500 million dollars

$500 million: that's the reported budget approved by Fox for James Cameron to direct «Avatar», according to the New York Times.

Published a few days ago, the article in the New York Times has US industry players in an uproar. In the paper, journalist Michael Cieply has added up his estimate of the «Avatar» budget, figuring that James Cameron's movie will cost Fox and other investors about half a billion dollars by the time it's finished, marketing included.

In the first sentence, Cieply shocked readers and Fox executives alike, who may be facing the repercussions of negative buzz surrounding «Avatar»: «Can a movie studio make money on a film based on an original and unfamiliar story, with no Hollywood superstars, a vanishing DVD market and a price tag approaching $500 million?»

He also brought up the worrying fact that the first trailer and sneak preview of «Avatar» did not generate the expected favorable response, which makes some think of the tragedy that was «Heaven's Gate», a 5-hour and 25-minute western by Michael Cimino, whose budget killed the studio United Artists and forced the Transamerica Corporation to get out of the movie business.

In the only really positive note in the article, Cieply assures his readers that a good part of the budget was financed by two investment funds and by Panasonic, whom James Cameron significantly helped in the development of a new and lighter 3D camera for the project.