James Cameron’s mammoth undertaking “Avatar” is still a couple of years away from being anywhere near “releasable”, but the Fox studio has already decided to change the film’s release date from the original Memorial Day 2009 to December 18th, 2009, says Variety. For those keeping track of Cameron’s past works, this means “Avatar” will open in the same weekend as Cameron’s last film, 1997′s massive hit “Titanic”.
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Pushing back the release of “Avatar” from May to December allows both more time to work on the effects and that much more time for additional theaters to install 3-D screens both here and abroad.
With the extra months, Cameron and Peter Jackson’s Weta Digital will continue working on the groundbreaking technology invented by Cameron’s team and Weta for the film.
“Making this change more than two years out allows Weta to achieve this unparalleled cinematic feat with the most efficient completion of the digital effects,” Parker said.
Fox stressed that Cameron will soon complete live-action principal photography in New Zealand, on schedule. During its production, “Titanic” hit major delays.
I’m sure releasing “Avatar” on the same weekend as “Titanic” wasn’t a mistake, either. These guys know what they’re doing, especially Cameron, who is as shrewd a businessman as he is a filmmaker.
