Avatar: Last year’s biggest film is back – but this time it’s a video game

Published

11 months ago

December 10, 2023

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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.

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.

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.”

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.

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

Gary Lineker says ‘right time’ to leave Match Of The Day as he hints of changes to show’s format

Published

12 hours ago

November 15, 2024

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Gary Lineker says 'right time' to leave Match Of The Day as he hints at changes to show's format

Gary Lineker has said it is “the right time” to leave Match Of The Day and hinted the BBC could change the format of the Premier League highlights show.

The 63-year-old will step down as host at the end of the season and described his time on the show as an “absolute joy and privilege”.

Speaking on his podcast, The Rest Is Football, he said: “It has been an absolute joy and privilege to present such an iconic show for the BBC.

“But all things have to come to an end.”

Lineker went on to say the broadcaster enters a new three-year deal to host top-flight highlights, and that to stay on for another 12 months “would be a bit weird”.

“I think the next contract they’re looking to do Match Of The Day slightly differently, so I think it makes sense for someone else to take the helm.

“I bowed out in my football career when I felt it was the right time. I feel this is now the right time.”

Lineker refused to speculate who would be taking his place, as rumours grew around Mark Chapman, the regular Match Of The Day 2 presenter, Football Focus host Alex Scott, and BBC sports coverage presenter Gabby Logan.

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“Obviously I don’t know who it’ll be, and I would never tell publicly my preference, I don’t think that’d be the right thing to do – but whoever it is, I would say be yourself,” he said.

“I had to fill the ginormous shoes of certain Des Lynam.

“…I would say just be yourself and enjoy it, it’s a wonderful programme to be a part of. It was brilliant before I took over, and it will be brilliant after I leave.”

Lineker has hosted Match Of The Day since 1999 and will have presented the show for more than a quarter of a century when he leaves in May 2025.

He will continue with the MOTD Top Ten podcast alongside his podcast, which also features BBC pundits Alan Shearer and Micah Richards.

The former England striker has been the BBC’s highest-paid on-air talent for seven consecutive years and was estimated to have earned £1.35m in the year 2023/24.

The BBC said future plans for Match Of The Day would be “announced in due course”.

Entertainment

First Glastonbury tickets sell out in 30 minutes as new booking system launched

Published

19 hours ago

November 15, 2024

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First Glastonbury tickets sell out in 30 minutes as new booking system launched

Coach tickets to Glastonbury 2025 were sold out in half an hour, organisers have said, as they roll out a new booking system for festivalgoers.

They were the first group of tickets to be sold for the world-famous festival in Somerset, which is set to take place between 25 and 29 June.

This year, fans navigated a new system to buy the tickets as they were “randomly assigned a place in a queue” instead of having to refresh the holding page once they went live.

The organisers said in a post on X: “The Glastonbury 2025 tickets + coach travel which were on sale this evening have now all been sold.

“Our thanks to everyone who bought one.”

They added that National Express services would be available to bring festivalgoers from across the country to Glastonbury.

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Standard tickets will go on sale on Sunday at 9am. Last year they were sold out within an hour.

See Tickets said in a post on X that “confirmation emails are going out now to everyone who got @Glastonbury coach tickets this evening”.

Tickets for the annual event at Worthy Farm in Somerset cost £373.50 plus a £5 booking fee, and are sold exclusively through the See Tickets website, with no third-party sellers involved.

The new ticket system has changed the way people join the booking system.

Organisers previously warned hopefuls to log in “at least a few minutes” before the sale opened today and to avoid refreshing the page.

Festivalgoers were also told not to attempt to game the system by using multiple devices.

The sale follows chaos earlier this year when tickets for the Oasis reunion went on sale, seeing a multitude of disappointed fans as well as those who felt cheated after being charged hundreds of pounds more for their tickets than was originally advertised.

Anyone wishing to buy tickets for Glastonbury must have registered by 11 November, a rule in place to avoid touting.

Entertainment

Christmas adverts – the 10 most-anticipated ads as the festive battle for customers commences

Published

1 day ago

November 14, 2024

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Christmas adverts - the 10 most-anticipated ads as the festive battle for customers commences

With just under six weeks to go to Christmas Day, the countdown has officially begun, with all the big brands rolling out their seasonal adverts.

Becoming something of an institution over recent years, many see the festive ads as the starting pistol for their Christmas preparation/panic, despite us only being halfway through November.

And with an estimated £10.5bn spent on this year’s Xmas ads, it’s not just about inducing a fuzzy warm feeling in viewers, but also about encouraging them to put their hand in their pocket.

As we brace ourselves for festive fun, we take a swift look at this year’s bevvy of commercial offerings, as the annual battle of the Christmas adverts begins.

John Lewis

A girl called Sally falls into a clothes rack reminiscent of CS Lewis’s The Lion, The Witch And The Wardrobe, but instead of finding Narnia, she ends up in John Lewis.

