as favourable as Fox perhaps had hoped. Naysayers at Comic Con 2009 dismissed it as 'Fern Gully meets Aliens' while others were left unconvinced at having a blue CGI alien as the film's protagonist.
Also, in the time it's taken to finish Avatar, other 3D films have come out and somewhat stolen its thunder. Some have been nothing more than gimmick movies (My Bloody Valentine 3D) but some have used 3D in a more subtle way to engage the audience with the story (Pixar's Up). Avatar will be entering a 3D arena that's already been established - the question is whether or not it'll encourage broader audiences to embrace 3D or if Avatar will just be unfavourably compared to George Lucas and his overuse of CGI in the Star Wars prequels (lest we forget, Lucas himself wants to relaunch his saga again in 3D).
One thing Cameron has always been good at is using digital effects to enhance a story instead of overshadow it. He made $2 billion from a rusty old boat that sank so going back to science fiction where he cut his teeth on films like Aliens can only be a good thing.
Avatar also stars Sigourney Weaver, Zoe Saldana and Michelle Rodriguez and will be released in UK cinemas on December 18th.