Remastered Avatar is “looking better than it ever looked,” at least according to James Cameron
Zoe Saldaña and Sigourney Weaver join the director to reflect on the groundbreaking film ahead of its return to theaters
Film News James Cameron
If you haven’t seen Avatar in a movie theater, it “kinda means you haven’t seen the film,” at least according to writer-director James Cameron. Not that Cameron is the kind of guy who would throw shade at Blu-ray, Disney+, or your 85-inch flat-screen TV—actually, wait, he probably is that kind of guy. Regardless, the filmmaker now firmly believes that the best way to experience his 2009 sci-fi-fantasy blockbuster is with the newly remastered version of the film arriving in theaters Friday in 3D with 4K high-dynamic range.
While Hollywood is hoping the return of Cameron’s 3D classic will help jumpstart a slow September box office, the rerelease of the Academy Award-winning film also serves as an opening act for Avatar: The Way of Water, Cameron’s 12-years-in-the-making follow-up, which is scheduled to hit theaters on December 16.
Right now, though, Cameron wants to talk about the original Avatar. “It’s looking better than it ever looked, even back in its initial release,” he said during a recent press conference, which reunited the filmmaker with cast members Sam Worthington, Zoe Saldaña, Sigourney Weaver, Michelle Rodriguez, and Stephen Lang.
Audiences will get to see the film “the way we intended it to be seen,” Cameron added. “The physical experience of the film, we’re just really excited to share that with people that have never seen it in a movie theater.”
Weaver, reflecting on her memories of playing exobiologist Dr. Grace Augustine, amplified Cameron’s position. “The only way you can go to Pandora is by going to the theater and seeing it in 3D—that’s the rocket ship,” she said. Asked about how well she’d understood what the 9-foot-tall, all-blue Avatar version of her character would look like, she admitted that upon filming those scenes, she hadn’t yet constructed her “earthly being” just yet. “With Jim, you step off the cliff, you know that the best people in the world are in charge of every department, and you can trust that the process will never let you down. So that I had, even though I didn’t have the answers to everything.”
Saldaña, whose character Neytiri has no humanoid counterpart and who therefore had to put all her faith into the film’s motion-capture technology, echoed the sentiment. “My imagination was never as infinite as when I was there. And the last time I remember that was when I was a child.”
“Zoe had nothing to act with but just these gray set pieces, and sometimes just a gray painted box or piece of pipe to hold onto,” Cameron remembered, as he discussed the motion capture filming techniques his team pioneered alongside visual effects company Weta Digital. “I think in the first few minutes, [audiences] just gave up trying to figure out how it was done, because we mixed so many techniques it took us years to develop. And so they just surrendered to a sense of immersion in a world and in a fantasy.
“I just look back on everybody’s work and [am] so grateful to have had an opportunity to work with these amazing people,” he added. “And I think that’s why I promptly went out and wrote another and another and another Avatar.”
24 Comments
I don’t think anyone’s mentioned this yet, but has it ever occurred to anyone that nobody really talks about Avatar any more?
Well, not nobody—https://www.cbc.ca/news/canada/edmonton/mr-avatar-tattoo-edmonton-raymond-knowles-1.5001066
God bless you
I can’t tell if you’re being ironic, but it gets brought up by commenters/terrible ‘journalists’ in pretty much every single mention of Avatar anywhere on the internet. Personally, I’m interested to see it because it’s a James Cameron film, which I’d much rather see then the umpteenth MCU film, regardless of Avatar’s lack of cultural ubiquity on social media.
I think he’s mainly doing this so the fonts of the 2 movie logos match now, he can’t expect too much money from this.
I hope Avatar 2 bombs so hard that they kick James Cameron out of Hollywood for it, and he’s forced to re-imagine Avatar 3 as a puppet show made with cardboard sets, Elmer’s glue, and old socks which he performs in the parking lot of the Nevada State Fair.
And they have to close-up the big scenes due to a shit budget. Like this “battle” in the cheap Planet of the Apes movie.
Story is completely forgettable, looks great though!
It’s looking better than it ever looked
I mean… I’d certainly hope so, given that’s the entire point of a remaster.
I was hoping they’d make it look significantly worse, just to fuck with everyone.
Really add some grit and grain, play up the grindhouse vibe.
The ole George Lucas approach.
dam kinja
dam kinja
Terminator 2 4kUHD disc has entered the chat
I’m waiting for the demaster: 4:3 pan-and-scan on VHS.
I get that it’s your job to write about these Avatar sequels like they’re legitimate blockbusters to get excited about, but I have not seen a single person in the past 13 years since the first one came out, online or in person, claim to be an Avatar fan. The movie made a billion dollars because of an admittedly well-done visual gimmick, but not because the narrative had any inherent value. Maybe I’m wrong and these sequels will become modern-day classics and make all the money and play a defining role in 2020s popular culture. But everything about the Avatar sequels stinks of a cynical cash grab, and without the novelty of an under-the-radar-in-2009 gimmick like 3D, it feels like a whole lot of people are fooling themselves here.
Cameron has a weird definition of “promptly”.
I remember being utterly stunned by the effects when it came out. I’m looking forward to seeing the new one.
It really was meant to be seen in the format it was meant for, it looked unbelievable in IMAX 3D. In a way, Top Gun Maverick is in that mold: it’s not trying to reinvent a wheel narratively (it’s literally the Top Gun version of the Death Star run), it’s simply wants to blow your damn mind on a massive scale on a massive screen. TGM will probably fade as time goes on as well, but why would that be seen as a failure? Why can’t a movie simply exist in a moment of time where it was exactly what moviegoers are craving?I don’t care there hasn’t been 15 interconnected movies and shows and tapped into the quotable databank of io9 users, I’ll be there for Avatar 2 simply on the basis of “the first one was a fun ride and one of the most visually stunning movies I’ve seen”
For sure. I’m always down for some spectacle and fun.
BREAKING NEWS: Man who Makes Movies for Money Says You Should Pay Money to See His Movie (Again)
Do they still have that Avatar indoor boat ride at Disney World? That was nice because it was a chance to get out of the sun and the music wasn’t as annoying as It’s a Small World.
How exactly is a completely digital film “remastered”?