Woah, Time Magazine reports James Cameron’s 3-D sci-fi action epic, Avatar is costing quite the bank. It is reported that “more than a thousand people have worked on it, at a cost in excess of $300 million, and it represents digital filmmaking’s bleeding edge.” Interviewer Josh Quittner saw some footage saying; “I couldn’t tell what was real and what was animated-even knowing that the 9-ft.-tall blue, dappled dude couldn’t possibly be real. The scenes were so startling and absorbing that the following morning, I had the peculiar sensation of wanting to return there, as if Pandora [the world in which the film takes place] were real.” He goes on to say; “Spielberg predicts it will be the biggest 3-D live-action film ever.”
Firstshowing explains that according to IMDb, the most expensive film ever made was Pirates of the Caribbean: At World’s End with a reported $300 million budget. Although, we’ve heard that Spider-Man 3 pushed well beyond its reported $258 million budget upwards of $350 million. Of course, budgets like this are never officially reported, but if the first number we’re hearing related to Avatar is already $300 million, we could even hear higher amounts later on in the year. I’m not surprised that Avatar is already up that high, as Cameron has invested so much in both the technology and production and has been working on this for years.
Avatar is set for a December 18th, 2009 release.
Do you think Avatar deliver? Especially with this massive budget?
UPDATE: Time made a correction. The correct budget is $200 million.