After the fiery Spring Festival stalls, the mainland film market fell into a large area of famine.
Whether it's warner CG live-action "Tom and Jerry"
Or disney animation "Dragon Quest"
Both are subject to simultaneous exposure of word-of-mouth and high-definition resources
The performance was extremely mediocre, and eventually won the box office of more than 100 million
Why did the HD resources of these two Hollywood blockbusters go all over the sky so early?
Because, the epidemic in the United States is still relatively serious.
Another 58% of theaters are not yet open.
In order to recover the loss of the theater box office,
Warner pushes HBO MAX members,
All blockbusters of 2021 will be launched in streaming media synchronously
And that includes Tom and Jerry.
Disney is in its streaming media Disney+
Launched $29.99 (195 RMB)
High-priced on-demand "Dragon Quest Legend"
Look out,
The Film Bureau has requirements for the full-year box office in 2021.
According to Pocket Jun's internal information:
Guarantee 60 billion, rush 70 billion.
In a very short period of time, the re-screening of two super blockbusters was coordinated.
Avatar
The Lord of the Rings trilogy
It is expected to be released in three weeks in April
really
"Avatar" immediately stole the single-day box office champion from "Hello, Li Huanying".
Because the global box office of "Avengers 4" is only 8 million more than the Kashen giant.
"Avatar" was re-screened in the mainland for two days,
The global box office successfully exceeded $2.8 billion.
From "Avengers 4" to regain the global film history box office champion.
In keeping with the tradition created by Spielberg in 1977,
"Reunion 4" director Russo Brothers immediately released a tribute poster,
Congratulations to Avatar creator James Cameron.
Marvel Studios' official social media also posted gifs to congratulate them
Kashin himself passionately forwarded.
I have to say,
In the absence of publicity,
The re-screening of "Avatar" still received about 400 million mainland box office,
It reflects its unparalleled high status in the history of global commercial films.
Turn the clock back to January 4, 2010.
At that time, "Avatar" was released in Chinese mainland,
The first Hollywood 3D blockbuster that took 4.5 years to produce and cost nearly $300 million,
Its popularity has successfully entered the social version from the entertainment version.
In order to see the most scarce version of IMAX at that time,
Past the cinema of The Menkolo
There was a long queue since 5 a.m.
At the gate of the Peaceful Shadow Capital in Shanghai,
At the top of the list was an old woman.
In an interview with reporters, she replied:
Help my son buy IMAX tickets
I heard that it is a great American blockbuster
In the end, Avatar earned 1.33 billion yuan that year.
This result has been maintained for nearly 5 years
Until he was defeated by Transformers 4.
Looking back now,
Kashin's Avatar is that one
Let Chinese re-cultivate the super blockbuster that goes to the theater to see movies and consumes,
It can really be described as "opening a new era in the Chinese film industry".
Driven by this truly innovative audiovisual experience blockbuster,
In 2010, Chinese mainland total box office for the whole year
Exceeded 10 billion yuan for the first time, up 64% year-on-year
This annual growth rate is still the best in the history of global cinema.
How strong is the 3D technology effect of Avatar,
There is a statistic that speaks volumes.
On March 5, 2010,
Hollywood's second 3D blockbuster, Alice in Wonderland, broke $1.025 billion.
6 years later, the same cast, the same routine,
"Alice in Wonderland 2" reported only $299 million, and the sequel plummeted by a full 70%.
Chinese film industry,
Driven by Avatar,
Ushered in a sustained high-speed growth of gold 10 years.
Kashin is really the greatest achievement.
01
tale
The most cattle nail household PK in history is the most tragic demolition team
The story of Avatar is set in 2148.
It revolves around Jake Sully, a former naval soldier who was wounded in battle and paralyzed.
He decided to come to Pandora's Star on behalf of his brother who died,
Manipulating human genes to combine with the genes of the local Nami tribe to create an "Avatar" hybrid.
Jake's purpose
Infiltrate the nine-foot-tall, blue-skinned, yellow-eyed Tribe of Nami
persuade them to voluntarily leave their homes where they have lived for generations,
So that humanity can be led by SecFor,
Cut down the original forest of the region,
Mining expensive "unobtainable" ore underground.
