The history of the democratic ethos of India will be “summed up and retold through 26 interactive screens” arranged in multiple kiosks, sources said…reports Asian Lite News
The Heads of State and other top leaders will be greeted by an artificial intelligence-generated ‘avatar’ at the ‘Mother of Democracy’ exhibition which will be hosted at the Bharat Mandapam to mark the G20 Summit, official sources have said.
The exhibition will showcase India’s democratic traditions from the “Vedic period to the modern era”, they said.
The textual content, along with its audio is presented in “16 global languages”, including English, French Mandarin, Italian, Korean and Japanese, they added.
The history of the democratic ethos of India will be “summed up and retold through 26 interactive screens” arranged in multiple kiosks, sources said.
“Upon their arrival in the exhibition area, heads of state, delegates and other guests, will be greeted by an AI-generated ‘avatar’ which will provide them a concise overview of the exhibition,” the source said.
A replica sculpture of the Harappan girl, placed on a rotating elevated podium will be standing in the centre of the hall in the exhibition area.
The actual height of the object is 10.5 cm but the replica was created 5 feet height and 120 kg weight in bronze, the source said.
The election traditions of India will be showcased right to the modern era when after Independence, the first general elections were held in 1951-52 down to the 2019 Lok Sabha elections, the sources said.
‘Sattar’ indicates a somewhat concerning trend in Hollywood that, for a considerable period, had been dominating the cinemas in the Middle East…reports Asian Lite News
In a surprising turn of events for Hollywood, the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia has now begun snubbing the industry as local language movies begin to dominate the market in Riyadh.
‘Avatar 2: The Way of Water’ which is one of the biggest films ever made, earning over $2.4 billion at the global box office, and did quite well in KSA was knocked off quite unexpectedly by a local Saudi Arabian film called ‘Sattar’.
The movie is a family comedy drama movie which follows the life of a depressed man who follows his dreams of becoming a freestyle wrestling champion.
Avatar
According to ‘The Hollywood Reporter’, The film — which had bowed at the Red Sea Film Festival just a month earlier (and where, ironically, the subject of Saudi films not performing had been a talking point) — smashed box office records, earning $2.2 million over its first 12 days, instantly making it the highest-grossing Saudi movie of all time. Granted, the local film industry literally didn’t exist just a few years ago and cinemas only opened in early 2018, but still — history was made.”
Made by the Kuwait based director Abdullah Al Arak, the movie was led by the popular Saudi Arabian comedian Ibrahim Al Hajjaj, and managed to knock off ‘Avatar 2’ off the Saudi Arabian box office by more than 40% in terms of admissions. Gaining a lot of traction through word of mouth alone, as well as being promoted by local producers, the movie slipped just 11% in its second week.
‘Sattar’ marks a somewhat worrisome trend in Hollywood which for several years was dominating the cinemas in the Middle East ranging from countries such as UAE, Kuwait, KSA, Oman, Bahrain and Israel.
‘Oppenheimer’ performed well in Saudi Arabia though the censors did cut out a few scenes in KSA theatres, and another worrisome trend for Hollywood is that much of its recent content concerns LGBTQ+ themes, which KSA among other countries has banned, leading to massive loss in revenue for Hollywood in the country.
Surprisingly Greta Gerwig’s ‘Barbie’ wasn’t banned in the country and will hit KSA theatres on August 31, 2023 after the country’s censor board makes its few changes.
She also appears in both ‘Avengers: Endgame’ and ‘Avengers: Infinity War’, reprising her ‘Guardians of the Galaxy’ role of Gamora…reports Asian Lite News
It’s just six weeks since award-winning filmmaker James Camron’s blockbuster sequel ‘Avatar: The Way of Water’ released and it has surpassed $2 billion in global ticket sales.
It’s the sixth film in history – and first in pandemic times – to cross the coveted milestone, joining an exclusive club that includes ‘Avatar’, ‘Avengers: Endgame’, ‘Titanic’, ‘Star Wars: The Force Awakens’, and ‘Avengers: Infinity War’, reports ‘Variety’.
Now, Cameron is responsible for three of the six-highest grossing movies of all time. He’s also the only director with three films to cross $2 billion. Notably, Zoe Saldana, who plays Neytiri in the “Avatar” series, has now starred in four of the six films to cross $2 billion.
She also appears in both ‘Avengers: Endgame’ and ‘Avengers: Infinity War’, reprising her ‘Guardians of the Galaxy’ role of Gamora.
Notably, ‘The Way of Water’ has officially hit the lofty goal that Cameron set for himself prior to the film’s release. Before the sequel opened in theaters, he told GQ that ‘Avatar 2’ represents “the worst business case in movie history” because it needs to become one of the three or four top-grossing movies of all time just to break even.
