HOW CAMERON IS SAVING MOVIES

Let’s face it, our current time period in film history will not be known for its originality. Remakes, reboots, sequels and prequels have dominated the beginning of the 21st century. This summer alone has seen the worst of it. Just look at the box office: Transformers 2, Night at the Museum 2, Ice Age 3, X-Men 4, 4 Fast 4 Furious, Terminator 4, Harry Potter 6, Star Trek 11, etc. These films may have grossed billions of dollars, but the film going audience is sick of it. Anywhere you look, people are making their voices heard. Whether it’s blogs like this or the podcasts on your iPod, people want originality. Seeing the same old thing rehashed over and over just gets boring.

What’s worse is it’s sucking our young and talented filmmakers into a pit of sequel sludge. Some are able to crawl out like JJ Abrams with his amazing Star Trek rendition while others keep slipping on the mud like Rob Zombie, who was roped into making a sequel of his reboot instead of Tyrannosaurs Rex. With GI JOE, A Nightmare on Elm Street, and Alice in Wonderland just over the horizon, all has seemed lost….but it’s not. One man has chosen to skip this period in film history altogether. He has embarked on a quest so epic, it could only be rivaled by one of his films. This man is James Cameron and he is trying to save us all.

Over ten (10) years ago, Cameron created a story that was out of this world…literally. His story was so large in scope, the technology to bring his story to the screen hadn’t even been invented. So what did he do? Did he put the story on the shelf and wait for the technology to be invented while he made Terminator 3 and a boatload of cash? No. He INVENTED the technology. So now, instead of just making a story with an original idea, he has created a new MEDIUM to tell that story with the original idea. With the number one grossing film of all time under his belt, money was never a consideration. The only thing that mattered was his vision and the desire to give us something we’ve never seen before.

A decade later, the film is set to release and boy are we ready for it. As mentioned above, we need fresh material and we need it now. Well, Cameron wants to give it to us. Is he playing the “supply and demand” card and raising the price of the ticket? No…the opposite. On August 21st, he’s giving us 15 minutes FOR FREE!!! That’s right! If you want to see a piece of his story on the medium he has invented, you can. Like I said, money is not an option. The quest is all that matters.

So with the first stages of his epic quest completed and a promise of giving away a portion of his film for free to the entire world, James Cameron was finally ready to reveal 20 minutes of footage to San Diego Comic Con this year. What was the response?

“Eh, it looks pretty cool…”

As someone who has read almost everything that has been written about AVATAR, this has been the collective response from the blogosphere, particularly those who were at Comic Con. Sure, everyone of them mentions, “Yes, it’s definitely, hands down, without a doubt the greatest CGI I have ever seen in my life, and the 3D is easily the best I have seen to date and could definitely become a part of filmmaking for years to come…but lower your expectations, it just looks ok…” My favorite is, “It all looked absolutely amazing, but you could tell the aliens were CGI.” Really? You mean, James Cameron didn’t actually shoot the film on the planet Pandora and capture real aliens to put in his movie? Man…that’s disappointing. What’s more disappointing is all of these complaints are coming from the same people who are crying for new material. So this is my response to all of them: Pick your battles.

Are you sick of remakes, reboots, prequels and sequels? Then slap your money down on the box office altar right now and praise AVATAR. Need I remind you that Cameron has essentially made the most expensive film of all time to bring you a new story on a new medium and he’s giving the experience away for free? At Comic Con, during the question and answer portion of the AVATAR panel, someone asked, “Thank you for making something new and original and not a sequel or reboot.” All 6800 people in Hall H erupted and cheered. What did the bloggers do? They didn’t shrug…they cheered! But what were they typing on their laptops? “It looks like Beowulf.”

James Cameron is not only giving the people what they want, he’s giving it to them for free. Do you really think Michael Bay or McG would EVER give you ANYTHING for free? Hell, I would argue that they don’t give us what we PAY FOR!

“This is quite the risk and I don’t think it’s going to be the box office success everyone thinks it’s going to be.” Yeah…NO SHIT it’s a risk. That’s the point. AVATAR is new, it’s uncharted, it’s…dare I say…imaginative. Some question whether or not the general public will understand all the fantasy and sci-fi elements of the film like the Avatars and Na’vis. Didn’t that same audience pick up the concept of The Matrix pretty fast?

I’m sick of the garbage being tossed to me by our studio overseers. I’m sick of movies like INK not getting any recognition because some guys in suits don’t think anyone will understand it. And I’m sick of seeing our agents in the field; the creative young filmmakers, submit to the overseers and make a movie I already own on DVD AND Blu-Ray. Well, for once, we’ve got a guy on our side and he just so happens to have more studio clout than any person in history (No. I’m not forgetting Spielberg or Lucas).

So what do you say? Are you for originality or do you want more unoriginality? Because if you want things to change, AVATAR needs your support and it needs it now. Go see AVATAR for free on August 21st. If you like what you see, pay for it on December 18th. Tell your friends and family about it and tell them to see it. Blog about it, Tweet about it, TALK about it. James Cameron has done everything he can do. Whether or not his quest will be complete is now up to you.

No argument is complete without a response. Whether you agree or disagree, let me here about it in the comments below.