Coming Soon debuted the French poster for James Cameron’s Avatar, which is featured at the bottom of this post and I won’t be surprised if it gets a rough reception from readers.
I’ve started to realize where this film is going to find its largest group of detractors, people expecting James Cameron’s Aliens or Terminator 2 films. Instead, Avatar looks like it is gearing up for a family-friendly appeal. I recently opened the door to the possibility of the film getting a PG-rating, which many people were none too happy about and then just yesterday I received the following email from a reader named ‘AZ’:
I have news that Avatar will most likely be rated PG due to the fact that McDonald’s will be having tie-in toys for the movies’ release. McDonald’s always has toys based on movies rated PG or below. If Burger King had the tie-in toys it would most likely be PG-13.
UPDATED: The image to the right from HappyMeal.com confirms there will be a partnership with McDonald’s and Fox as well confirmed the news as well.
Of course, this sounds like a lot of speculation and I have no idea what the history of film marketing at McDonald’s has been but I did notice Star Trek and Star Wars: Revenge of the Sith were both partnered with Burger King while McDonald’s partnered on the more friendly Star Wars: The Clone Wars. However, I wasn’t able to find any evidence 20th Century Fox will be partnering with McDonald’s on Avatar, but I am checking with the studio.
Now, take a look at this latest poster and weigh in with what direction you think the marketing is headed. Avatar is sure to be a visual feast, but will expectations and anticipation hurt it?
Personally I am hoping Avatar is the game changer we all heard it will be. I can say that after seeing A Christmas Carol and Zemeckis’s continued failure to add life to the eyes of his motion-capture characters Avatar already has a leg up there. Now I just have my fingers crossed the story can bring the same kind of success.
If you want more Avatar, you can get the plot-revealing score track listing at The Playlist and Reelz Channel (via Slash Film) has an interview with composer James Horner in which he reveals the film’s running time is very close to three hours in length.