But in the coming days, it’ll take down the fourth- and fifth-biggest movies, ‘Star Wars: The Force Awakens’ ($2.07 billion) and ‘Avengers: Infinity War’ ($2.04 billion), to achieve that feat.
The original ‘Avatar’, which debuted in theaters 13 years ago, remains the biggest movie of all time with $2.9 billion.
‘Avengers: Endgame’ trails closely behind in second place with $2.79 billion, while ‘Titanic’ stands as the third-highest grossing release ever with $2.19 billion.
So far, ‘The Way of Water’ has generated $598 million at the domestic box office and $1.4 billion internationally. Overseas, the standout markets are China ($229 million), France ($129 million), Germany ($117 million), Korea ($96 million) and the United Kingdom ($81 million). It’s especially impressive that ‘Avatar 2’ managed to crack $2 billion, a benchmark that’s been impossible in COVID times, because not every market is re-connecting with the Na’vi.
The follow-up isn’t playing in Russia, where the original grossed $116 million, and it’s flopping in Japan with $28 million, a dramatic decrease from the first film’s $176 million haul.
The long-delayed sequel to 2009’s ‘Avatar’ opened in December and remained hugely popular in the weeks since its release.
James Cameron shows scenes of 'Avatar: The Way Of Water' at Disney event.(photo:Twitter)
It has surpassed ‘Jurassic World Dominion’ as the second highest-grossing movie of the year, and it’s the third highest of the pandemic era, adds ‘Variety’…reports Asian Lite News
James Cameron’s epic movie, ‘Avatar: The Way of Water’, has sailed past $1 billion in global ticket sales in just 14 days, becoming the fastest movie to cross the coveted box office milestone this year, reports ‘Variety’.
Only three films released in 2022 managed to surpass the billion-dollar mark. Apart from ‘The Way of Water’, the other two are Tom Cruise-starrer ‘Top Gun: Maverick’ (which took 31 days to clear the benchmark) and the Chris Pratt-led ‘Jurassic World Dominion’ (which took more than four months to join the club).
By comparison, according to ‘Variety’, nine movies released in 2019 surpassed $1 billion worldwide. ‘The Way of Water’ is the fastest to hit the mark since 2021’s ‘Spider-Man: No Way Home’, which took 12 days. Only six movies in history have cleared $1 billion in their first two weeks of release.
James Cameron’s long-delayed sequel to the 2009 ‘Avatar’ — which remains the top grosser of all time with box office pickings totalling $2.97 billion worldwide — has so far generated $317.1 million in North America and $712.7 million overseas, bringing its global tally to $1.025 billion.
It has surpassed ‘Jurassic World Dominion’ as the second highest-grossing movie of the year, and it’s the third highest of the pandemic era, adds ‘Variety’.
‘The Way of Water’ is expected to struggle to near the heights scaled by the original ‘Avatar’ because the global box office hasn’t fully rebounded from the pandemic, according to ‘Variety’. Moreover, China, a major theatrical market, is experiencing a resurgence of the coronavirus and Russia, another big territory, won’t have access to the film as a result of Western sanctions.
The filmmaker told ‘Esquire Middle East’ that he is no longer interested in fetishising guns in his action scenes given the rampant gun violence in the U.S…reports Asian Lite News
A lot has been said about the length of James Cameron’s long-awaited ‘Avatar: The Way of Water’.
The three-hour runtime has hardly stopped the film from topping box office charts around the world. Now Cameron has revealed the film would have run 10 minutes longer had he not cut out scenes with gun violence, reports Variety.
The filmmaker told ‘Esquire Middle East’ that he is no longer interested in fetishising guns in his action scenes given the rampant gun violence in the U.S.
“I actually cut about 10 minutes of the movie targeting gunplay action,” Cameron said quoted by Variety. “I wanted to get rid of some of the ugliness, to find a balance between light and dark. You have to have conflict, of course. Violence and action are the same thing, depending on how you look at it. This is the dilemma of every action filmmaker, and I’m known as an action filmmaker.”
As per Variety, Cameron said that he looks back on some films that he has made, and he doesn’t know if he would want to make that film now.
“I don’t know if I would want to fetishise the gun, like I did on a couple of ‘Terminator’ movies 30-plus years ago, in our current world. What’s happening with guns in our society turns my stomach.”
“I’m happy to be living in New Zealand where they just banned all assault rifles two weeks after that horrific mosque shooting a couple of years ago,” Cameron added as an aside.
Given Cameron’s comments, it’s safe to assume that action scenes in ‘The Terminator’ franchise will look a bit different should it ever return to the screen.
