It’s less than month before James Cameron’s sci-fi epic “Avatar” hits the global stage and a little over two weeks before its world premiere in London on December 10th, but the final tweaks are still being laid down on the big-budget spectacular.
Producer John Landau told The Wall Street Journal on Thursday that production crews are working around the clock to finish up basic elements from color and sound mixing to more complicated visual effects shots on the 30 minutes of the film that remain incomplete. These last minute fixes are understandably driving the film’s cost up somewhat with the budget looking likely to climb over the $300 million mark.
A day later, Market Saw reported that New Zealand-based Weta Digital, one of around eight digital effects houses working on the project, had finished their commissioned work for the film.
What is causing some debate right now though is runtime. Cameron is known for cutting long films and early reports had “Avatar” running up to three hours. However The Hollywood Reporter has said that due to limits imposed by IMAX technology, the film’s theatrical release will be kept to 150 minutes not including credits.
The film will be getting a ten-week run in IMAX theatres though, unlike most films who are limited to a three-week run for their releases.
Finally, CBS’ 60 Minutes have just profiled director James Cameron and the film in a twelve-minute segment and you can watch that below:
