Is Avatar A Blockbuster

It would be an understatement to say that James Cameron’s 2009 epic science fiction film, Avatar, was a blockbuster. Not only did it end up making the most money at the box office than any movie ever made in the history of film, but it also pushed new boundaries for film technology, especially with being a 3d film, which in turn caused it tone of the most discussed films of the year. It really reflected the true essence of what a blockbuster is, based on its approach towards the special effects of the movie, the themes it presented, the narrative structure it conveyed, and the legacy it was able to leave behind. As a film that contained innovations for cinema, it ultimately left an impact that was able to transcend just mere entertainment, and showed that movies could be art forms once again.

A blockbuster is defined as a movie with a high production value that is large in scope and scale, and is very entertaining. The roots of Avatar stemmed from James Cameron writing an 80 page book for Avatar, in which he drew inspiration for the movie from all the science fiction books that he had ever written. After his first blockbuster “Titanic” he decided to film Avatar which he would make by using computer generated actors. One big quality that would make this film be considered as a blockbuster would be the expense that this project would cost to make. Cameron was under the impression that the technology at the time had not caught up with the story in the vision that he wanted to tell during the late 1990s. In 2006 he revealed that it was finally time to create Avatar because the technological advances were ready to create the characters that he wanted to start. He noticed that from other films such as Gollum from Lord of the Rings and ...

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...movie would end up becoming significantly marketed, with millions of merchandise form the movie sold such as video games and costume ideas, as well as the DVD becoming the top selling blue-ray of all time. After this film’s success, Cameron signed a deal which would allow him to produce 3 sequels to the first Avatar, making this movie only the beginning of planned franchise.

With amazing special effects, strong storytelling, and powerful themes, it is hard to consider Avatar as one of, if not the, greatest blockbuster of all time. It really took the blockbuster concept and blew it out of the water and became the universally most successful movie in theaters in history. It will definitely be a tough movie to take that title from in the future. When I watched the movie, I felt that it was not just an entertaining spectacle, it could actually be considered as art.