Avatar is a 2009 American epic science fiction film written with directed by James Cameron and starring Sam Worthington, Zoe Saldana, Stephen Lang, Michelle Rodriguez, Sigourney Weaver, and Joel David Moore. The film is set in 2154, when humans are mining a costly mineral called unobtanium on Pandora, a lush moon of a gas giant in the Alpha Centauri star system. The growth of the mining colony threatens the continued existence of a local people of Na'vi—a humanoid species indigenous to Pandora. The film's title refers to the heritably engineered Na'vi-human hybrid bodies use by a team of researchers to interact with the natives of Pandora.
Development on Avatar began in 1994, when Cameron writes an 80-page scriptment for the film. Filming was theoretical to take place after the completion of Cameron's 1997 film Titanic, for a planned release in 1999, but according to Cameron, the essential technology was not yet available to achieve his vision of the film. Work on the language for the film's space beings began in summer 2005, and Cameron began increasing the screenplay and fictional universe in early 2006.
Avatar was authoritatively budgeted at $237 million. Other estimates put the cost between $280 million and $310 million for production and at $150 million for endorsement. The film was released for traditional 2-D viewing, 3-D viewing, and "4-D" viewing. The stereoscopics filmmaking was touting as a breakthrough in cinematic technology. Avatar premiered in London on December 10, 2009, and was released abroad on December 16 and in the United States and Canada on December 18, to critical acclaim and commercial success.
Development on Avatar began in 1994, when Cameron writes an 80-page scriptment for the film. Filming was theoretical to take place after the completion of Cameron's 1997 film Titanic, for a planned release in 1999, but according to Cameron, the essential technology was not yet available to achieve his vision of the film. Work on the language for the film's space beings began in summer 2005, and Cameron began increasing the screenplay and fictional universe in early 2006.
Avatar was authoritatively budgeted at $237 million. Other estimates put the cost between $280 million and $310 million for production and at $150 million for endorsement. The film was released for traditional 2-D viewing, 3-D viewing, and "4-D" viewing. The stereoscopics filmmaking was touting as a breakthrough in cinematic technology. Avatar premiered in London on December 10, 2009, and was released abroad on December 16 and in the United States and Canada on December 18, to critical acclaim and commercial success.
Directed by
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James Cameron
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Produced by
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James Cameron, Jon Landau
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Written by
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James Cameron
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Music by
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James Horner
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Cinematography
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Mauro Fiore
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Editing by
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James Cameron, John Refoua, Stephen E. Rivkin
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Studio
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Lightstorm Entertainment, Dune Entertainment,
Ingenious Film Partners
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Distributed by
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20th Century Fox
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Running time
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162 minutes
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Country
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United States
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Language
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English
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Budget
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$237 million
$9 million+ (Re-release)
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Gross revenue
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$2,770,179,282
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