Avatar: Last year’s biggest film is back – but this time it’s a video game
Willy Wonka will get lots of bums on seats at the cinema this month, but it is hard to envisage him getting close to the box office takings amassed by last year’s Christmas number one.
Avatar: The Way Of Water grossed a whopping $2.3bn (£1.8bn) following its long-awaited release 12 months ago, only topped on the all-time list by its own predecessor and the latest Avengers.
Glory in the visual effects category at the Oscars came as no surprise given the fantasy setting of Pandora and cast of big blue Na’vi characters heavily owe their existence to computers.
Parts of the production were even handled by new techniques usually associated with video games, with director James Cameron long known for embracing technology to push storytelling forward.
The film’s success puts a certain amount of pressure on the shoulders of the team pushing the Avatar story forward again this year – but perhaps fittingly, this time it really is in video game form.
Last year’s Avatar: The Way Of Water…
…versus this year’s Avatar: Frontiers Of Pandora. Pics: 20th Century Studios/Ubisoft
From the big screen to your games machine
Avatar: Frontiers Of Pandora is the final blockbuster of what has been another big year for the industry. It came to PlayStation, Xbox, and PC this week via French publisher Ubisoft, best known for the Assassin’s Creed games.
Creative director Magnus Jensen, of the company’s Swedish studio Massive Entertainment, is well aware of the expectations that come with delivering a new entry in the Avatar series.
“It needs to have a completely new story, new environments, new creatures,” he says.
“And be a fantastic, rich spectacle – a real rollercoaster ride.”
Frontiers Of Pandora is an open world game, allowing players to create their own Na’vi and explore the vast titular planet at their own leisure. Drawing on the lush and colourful environments from both films, the game lets them roam the plains on foot and soar above them on the backs of winged creatures.
Played primarily from a Call Of Duty-style, first-person perspective, players may also need to hunt said creatures to survive and take the fight to the RDA – the same villainous corporation from the films, kitted out with rather big guns and even bigger mechanical suits.
Frontiers Of Pandora is mostly played from a first-person perspective. Pic: Ubisoft
Jensen says his team worked with Cameron’s Lightstorm Entertainment throughout the game’s long development, which began way back in 2017.
Just as my nan will often mistake a game of FIFA (excuse me, EA Sports FC) for a real football match when she’s round for Christmas, Jensen will hope Frontiers Of Pandora is similarly effective at convincing people they’re really taking part in one of the films.
The developers dare not stray too far from the Avatar “style guide”, he says. Fans looking for their Pandora fix while waiting for the next film, which isn’t due until 2025, demand an authentic experience.
“We are very mindful of how our game takes place in the Avatar timeline – we are right there at the events of the new and upcoming movies,” he says. “We heavily shared the art direction of the films, and it all needs to fit together in the same lore and timeline.”
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The developers worked with the filmmakers from the early concept art stage. Pics: Ubisoft
The great convergence
It’s a challenge increasingly faced by developers and Hollywood crews alike, as the film and game worlds converge.
Three of 2023’s biggest games are Hogwarts Legacy, Marvel’s Spider-Man 2 and Star Wars Jedi: Survivor, all needing to satisfy the notoriously demanding fans of those books, comics, and films.
Meanwhile, only Barbie has stopped Nintendo’s Super Mario from being the year’s highest grossing film, and HBO’s adaptation of the PlayStation game The Last Of Us is tipped to win plenty of awards.
As successful as these adaptations have been, it’s led to accusations of a dirge of creativity and original ideas.
But Jansen believes it’s testament to his industry, how games have “gone from being fun things for kids to something for everyone”.
“It has become any other piece of entertainment, so it’s natural that films take inspiration from us in the same way as books and plays prior to that, and we take inspiration from them,” he says.
But unlike a film, which offers the same experience to every viewer, an open world game like this one has more narrative wriggle room.
Two of 2023’s biggest games are entries in the Spider-Man and (below) Star Wars franchises
The writing team – which includes Chella Ramanan, who has simultaneously been working on a game about Britain’s Windrush migration scandal – have to pen a story that doesn’t just account for players going from A to B, with side stories and characters they may never meet unless they explore.
As true to the films as he wants Frontiers Of Pandora to be, Jensen says it’s critical to “let a game be a game”.
“The player is an actor – and interactivity is what makes a game more than anything else.”
Entertainment
MasterChef presenter John Torode says allegation he used racist language upheld in report
Entertainment
Gregg Wallace: Over half of allegations against MasterChef presenter substantiated, including one of unwanted physical contact
An investigation into Gregg Wallace’s “inappropriate behaviour” on MasterChef has found that more than half of the allegations against him have been substantiated, including one of “unwanted physical contact”.
MasterChef’s production company Banijay UK shared a summary of its report into historical allegations of misconduct against the 60-year-old presenter, carried out by independent law firm Lewis Silkin over seven months.
The report also said the number of sustained allegations made Wallace’s return to MasterChef “untenable”.
The investigation heard evidence from 78 witnesses, including 41 complainants.
There were 83 allegations against Wallace, and 45 of them were substantiated. All were related to MasterChef.
While the majority of the substantiated allegations related to inappropriate sexual language and humour, a smaller number of allegations of other inappropriate language and being in a state of undress were also substantiated.
One allegation of unwanted physical contact was substantiated.
Nearly all the allegations against Wallace were related to behaviour which is said to have occurred between 2005 and 2018, with just one substantiated allegation taking place post-2018.
Wallace and Anne-Marie Sterpini in 2014
Ahead of the publication of the summary, Wallace had said he had been “cleared of the most serious and sensational accusations” made against him.
Additionally, the report summary found that there were also 10 standalone allegations about other people between 2012 and 2018/2019, two of which were substantiated. Those people were not named in the summary.
The investigation found that complaints had previously been raised with the production company between 2005 and 2024.
Gregg Wallace on MasterChef. Pic: BBC/ Shine TV 2024
While the report flagged inadequate reporting procedures prior to 2016, when Endemol merged with Shine ahead of Banijay acquiring Endemol Shine in 2020, it said there were significant improvements to HR processes and training after 2016.
While the investigation said some formal action was taken by the BBC in 2017, it also noted the corporation held no information regarding concerns raised over Wallace centrally, resulting in issues being addressed as a first offence.
Sky News has tried to contact Gregg Wallace for contact today.
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