Essentially,
Avatar is one
The story of the most tragic demolition team in history.
In this 162-minute film,
There are challenges of big adventures, familiar Hollywood personal heroism, and legendary drama routines that want to get away with it.
But the moving afterglow of the "Avatar" plot itself.
The number one villain, Colonel Myers, is the representative of the hawkish military strike force, and is brave and good at war;
But at the same time, he is arrogant and stubborn about all foreign cultural species.
The protagonist Jake is in the film
People who have changed their outlook on life and world outlook to "open their eyes",
His experience of innocence and spiritual growth is very moving
But compared to the Na'vi princess Netini, who is one with heaven and man,
Or is the life force of the latter more radiant,
Like the Pandora Star she lived in, it was full of life, more tenacious than the weeds.
With the greedy tentacles of human beings who "all things under the heavens are for me",
A little bit into such a beautiful Na'vi homeland,
It's like our own footprints expanding recklessly on this planet
This look and feel is very similar to after watching Titanic:
I know that it is a Hollywood cliché, but I am sincere and sincere, and I am still moved without complaint or regret.
02
technology
A cross-generational 3D video revolution
Although as early as the 1950s,
The first 3D feature film "African Adventures" has been born,
But for 60 years, this rough three-dimensional stereoscopic picture has no immersive sense of presence.
And "Avatar" is the blockbuster that really drives the 3D technology revolution.
Just a few minutes into the opening, a truly immersive effect emerges:
Jake Sully wakes up from the ship's dormant bunker,
A spaceship in a state of weightlessness,
Spectators sitting in the theater seats feel like they're floating!
While Jake became an "Avatar" hybrid
After entering the original forest of Pandora Star,
Those rich and diverse herbs seem to be right under the nose of the person,
Within reach;
When Jake first saw a giant multi-layered red flower in the shape of an inverted umbrella,
Mention the seeds of the "Soul Tree" that are flying in the sky,
They are like snowflakes, and they are like transparent jellyfish in the ocean
Surrounded by characters in the movie,
Also wrapped up everyone in front of the screen,
Let you completely get lost in the fantasy world of Pandora Star.
Back on the set of Avatar,
This is probably the most bizarre new attempt ever since the birth of cinema:
The actors don't have fancy costumes
There was only one black tights,
There are also countless sensors and recognizers on the head.
There will be more than a dozen people on the shooting scene carrying cameras to shoot the actors from different angles.
But it's these weird things,
Helped director James Cameron create a magical image.
In order to be able to perform Pandora's amazing dream world 100%, Cameron used three breakthrough technologies:
Virtual camera technology, expression capture, and combined digital stereo cameras.
Virtual camera technology is somewhat similar to VR.
In Avatar,
Actors wear countless sensors for "action grabbing",
The computer processes the captured data directly
Display the virtual character it represents directly on the monitor in a pre-made scale,
This allows the director to observe in real time the interaction between the virtual character and the virtual Pandora's world.
Expression grabbing refers to computer graphics technology that captures an actor's expression.
Actors who play Na'vi need to wear a special hat,
A miniature camera details all changes in its facial expression during the performance.
Cameron hopes to transmit 95% of the actor's performance and facial expression information to his digital avatars.
The result is an incredibly realistic imaging effect, and the audience is completely unable to distinguish between the interaction between real people and virtual characters.
Combined digital stereo camera
It is a 3D stereoscopic camera system co-founded by director Cameron cameraman Vince Page.
This system uses two Sony HDC-F950 HD camera lenses,
Shooting at a distance of about 70 mm at the same time as a person's left and right eyes,
As the distance of the characters from the camera changes,
Automatically adjust the distance between the left and right lenses,
And the data is passed back to the processing system for synthesis,
Create a three-dimensional depth of field feeling that most closely resembles the human eye.
It is these three technological innovations,
Give the audience an immersive Pandora Star experience:
A mysterious, majestic, and magnificent night forest
Ride the dragon bird at high speed and feel the breath and murmur of the tree of life.
And all of this is the key to ensuring that the story is realistic and the emotions are real.
03
ambition
"King of the World" James Cameron
Back in the spring of 1995, an 82-page script took shape:
A paralyzed soldier arrives on a distant planet called Pandora, which is the prototype of the story of Avatar.
Cameron excitedly presented the idea for the project at a conference on his own special effects company," Digital Domain.
However, the special effects technology at that time could not complete the requirements of this science fiction masterpiece.
So, the perfectionist Cameron
I had to put away the script in my hand sadly
Instead, he devoted himself to filming Titanic
The story that followed is known to everyone
The big ship made its first weekend in North America
Only $28.63 million was obtained
All the way to the box office counterattack
Plus a 3D re-release afterwards
Staged a global box office miracle of $2.47 billion
At the Oscars the following year, "Titanic" won 11 awards.
After James Cameron won Best Director,
The phrase "I'm the King of the World" became the strongest voice of that era.
From titanic down
Until the 12-year gap between the release of "Avatar"
Ka Shen only made a cameo appearance in directing one episode of the American drama "The Black Angel of the End times"
The rest of the time,
Cameron is busy bringing together the world's top artists to perfect the Avatar worldview.
In order to make this fantasy world real and believable, he needs experts in various fields to help him enrich and perfect various details.
In order to make the envisioned world real, Cameron demanded scientific rationality based on every detail.
He first wrote to USC professor Paul Flomo, asking him to create a complete language system for the Residents of Pandora's Planet, the Na'vi.
Thirteen months later, Frommo handed over a pamphlet full of alien vocabulary he had created.
Cameron asked the actors to learn a language that no one had ever spoken before.
Invited Judy Hall, chair of the Department of Botany at the University of California,
Paint scientifically grounded details about the plants he created.
In addition, Kashin hired astrophysicists, music professors, and archaeologists to design Pandora's atmospheric density and a three-tone alien music.
In the end, it was compiled by a group of people
A 350-page "Pandora Star Encyclopedia" details a complete set of ecology and culture.
In August 2006, Weta Studio signed a contract to join.
Teamed up with Cameron's "Digital Realm" to produce Avatar.
Special effects master Stan Winston was also involved,
Responsible for the visual design of the elements in the film.
On December 18, 2009, at the age of 50, Cameron finally got his wish and fulfilled his grand dream when he was 22 years old:
Create a sci-fi epic "Avatar" that rivals Star Wars
After the film was released in the Christmas file in 2009,
Still a little slow and hot, the first weekend won 77.02 million US dollars,
But then monopolized the North American weekend box office champion for 8 weeks,
In the global market is also a strong force to destroy the decay
Finally grabbed the "appalling" highest box office in the history of global films:
$2.78 billion! About 18 billion yuan!
04
postpone
Can Avatar 2 create glory again
Forwarding "Avatar" in Kashin
Below the tweet that pays tribute to "Avengers 4", there is a message that has received the highest praise:
"It took Marvel 22 movies to build a behemoth called Avengers 4 to beat Avatar. But then it only takes one movie to beat it: Avatar 2."
Now it seems that
The Chinese re-release of "Avatar" has been able to beat "Reunion 4".
however
News about Avatar 2
The most important keyword is: extension.
After N reschedulings, the latest North American slot for Avatar 2 is: December 16, 2022.
The reason why it is always postponed is obvious: the card god is holding back a big move.
From the release of "Avatar 1" to the present,
James Cameron hasn't directed any new films.
Only for "Terminator 5", "Deep Sea Challenge", "Deadly Abyss" and other films as producers and screenwriters,
Because he cherishes his feathers very much, he believes in the perfectionist principle of "produced by Ka God, it must be a masterpiece".
In addition, Kashin did two great things.
The first is the piloting of the single-man deep submersible, the Deepsail Challenger
Successfully dived to the deepest part of the world's oceans: the Mariana Trench,
The diving depth is about 10,898 meters, which is the depth limit of the world's oceans.
At the bottom of the 10,000-meter sea, Kashin stayed for six hours and used a high-definition 3D camera to shoot a movie called "Deep Sea Challenge".
