24 Minutes Sneak Peek of AVATAR at Comic Con 2009

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At the Comic Con 2009 panel of AVATAR, James Cameron surprised the audience with 24 minutes of never before seen footage of his new movie.

Words cannot describe how unbelievable this footage was. The primary reason why words cannot describe it is because this footage is showing us images and visuals for a world that was invented out of whole cloth by James Cameron himself. A day after the panel, I am still thinking about the riveting visuals concocted by the beautiful crazy mind of Mr. Cameron.

This is CGI like you have never seen before. Sam Worthington and Zoe Saldana play two very solid characters that engage in a relationship in a world where the laws of nature and society are completely reinvented. They are also supported by Sigourney Weaver and Stephen Lang who were also present during the panel.

Avatar‘s story is intriguing. It happens in the future where human beings have discovered a planet called Pandora populated by the Na’vi, an indigenous population that is not in good terms with humans. In order to interact with that world, humans have developed a cloning procedures that mixes human and Na’vi DNA to produce an Avatar that can survive in that environment, which looks like a Na’vi. The particular aspect of that avatar is that it can receive the consciousness of a human who can then control him/her.

The scenes that we were shown introduce us to one of those humans, Jake (Sam Worthington), who has had his own avatar created and is getting ready to have his consciousness preojected into it. We then see him as the avatar in the lab when he wakes up trying to figure out how to move in this new body. You see the Na’vi are about 10 feet tall, are blue and have a tail. From then on the rest of the clips were of Jake as his avatar. We then discover Pandora as Jake wonders there trying to make contact with the Na’vi. Now, Pandora is a beautiful and wondrous place filled with mysterious flowers and fauna with very bright and strong green, yellow and red tones that weave together a pattern never seen before. The animals that we see can be best described as a mini Jurassic Park on Steroids. The animals seem intent on killing Jake. Another amazing scene shown was one where Jake tries to domesticate a dragon-like creature.

One of the most mind-blowing thing about Avatar is that as the Na’vi avatars’ face even though they are blue, have a different nose and ear, do resemble the actors portraying them. So even though you’re seeing the Na’vi version of Sam Worthington, Zoe Saldana, and Sigourney Weaver, you are still able to recognize their face.

While we cannot unfortunately show you the clips that were shown, we have great news for you. James Cameron dropped a final surprise to the crowd. On August 21, in IMAX and regular theaters all over the world, folks will be able to see 15 minutes of Avatar for free, no kidding. So mark your calendars.

This movie might have been kept very hush, hush for the longest time, but I have to say that I am glad they decided to hold off until they were able to show such an incredible footage. It was like, you want to know what Avatar is all about? Here’s 24 minutes of footage to blow your mind, BAM! That’s Avatar. From the looks of it, James Cameron has done it again, and of course this is a definite must see movie for this year. It is risky and original and uses new technology that will blow your mind. Avatar is scheduled to be released on December 18, 2009.

In the meantime, check out some picture of the Avatar Comic Con 2009 panel.