Not just fans in India, but many critics in the West too, have run short of words to describe the heightened visual quality of the film as the immersive experience makes the audience become a part of the lives of the characters as the story unfolds…reviewed by Arnab Banerjee
Duration: 192 minutes. Director: James Cameron. Cast: Sam Worthington, Zoe Saldana, Sigourney Weaver, Stephen Lang, Kate Winslet, Cliff Curtis and Joel David Moore. Cinematography: Russell Carpenter. Music: Simon Franglen. (Rating: ***1/2)
Thirteen years after its first franchise was released, ‘Avatar: the Way of Water’ has hit screens, much to the amusement as well as dismay of many. No, there’s nothing about the sequel that may be even remotely disappointing; the only thing that may work against such a sharp visual treat is the fact that there have been many other huge-budget Hollywood blockbusters that have captured viewers’ mindspace over the years.
After delivering the highest Hollywood grosser ever, ‘Avatar’ (2009), James Cameron is back as the helmer of the 192-minute saga, and as expected, has used far better technical gloss to take the story forward. It isn’t as if the fans are waiting with bated breath about what to expect here. In fact, many of the original fans who have grown up to become young adults, don’t probably care which way the narrative is headed.
But having been a part of a journey that had not one but umpteen scintillating exciting moments, they would like to once again relive the roller coaster rides. And the futuristic ‘Avatar: The Way of Water’ doesn’t disappoint even one bit. It takes viewers on a wonderful, colourful ride to a place named Pandora inhabited by the blue-skinned humanoids, Na’vi. who are over nine feet tall and have been attacked by humans seeking habitable planets away from a dying planet Earth.
By all means, it is an incredible awe-inspiring place that is bound to make viewers truly engaged. The sequel takes us back to the original many times during the journey, back to the time when 3D was reintroduced to the then generation of film buffs, and the film had used CGI like nobody else had by then. In the present day, although one takes technical sheen and supremely executed shots for granted, it still excites many among the audience to marvel at the breath-taking sequences that follow one after the other.
Some 10 years after the events of the first film, Jake Sully lives as chief of the Omaticaya and raises a family with Neytiri, which includes his sons Neteyam and Lo’ak and his daughter Tuk, his adopted daughter Kiri (born from Grace Augustine’s Na’vi avatar), and a human boy named Spider, the son of Colonel Miles Quaritch, who was born on Pandora and was unable to be transported to Earth in cryostasis.
To the dismay of the Na’vi, greedy humans return to Pandora to colonise it, erecting a new main operating base named Bridgehead City. As another threat begins to rake up dark memories of the past, Jake must work with Neytiri and the army of the Na’vi race to protect their home.
Not just fans in India, but many critics in the West too, have run short of words to describe the heightened visual quality of the film as the immersive experience makes the audience become a part of the lives of the characters as the story unfolds.
Of course, ‘Avatar: The Way of Water; had to be much bigger in scale. But is it really better? That would trigger a debate between the ones who get emotional about the memories they have of the spectacular technology that Cameron used to entertain them in the 2009 movie and the others who, over the past decade and more, are definitely far more exposed to much more.
Avatar
What works for the film is the emotional connect one feels throughout. Having invested fervently in it, few would write off the characters or the film with nonchalance. There may be some who don’t think much, but Cameron’s vision must be seen and experienced to tell coming generations of all age groups what a far-sighted, inventive and original dreamer he is.
Srinivas Avasarala has a characteristic style in dialogue writing and it will be reflected in the Telugu version of ‘Avatar: The Way of Water’…reports Asian Lite News
As an actor, he’s known for his lovable roles bordering on the funny in Telugu movies such as ‘Ashta Chamma’ and ‘A Aa’. He’s also been noticed for his storytelling abilities and directorial finesse with ‘Oohalu Gusa Gusalaade’.
Now, Tollywood actor and director Srinivas Avasarala has picked up his pen, or rather keypad, to churn out dialogues for Telugu version of the much-awaited sequel to James Cameron’s ‘Avatar’.
Thirteen years – that’s how long ‘Avatar’ fans have been waiting for James Cameron to take them back to Pandora. Cameron and his team spent years on the sequel ‘Avatar: The Way of Water’ to once again deliver glorious, high-end stereoscopy. The movie releases on December 16.
Srinivas Avasarala has a characteristic style in dialogue writing and it will be reflected in the Telugu version of ‘Avatar: The Way of Water’.
The film is being billed as the fourth most expensive movie of all time and is expected to become the highest-grossing movie, breaching the record set by the previous best, namely, ‘Avatar’.
Along with the releases in several other languages, the Telugu version of ‘Avatar: The Way of Water’ will also hit the screens on December 16. All ears are awaiting to listen to Avasarala Srinivas’ penmanship in action.
No 'Avatar' sequels if 'The Way of Water' tanks, says James Cameron.
Earlier this year, Cameron expressed doubt into directing the fourth and fifth installment as he has other projects, he’s also interested in partaking in…reports Asian Lite News
Scepticism has always troubled artistes, including illustrious director James Cameron, who is awaiting the release of ‘Avatar: The Way of Water’ which hits theatres next month.