The ultimate purpose of his trip was not understood by all fans until "Avatar 2" announced the subtitle:
The Way of Water
It turned out that Ka Shen was doing field research.
Because Avatar 2 focuses on the ocean world of the planet Pandora.
Second, it cost $175 million to make one
Avatar 2's "test film" Alita: Battle Angel
I have to say that this is a CG masterpiece with full marks.
It's just a naked show off:
Alita's big twinkling eyes across the uncanny valley,
There is both the warmth of human nature and the coldness of the machine.
And in terms of action play,
Kashin has solved a technical difficulty:
As soon as the action speed is fast, the 3D picture will be mushy.
A few fight scenes are refreshing, and all the action details are clear.
The difficult CG scene where Alita jumps underwater to get a suit is very realistic, and it is really a black technology that burns money!
Pocket Jun combined 10 years of various interviews with Ka Shen.
"Avatar 2: Water's Path", which is scheduled for Christmas 2022, is likely to have the following comprehensive upgrades
1) The character's face spans the uncanny valley and is more realistic.
2) The details of the 3D action scene are not paste, and it is clear to see.
3) Underwater 3D shooting technology is becoming more and more perfect, beautiful
4) Increase the frame rate to 60 frames, so that the eye feels more detailed about the picture
Of course, the most anticipated thing is the killer black technology that the industry has been rumoring: naked-eye 3D technology
As Cameron put it:
"I'm still bullish on 3D, but we need brighter projection technology.
I think eventually 3D technology no longer needs to wear glasses. We will work on this. ”
At the forefront of naked-eye 3D research,
The current technical difficulty is
How to put this naked-eye depth,
Used in special effects CG films and presented on the big screen.
Indeed for 3D movies,
Fans have long had various complaints:
The brightness is too low
It is really uncomfortable for short-sighted audiences to wear two pairs of glasses to watch the film
Not suitable for children under 10 years of age to wear for a long time,
And those bad movies for 3D's sake also make fans complain.
It seems that in the eyes of many film studios, 3D is just a reason they use to raise ticket prices.
No doubt
If "Avatar 2" can finally be released in naked-eye 3D, it will solve all the above pain points.
The reason why Cameron has postponed it again and again is undoubtedly to do various technical research.
10 years ago, Ka Shen used a "Avatar" to let everyone watch the blockbuster and wear 3D glasses.
In the 2022 Christmas file, Ka Shen will use "Avatar 2" to let everyone take off their 3D glasses.
As Pixar's philosophy goes:
Art challenges technology, technology inspires art
Cameron's killer skills are:
Blockbuster Challenge Cinema Theater Upgrade Equipment
If the god of cards can really do the above black technology one by one, the audiovisual language of the film will be renewed again.
▼
There is no doubt that Kashin's treatment of the sequel is very willful,
Many popular movies will launch sequels immediately while the iron is hot,
But "Avatar 2" is 13 years away from the release of the first part in 2009, and "Avatar 5" is 19 years apart.
Avatar 2: The Way of Water
Avatar: The Way of Water
December 16, 2022
Avatar 3: The Breeder
Avatar: The Seed Bearer
December 20, 2024
Avatar 4: The Ancient Knight
Avatar: The Tulkun Rider
December 18, 2026
Avatar 5: In Pursuit of Eva
Avatar: The Quest for Eywa
December 22, 2028
The main movie-watching crowd at that time, the children are about to go to high school.
How to capture the hearts of a new generation of young audiences has become the primary problem of Kashin.
However, "Avatar" such a "lifetime" super blockbuster series cannot be considered empirically.
Cameron's Avatar is great not only because of its unprecedented 3D technology and unmatched visuals
The most important thing is that it has a conscience, speaks the truth, stands against capital and power,
Avatar allows us to re-examine human nature itself.
Time flies, and many people forget
In 2019, the Sino-US and Japanese film markets broke out collectively
It grossed $42.5 billion at the highest annual box office in global film history
"Avatar 2" released in the Christmas file in 2022
It is highly likely that it will become
The iconic blockbuster for the global film industry to fully recover from the quagmire of the new crown epidemic!
I hope that Kashin can once again save the film industry!