‘Avatar’ weekend roundup and fearless predictions

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‘AVATAR’ COUNTDOWN: 7 DAYS

Tick….tick….tick…we’re in the final days of our 30-day “Avatar” countdown and it feels like the whole pop-culture scene of America is going code blue right now. Early reviews of “Avatar” were mighty good and now it looks like the success of the film may actually match its ambitions. Today, we bring you a roundup of “Avatar” news and notes from far and wide and there’s plenty going on, which we bring you today in form of fearless predictions. -- Geoff Boucher

“Avatar” and James Cameron will be part of Oscar night: KTLA broadcaster Sam Rubin, a friend to the Hero Complex, created a stir in the gossip districts of America when he went off on the ever-petulant Perez Hilton and then Rubin followed it up with some notable “Avatar” predictions: “I can report that this is another rare example where the quality of the movie does indeed exceed the hype and ‘Avatar’ will most certainly be among the 10 ‘Best Picture’ nominees for the Oscars; and James Cameron will also be a Best Director nominee. I think it is also possible that actress Zoe Saldana, who has the most challenging of roles in the film, may rack up an additional acting nomination as well.” Read the rest

‘Avatar’ will gross $187 million in its first four weeks: That very specific number comes to us via Josh Levin at Slate who writes that his fear that the movie would be another ‘Battlefield Earth’ is now receding: ‘My money’s on blockbuster. Supporting evidence for the cat-people-as-cash-cow theory can be found on the Hollywood Stock Exchange. As of Thursday evening, Avatar is trading at 187.09 on HSX, a prediction market that Anita Elberse, an associate professor at Harvard Business School, says has a proven track record of prognosticating box-office revenues. That 187.09 figure means HSX traders believe the movie will make close to $187 million in its first four weeks of domestic release—a figure that would put the movie well on its way to profitability...’ Read the rest

‘Avatar’ cast will have a primo table at Golden Globes: Over at Hitfix, Gregory Ellwood over at Hitfix reported earlier in the week that the curious cult known as the Hollywood Foreign Press Assn. was over the moon for Pandora: ‘After a screening yesterday morning, very reliable sources have told Awards Campaign that the HFPA were incredibly positive about Cameron’s latest endeavor. In fact, it’s now very likely to be nominated in both the Best Picture - Drama and Best Director categories when the Golden Globe nominations are announced next Tuesday. This was almost unthinkable a week ago and may push expected Globe nominees such as ‘The Hurt Locker’ or ‘An Education’ out of the Best Picture - Drama race. Additionally, this could (emphasis on ‘could’) find ‘Avatar’ seriously being considered for one of the ten nominees for Oscar’s Best Picture trophy -- especially considering the 8-10th slots hardly seem secure at this point in the race. Read the rest

‘Avatar’ will be framed as a political film: Washington-based commentator Nile Gardiner, writing in the Daily Telegraph, gives an early glimpse of the way the film will be covered by the op-ed and television punditry crowd in an column cautioning Jim Cameron that he should make his movies but stiflethe sound-bytes about the war in Iraq: ‘I have little doubt that Avatar will be a massive global hit when it opens worldwide on December 18th, and the early reviews are largely positive, with a 90 percent current approval rating on the Rotten Tomatoes website. But its expected success won’t be due to cinemagoers wanting to watch an expensive sermon on US foreign policy, but because they want to be entertained by the most advanced 3-D special effects ever put on screen...The US public is frankly tired of the anti-war rhetoric of the Left, which has sounded increasingly hollow since the success of the surge in Iraq.’ Read the rest

-- Geoff Boucher

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Jim Cameron, cinema prophet? ‘Moving a mountain is nothing’

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VIDEO: ‘Avatar’ interviews with Sigourney Weaver and Jon Landau

Peter Jackson: Movie fans are ‘fed up with the lack of original ideas’