The director will be paying close attention to the box office results of the film, reports Deadline. Cameron said that the performance of this movie will dictate the longevity of the film series.
“The market could be telling us we’re done in three months, or we might be semi-done, meaning: ‘OK, let’s complete the story within movie three, and not go on endlessly’, if it’s just not profitable,” he told Total Film in an interview.
According to Deadline, fans of the original ‘Avatar’ had to wait thirteen years for its sequel and Cameron said that a lot may have changed ever since. Although there’s a story to tell across three other sequels, if the franchise doesn’t spark interest everything could be truncated.
“We’re in a different world now than we were when I wrote this stuff, even,” Cameron added, quoted by Deadline. “It’s the one-two punch — the pandemic and streaming. Or, conversely, maybe we’ll remind people what going to the theatre is all about. This film definitely does that. The question is: how many people give a shit now?”
Earlier this year, Cameron expressed doubt into directing the fourth and fifth installment as he has other projects he’s also interested in partaking in.
“The ‘Avatar’ films themselves are kind of all-consuming,” Cameron told ‘Empire’ magazine. “I’ve got some other things I’m developing as well that are exciting. I think eventually over time — I don’t know if that’s after three or after four — I’ll want to pass the baton to a director that I trust to take over, so I can go do some other stuff that I’m also interested in. Or maybe not. I don’t know.”
Trailer gives a peek into new footage of Pandora
The new trailer for ‘Avatar: The Way of Water’ has been released a few weeks ahead of the hotly anticipated sci-fi sequel’s December 16 release date.
The second installment in the franchise sees the return of Stephen Lang’s villain character Colonel Quaritch – who is seemingly revived through a Na’vi avatar form – once again at odds with Pandora native Neytiri (Zoe Saldana) and her mate Jake Sully (Sam Worthington).
Set over a decade after the original film, which took place in 2154, the newly released trailer shows glimpses of Jake and Neytiri cozying up as a family. Viewers are given a deeper look at the couple’s Na’vi children: Neteyam (Jamie Flatters), Lo’ak (Britain Dalton), Tuktirey (Trinity Bliss) and Kiri (Sigourney Weaver, returning to the franchise in a new role), reports ‘Variety’.
“The story is about family, about our families trying to stay together [and] the lengths to which we all go to protect each other and protect the place where we live,” Weaver told Variety at a screening for her film “The Good House.” “It’s very much based on (James Cameron’s) family and his joy in the family; and also, how vulnerable you are when you have children.”
Franchise newcomers include Kate Winslet, Michelle Yeoh, Cliff Curtis, Joel David Moore, Edie Falco and Jemaine Clement.
The trailer has no shortage of visually stunning ocean footage, which doubles to show off the impressive breath-holding skills of the film’s cast, who trained with specialists to be able to shoot extended takes of scenes underwater without coming to the surface for air.
James Cameron shows scenes of ‘Avatar: The Way Of Water’ at Disney event.(photo:Twitter)
In an interview earlier this year, Saldana revealed her personal record for holding her breath underwater was five minutes.
Just like 2009’s ‘Avatar’, Cameron is writing, producing, and editing ‘Avatar: The Way of Water’, in addition to directing. Jon Landau and Peter M. Tobyansen produce.
The story was co-written by Rick Jaffa, Amanda Silver, Josh Friedman and Shane Salerno.
20th Century Studios India will release ‘Avatar : The Way of Water’ in English, Hindi, Tamil, Telugu, Kannada and Malayalam, in cinemas…reports Asian Lite News
After playing in theatres, the teaser of the much-awaited epic sci-fi film, ‘Avatar: The Way Of Water’ has debuted online.
The film, which is set to drop in theatres on December 16, 2022, has been directed by James Cameron and is set more than a decade after the events of the first part.
The film, which centres on returning Jake Sully, played by Sam Worthington, along with Na’vi Neytiri, played by Zoe Saldana, and their family, boasts of spellbinding footage that includes shots of Pandora’s bright blue water – both above and below the surface; Toruk, the flying creatures introduced in the first film; and new whale-like animals.
The film, which has been in the making for more than ten years, has been produced by Cameron and Jon Landau, the film stars Zoe Saldana, Sam Worthington, Sigourney Weaver, Stephen Lang, Cliff Curtis, Joel David Moore, CCH Pounder, Edie Falco, Jemaine Clement, and Kate Winslet.
20th Century Studios India will release ‘Avatar : The Way of Water’ in English, Hindi, Tamil, Telugu, Kannada and Malayalam, in cinemas.
The first instalment is the top-grossing film of all-time at the worldwide box office as it minted $2.84 billion. It’s recognised as a pioneer for bringing in the digital 3D era and introducing new production tools and techniques in areas such as performance capture and virtual production.
