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Avatar Sets New Apple Trailer Record, Toys and Video Game Trailer Revealed

Posted on Monday, August 24th, 2009 by Peter Sciretta

The teaser trailer for James Cameron’s Avatar created a lot of debate online, and left many over-hyped film fannatics disappointed. But 20th Century Fox is left with bragging rights as the Avatar trailer has become the most-viewed trailer in Apple.com history with over 4 million streams in the first day. The previous record was 1.7 million in 24 hours. You can read the full press release after the jump.

Thankfully Fox was able to win a lot of curious film goers back with their Avatar Day promotion. Online tickets sold out despite server problems, reports of screenings being half empty, but from what I can tell, the resulting word of mouth has been overwhelmingly positive. Many of the people who were complaining about the CG of the teaser trailer were left glowing about the amazing 3D visuals and realistic facial movements of the Na’vi in the 15 minute footage preview (However, some complained about the on-the-nose dialogue and expressed worry about what appears to be a predictable story).

But is it enough? How many people attended the Avatar Day screenings? 100,000? 200,000? And it seems logical to me that anyone who would make the trip to their nearest IMAX theatre to see 15 minutes of footage, were already going to buy tickets already. Will the positive word of mouth pay off?

I have combined some of the things we missed during all the Avatar Day excitement after the jump, including photos of the ugly Avatar action figure toy line and the trailer for the video game. Enjoy.

The Toys (click to enlarge):

Video Game Trailer:

The Trailer Press Release:

AVATAR TEASER TRAILER MAKES HISTORY, BECOMING THE MOST-VIEWED TRAILER EVER ON APPLE.COM

MUCH-ANTICIPATED FIRST-LOOK AT THE EPIC ADVENTURE FROM

“TITANIC” DIRECTOR JAMES CAMERON NETS OVER 4 MILLION STREAMS, SHATTERING PREVIOUS RECORD OF 1.7 MILLION

LOS ANGELES, (Friday, August 21st, 2009) – Twentieth Century Fox announced today that the AVATAR teaser trailer has become the most-viewed trailer ever on the popular iTunes Movies Trailer section of apple.com, which Thursday hosted the long-awaited public first look at writer-director James Cameron’s motion picture epic. The teaser registered over four million streams in its first day on the site, shattering the previous record of 1.7 million.

On Friday, the trailer arrived in theaters around the world, presented in all formats, including IMAX® 3-D, IMAX® 2-D, digital 3-D, digital 2-D, and 35mm 2-D.

The record–shattering online trailer debut marked the launch of AVATAR DAY, an unprecedented experience that also saw the unveiling of special scenes – in 3-D – prepared especially by Cameron for this event. The extended look at AVATAR unspooled for two showings only Friday evening. The U.S. showings were held in select IMAX® 3-D theaters, and international unveilings were in select digital 3-D and IMAX® 3-D theaters. Reservations for all showings were completely booked.

In addition, Fox took the wraps off its special “3-D”/lenticular one-sheet posters for the film, Ubisoft® unveiled the trailer for their videogame James Cameron’s Avatar: The Game, and Mattel revealed the action figures for the film’s Avatar and alien Na’vi characters.

AVATAR takes us to a spectacular new world beyond our imagination, where a reluctant hero embarks on a journey of redemption and discovery, as he leads a heroic battle to save a civilization. The film was first conceived by Cameron 14 years ago, when the means to realize his vision did not yet exist. Now, after four years of actual production work, AVATAR delivers a fully immersive cinematic experience of a new kind, where the revolutionary technology invented to make the film, disappears into the emotion of the characters and the sweep of the story.

AVATAR opens in theaters everywhere December 18, 2009.

Comments

richCie

I still hate the look of the Na'Vi and stunning CGI is not enough to make a movie great - and the one line of dialgoue from the trailer was delivered so excruatingly i really don't expect anything of interest from the acting department - and most likely the story either.
I ain't seen either but i'm still thinking District 9 is going to the better film, i certainly think it has a lot more potential

Federico Iglesias

Hate to go all Transformers on this... But there's more to the movie than meets the eye.
Hell, remember the documentaries Jimmy C. did after Titanic? He gained a love for underwater life after that... It shows in the movie.
Remember Pandora has been compared to Earth? Well, there's many different ecosystems there, too. not just jungle.
It seems the love story is going to be minimal in comparison to what we expected it to be.

...OH, and please.
Stop comparing it to District 9. They are two very different movie.

