Movieline

The World's First Glimpse of Avatar: 25 Minutes of Footage Premiere at Comic-Con


The Avatar panel is about to begin. Fox head Tom Rothman has come out, and is describing this as a once-in-a-movie-executive's-life experience. The technology, as amazing as it is, he insists, "is resolutely in service of plot and character."

James Cameron emerges, and says he's going to "speak from the heart...I'm a great fan of other worlds...It's a great privilege to present what I've been working on. It's a privilege to share this first with Comic-Con." He talks of being trapped in his home town of Chippawa, Canada ("with a population of half of the people in this room") where he'd dream of Bradbury and Asimov as a child. He dedicates this movie to his 14-year-old self, "dreaming of adventure."

He's now stepping away for the 25 minutes premiering at Comic-Con. ("WE LOVE YOU!" says a man in the crowd.) Then he asks: "How many of you ever wanted to go to another planet. Are you ready to go to Pandora?"

Full report a little later on the footage and panel, featuring Cameron, Sigourney Weaver and Zoe Saldana.