Through family flashbacks we lean how much she loves her older sister, whose gift she has carelessly left it to the last minute to buy. Spoiler alert – as one would expect in an advert for a retailer, she finds a pressie.

With the retailer famous for its use of cover versions in their Christmas ads, this one is the origin story for a new cover, with a concurrent competition on TikTok to find an aspiring artist to rerecord a version, which will be featured on the Christmas Day airing and released by record label BMG too.

Waitrose

Marketed as a whodunnit – this big-budget production has a host of celebrity cameos, an intricate storyline and not one but two parts.

Comedian Joe Wilkinson, Fleabag star Sian Clifford and Succession’s Matthew Macfadyen all have a role in the ensemble, revolving around hunting down the thief of a “chilled desert”.

Being Christmas, when tensions are traditionally high, everyone has reason to have scoffed it. The culprit won’t be revealed until the second part of the ad is released, but in the meantime, activity at Kings Cross Station, in stores and on social media is set to keep the investigation very much alive.

Sainsbury’s

Sainsbury’s goes big for its advert, calling on a beloved Roald Dahl character – the BFG, or Big Friendly Giant – to travel the country with a supermarket worker called Sophie (who pleasingly is a real store employee) in the search for the perfect festive treats.

A CGI BFG procures salmon, sprouts and cheese before a bit of magic helps him whip it all up into a feast, which he then gifts to an unsuspecting family through the window.

The first ones to release their ad earlier this month, the dulcet tones of national treasure Stephen Fry wrap the action, with a call to arms to stock up in readiness for Christmas.

M&S

Another national treasure – Dawn French – is back for this one, playing both herself and a festive fairy, who gives both French and her home a make-over ready for a Christmas soiree.

French, whose multi-Christmas-dinner eating antics on The Vicar Of Dibley put her into the Xmas annals, is transformed into “the quintessential hostess” with a bit of help from her little friend.

Banking on the idea that you can never have enough of a good thing, there are six instalments of the advert running between now and the New Year. Who doesn’t like a second – or sixth – helping.

Lidl

This one pulls on the heartstrings, with a little girl inspired to give a gift to a boy who appears not to have any, after an old lady gives her some magic bells.

Directed by Oscar-winning filmmaker Tom Hooper (he directed The King’s Speech), a CGI racoon and giant gingerbread man add a little action to events around the dinner table.

But the take home message is to think about giving as well as receiving, with the return of the retailer’s toy banks scheme set up at supermarkets with the aim of donating over 100,000 toys, to ensure no child experiences a giftless Christmas.

Aldi

Kevin the Carrot is back for a ninth year running, this time trying to save the Christmas spirit from a bunch of hard-boiled humbug villains.

With the ad narrated by actor Jim Broadbent, our plucky hero braves an oven, a Mission Impossible-inspired ventilation system and Bond-esque snow jet-ski dash across the mountains, all to save Christmas.

Helped by his wife Katie, he of course pulls it off. A fan favourite, soft toys of the root vegetable are sold in stores, and this year cuddly humbugs are on sale too.

Morrisons

It’s a song and dance number from Morrisons, courtesy of their singing oven gloves performing Bugsy Malone’s You Give A Little Love.

A choir of 26 Morrisons employees gave voice to the gloves, recording their rendition of the song at the iconic Abbey Road Studios in London.

Like Lidl, the retailer pulled out the directing big guns, hiring The Greatest Showman director Michael Gracey to oversee proceedings.

Asda

Bagging the prize for the most gnome puns in one advert, Asda sees a flash mob of gnomes preparing the store for Christmas.

The resulting advert isn’t as irritating as it sounds on paper, thanks to nice performances by the two human characters in the ad – Maggie and Bill.

And as we know, Christmas is all about the merchandise, so the supermarkets are of course selling special Xmas versions of their garden gnomes to accompany their already 50-strong gnome range. Who knew?

Tesco

Tesco reminds us of those members of the family who are no longer here to join us on the big day, with a man carrying on his late grandmother’s festive tradition of baking gingerbread.

He becomes obsessed with the spicy treat, as it infiltrates every part of his day from his haircut to a trip to see the Christmas lights.

He eventually gets together with his grandad to bake a gingerbread house, revealing it to the family at lunch, thus keeping the tradition alive.

Greggs

And in the most unlikely festive cameo of the year, Greggs has enlisted Nigella Lawson to star in its first Christmas ad.

Rapturously endorsing their festive bakes, Lawson has her hands full of pasties, and her table full of take-away coffees, as she promotes the bakery’s festive-themed fare.

Whether or not you believe the 64-year-old TV chef really tucks into their sausage rolls in real life – the attention-grabbing collaboration looks like a wise move for the chain, whose sales have jumped in recent weeks as it continues its UK expansion.