CooperKai

Honestly, how many different ways can someone deliver the line "This is great" in a compelling, moving way? I love how you "don't expect anything of interest from the acting department" because of three fucking words from the trailer.

richCie

it's all i've got to go on and come on it was wooden as hell - the reason i'm comparing to D-9 is cos they're the 2 big sci-fi films of the year that are left to see.
and Frederico i'm confused - there was more than met the eye in Transformers? where? when? cos that was spectacle over substance and nothing more.
anyway even in the effects department nothing in the Avatar trailer was as stunning as the spaceship reveal in the District 9 trailer.
and nothing is as charming or as evocative as the lo-fi model work in Moon.
Avatar just doesn't look to have any character, anything to set it out from the crowd other than painfully expensive effects.

amt1991

U're saying that cos you haven't seen the 15 mins 3D footage on Avatar day, didn't mean D9 is not a great movie, it's the best movie of 2009 so far. But, just dun compare your 2D screen to the 3D screen, there's a world of difference.

richCie

the first bit of your reply confused the hell out of me.
i havent seen D-9 either... only good sci-fi film i've seen this year is Moon.
but why not compare 2-D to 3-D? they're both films - that'd be like saying i can't compare films in different ratios - or even colour to B&W - my interest in films is not dictated by the technology involved in creating them. anyway this should probably all be saved till i've seen Avatar - i'm just trying to point out that in all this revolutionary technology talk it seems that people are forgetting whats more important in a film.

amt1991

I'm also not a fan of big budget CGIs and kick ass stunts, cos all that matters is the Script and the presentation of the Film. Last year, TDK and Benjamin Button proved that, used CGIs but the story lines itself are still strong enough to become a good movie. Same thing here, James Cameron created a Mythology, his own one. It may be easy to make a movie about Batman, but it's not easy to create the Mythology, the world of Batman. There are many movies, both visually and the movie itself are fantastic, LOTR, etc;

richCie

I was unimpressed with Benjamin Button - mainly cos of the format the story was done in -the flashbacks and all that which is probably where all those Forrest Gump comparisons came from. i would have much preferred it to have just followed Benjamin Button cos those were the parts i liked best. it did however prove that effects could be used effectively to support a story rather than replace it - which is something i'd always hoped Avatar would do - it just looks to be spectacle and then a quick Hollywood romance chucked in aswell -alright I might be wrong but nothing is suggesting I am.
then again i doubt i'm the target audience for it - I'm a sci-fi nut but what i look for in movies is not necessarily what James Cameron is interested in showing.

oh and if you want to be wowed visually by a film - watch The Fall - which features no CGI and also happens to have a consistently engaging story.

daniel1234

The 3D in Avatar was more of a distraction than a revolutionary tool who make you felt more involved in what's going on on the screen.

henriksen2

Really? Have you seen the film?

daniel1234

The 3D in the "15 minutes Avatar footage" i saw were more of a distraction than a revolutionary tool who makes you felt more involved in what's going on on the screen.... Happy now?

starscream9289

Those toys are like a furry's wet dream.

YoungZer0

Oh man, why did you say that? I was going to say that. :/

Omar Saqr

I am sick of people comparing the movie to old ones. No one agreed that it is similar to a certain one, and that is an evidence that it is a new presentation. Also, no one can judge unless the movie is seen, because it is a new thing. Besides, it is going to be an epic movie if these amazing visuals are combined with an amazing STORY. And based on cameron's history, he can deliver an epic story.

ModernTenshi04

I went to the Avatar screening here in Columbus, Ohio, and I along with the three people I went with all really enjoyed what we saw. From the looks of it our theater was completely full. This was for the 6PM showing, so for most people this would be immediately after work on Friday.

I can't say how full or not full the 7PM showing was.

LoganR

The same happened at our theaters here. I went to the 6pm which meant I had to get off work at 4:45(go home change, get food, sit in traffic, get in line). The theater was slim. However the line for the 7pm was packed.

ModernTenshi04

I drive by the mall that houses the theater our showing was going down at on my way to and from work each day, so I just hit it straight from work (casual Fridays FTW). I also get in around 7:30 in the morning, so I leave around 4:30/4:45 just about every day. Living +30 minutes away from work means I need to leave early in case of bad traffic, and I get to head home from work a bit earlier to just miss the brunt of rush hour.

salad_fingers

The toys look like they've been plucked straight out of a McD. Happy Meal.

tyler

shut up, and wait until you see the 3D version, moron!

:-)

salad_fingers

:-) Think you're right. I'm sure the toys we're only meant to be seen and played with in the original 3D IMAX format. They come with special glasses which must be worn by the children to avoid the toys looking like total crap. Also if you buy all the toys and the video game and use all at the same time you'll actually be transported to Pandora... how exciting!

Saladinho

Heheh...Although, actually, the toy itself WOULD be 3-D, I guess...They'll look even worse.

