Visionary filmmaker James Cameron says his popular film Avatar, which is set to be re-released in English in India on September 23, resonated with people across cultures as it combined the themes of nature and environment with the science fiction genre.
The multiple Oscar-winner is bringing back his 2009 blockbuster movie, starring Sam Worthington, Zoe Saldana, Sigourney Weaver and Stephen Lang, to the theatres for another run. Avatar will be re-released in English in India on September 23 by 20th Century Studios India, three months before its much-anticipated sequel, Avatar: The Way of Water, is set to hit the theatres on December 16.
During a virtual press conference on Monday night, Cameron said Avatar reminded the audience about their innate love for nature and the beauty around us. “I think people found a universal human experience that they could relate to. And there's one other thing, which is, when we were kids, we just innately loved nature and animals. As our lives progress, we go more and more away from nature.”
Set in the year 2154, Avatar explores how humans establish a colony on a fictional moon called Pandora, populated by lush green forests, huge beasts and its native community Na’vi. The film focuses on Jake, a paraplegic US Marine, who gets dispatched to Pandora on a unique mission but becomes torn between following his orders and protecting the world he feels is his home.
Asked why he chose to bring back Avatar on the big screen, Cameron said the aim was to reach out to a younger audience, who didn’t get a chance to experience the world of Pandora back then. “It’s been 12 years since the release and basically if you are under 22 or 23 years of age, it’s unlikely that you have seen the film in a movie theatre,” he added.
The movie, which was earlier released in 3D, has now been remastered in 4K high dynamic range format. The latest version is looking better than it looked during its initial release, said Cameron, adding, “There's so many people out there. Even if they like the movie on streaming platforms or Blu-ray format, they still haven’t really seen the movie the way we intended it to be seen.”
Upon its release in 2009, Avatar became the top-grossing film of all time at the worldwide box office with more than USD 2.8 billion in revenues. It was nominated for nine Academy Awards, including best picture and best director, and won three Oscars for best cinematography, production design and visual effects.
“In terms of the movie's long-term cultural impact, I guess we will find out if people show up for Avatar 2. The experience of working with the cast and crew of Avatar was so great that it compelled me to develop the story into a franchise,” Cameron said.
“I just look back on everybody's work and am just so grateful to have had an opportunity to work with these amazing people. That's why I probably went out and wrote another, and another and another. I just wanted to continue with this family. It was just such a great experience,” he added.
Avatar: The Way of Water will mark the return of Worthington as Jake Sully, Saldana as Neytiri, Weaver as Dr Grace Augustine and Lang as Colonel Miles Quaritch.
The new entrants in the sequel include Vin Diesel and Kate Winslet, who had famously starred in Cameron's 1997 hit Titanic, besides actors such as Cliff Curtis, Michelle Yeoh, Jemaine Clement, Oona Chaplin, and David Thewlis.