OMGrant

I hope somebody screen caps this and puts it somewhere everyone can see... I couldn't stop laughing!!!

Anrkist

So, who set the previous record?

leffe

Monday 19th June 2000

Lord of the Rings is King of the Internet after doubling The Phantom Menace's download record

The trailer for forthcoming fantasy trilogy Lord of the Rings has smashed Internet download records after being released onto the Internet in April, it was reported Monday.
The trailer was downloaded 1.7 million times from the film's official Web site on the first day of release, doubling the previous record set by long awaited Star Wars prequel, Episode 1: The Phantom Menace.

nindie

Peter, what trailer held the previous record of 1.7 million views in 24 hours? I'm betting it was the Episode 1 teaser?

Robin

For a second there I thought we were going to get the first ever (to my knowledge) wheelchair-bound action figure, but no such luck

Yevacles

There was the chick from that horrible horrible "Steel" movie, bought it at the flea market when I was like 12. Disappointed at lack of Sam Worthington in a wheelchair action figure.

Gil Brooks

Professor X from X-Men- duh! ;)

OMGrant

I'm sure there's Barbara Gordan as Oracle, that dude from "The Real Ghost Busters" and that guys from Dark Angle... wait... thats also a product of James Cameron... i see a connection here!

jank

the sigourney weaver one actually does look like her.

salad_fingers

Michelle Rodriguez unfortunately does not. She definitely got the short straw. Her's looks like an angry man.

Brad Arnold

Why must people pit Avatar against District 9, as though only one of them is allowed to be worthy of praise. I loved D 9 and I fully expect to love Avatar as well. If they are both good films, why does it matter which one is best? The fact is we rarely get ambitious, original sci-fi these days. That we get Moon, D9 and Avatar this year should be a miracle for fans of the genre. Instead everyone seems to want to make it into some kind of cage match where only one film can be the winner.

Octoberist

Yeah, it's kinda pit things against each other.... I've never met anyone who actually had this sort of attitude. Or taken that seriously.

michaeldance

It'll probably still be an entertaining movie, but I definitely have to adjust my expectations now. I saw the 16 min. footage on Avatar Day and was pretty disappointed. The CGI has the same problem as Beowulf -- looks really good close-up and totally like a cartoon from far away.

I understand that fans like myself may have been expecting too much, but we've had James Cameron promising photo-realistic 3D aliens for years now. And that's just not what we're getting.

Oh, and I'd actually rather see the movie in 2D. Every time I see 3D, the more I think it will never not be a gimmick. In the first scene shown, with Stephen Lang, the 3D effect makes everybody looks like a pop-up. It doesn't look more real, it looks less. I wanted to take the damn glasses off.

OMGrant

You sound like the type of person that would say the exact same thing, be it photo real or not. Do yourself a favor and look into what it takes to produce a photo realistic character and bring it to the big screen.

You say it takes away from the experience, I say its because you want it to...

oh the humanity

So, James Cameron promised photorealistic CG characters, but if they don't look photorealistic to us, then we shouldn't say anything to the effect of "where's the photorealistic characters we were promised?" until we are able to make photorealistic characters that are better than the ones in AVATAR?

I see where the "Avatard" thing comes from now.

OMGrant

photo-realism and believability are two different things, apparently some people can't connect the dots.

michaeldance

Dude, that's totally not our point.

Fact #1: James Cameron said the aliens would be photo-realistic.
Fact #2: The aliens are not photo-realistic.

That's all. For heaven's sake, the first thing my comment says is that "it'll probably still be entertaining." Relax. Nobody's going to hurt your precious movie.

OMGrant

I don't get how it isn't photo-realistic, that's mine.

Those facts are matters of opinion, so get them strait.

ben

Would have gone to see it but wasn't about to drive 2 hours to. Now that it's on the map for the average movie fan I'm guessing steam will pick up quickly.

Paton Mcgroin

FOX and James Cameron RICKROLLED all of you.

Paton Mcgroin

Hey I just received my Avatard Day Tickets!!! I'm so excited!!!
How long do I have to wait for the Fox confirmation email?

joebbbb

wheres the toy in the wheelchair? also by just adding two more legs to a horse doesnt really make it a good alien design.

Dangeresquetoo

I thought it was good times. Then again my new litmus test for studio film is...."Was it better than Transformers 2?"

Watching a fruit fly buzz around 3 glow sticks for 2 hours would be better than Transformers 2!

joebbbb

um ok?

maxk2010

im really not too excited about this movie, the story doesnt seem all that great. I will see it for the visual effects though, they look awesome. And i also hate the look of the na'vi... all elf lookng

gigaherc

I love those "PHOTOREALISTIC ALIENS" discussions - you haters are truly retarded munchkins...

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