Avatar is back after 13 years – but will the sequel live up to the original?

Published

1 year ago

December 7, 2022

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Thirteen years on, James Cameron’s mega-budget Avatar sequel opens in cinemas next week, hoping to illicit that same appetite in cinemagoers for the 3D magic of the first.

While the medium has fallen out of favour, it remains Cameron’s preferred choice of viewing.

But not only will cinemagoers need 3D glasses – coming in at a whopping three hours and 10 minutes, it also requires stamina.

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With production costs totalling around £285m (up there with the most expensive films ever made), to make it worth Disney’s while, the epic has to at least end up making it into the top five highest grossing movies of all time.

To do so, it needs audiences to want to see it more than once, which perhaps isn’t too unreasonable when you factor in that a huge amount of the money generated in both of Cameron’s previous blockbusters – Titanic and the first Avatar – came from cinemagoers paying to see the film’s multiple times.

But in a cost of living crisis do we have the cash now?

The film sees Sam Worthington return to the role of Na’vi leader Jake Sully and is rooted around the family he now has with warrior Neytiri, played by Zoe Saldana.

“The movie’s mighty,” Worthington told Sky News.

“It’s a mighty film, and very heart-wrenching.

“We all went through a pandemic together as a whole world, and that’s a connection that we all have to each other… and it’s about us being connected as individuals – I think that’s very important to relate to and really take to heart.”

Thanks to the magic of motion capture, Sigourney Weaver returns, playing Jake Sulley’s adoptive teenage daughter.

“It’s an experience so immersive and also takes your breath away,” she told Sky News, adding that she will need to see the film once more to get the full experience from it.

The sequel also features Kate Winslet in the cast as the matriarch of an ocean-bound clan.

For the Oscar-winning actress it was a chance to work, once again, with the filmmaker who put her on the Titanic:

“He (Cameron) asked and I said yes. Why on earth would I not?,” she told Sky News.

“Also, my children would never have allowed me to. They were like… just do it.”

Cameron, who overtook his own movie, Titanic, with Avatar as the highest grossing film ever in 2009, has already set the wheels in motion for the next films in the franchise – and spent much of the last decade preparing.

“It was a lot of time spent working on the script for four movies, production design for four movies, a bunch of new technology we needed,” he said.

“And then we started at full tilt five years ago… and then we shot two movies, actually part of the third one.”

Cameron also describes his new sci-fi epic as a “love letter to the oceans”.

“A lot of people [in 2009] picked up on the messaging around the rainforest and around the plight of indigenous cultures around the world.

“We have that in spades now because nothing has really got that much better – in the meantime, this one is my love letter to the oceans and a cry for people everywhere to be responsible for guardianship of the oceans.”

Right now the Na’vi’s survival might just depend on what happens off-screen more than on.

Avatar: The Way of Water is in cinemas on 16 December.

Entertainment

Susan Buckner: Grease star who played Patty Simcox dies

Published

7 hours ago

May 7, 2024

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Susan Buckner: Grease star who played Patty Simcox dies

Grease star Susan Buckner, who played Patty Simcox in the classic musical, has died aged 72.

The American actress died peacefully on Thursday 2 May surrounded by her loved ones, publicist Melissa Berthier has said.

A cause of death has not been given.

Buckner was best known for her role in Grease where she played the Rydell High cheerleading pal of Sandy – played by Olivia Newton-John.

In a memorable scene, Bucknell gives a rallying cry for the school when she says: “Do the splits, give a yell, show a little spirit for Old Rydell! Way to go, red and white, go Rydell, fight, fight, fight.”

Bucknell’s daughter Samantha Mansfield said after her mother’s death: “She was magic. She was my best friend. And I will miss her every day.

“I was lucky I had such a lighting rod of a mother and now I have her as an angel.”

Born in Seattle, Buckner made her name on the pageant circuit, being crowned Miss Washington in 1971 before representing the state at the Miss America competition the following year.

She channelled her experience into the entertainment industry, becoming a member of the singing and dancing group The Golddiggers, which featured on The Dean Martin Show.

She also made appearances on The Mac Davis Show, Sonny And Cher, and The Brady Bunch Variety Hour.

Following her appearance in Grease in 1978, Buckner starred in TV shows including The Love Boat, BJ And The Bear, The Hardy Boys/Nancy Drew Mysteries, and When The Whistle Blows.

She also starred in the 1981 Wes Craven horror film Deadly Blessing alongside Sharon Stone, as well as in Police Academy 6: City Under Siege in 1989.

Buckner later took a step back from Hollywood and became a mother to her two children, Adam Josephs and Mrs Mansfield.

She is also survived by her grandchildren Oliver, Riley, Abigail and Ruby as well as her sister Linda, daughter-in-law Noel Josephs, son-in-law Adam Mansfield and longtime partner Al.

Entertainment

Drake: Shooting at rapper’s mansion leaves security guard seriously injured

Published

10 hours ago

May 7, 2024

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Drake: Shooting at rapper's mansion leaves security guard seriously injured

Police are investigating a shooting at the Toronto mansion of Canadian rapper Drake.

A security guard, who had been standing outside the gates of the property, was taken to hospital after being seriously injured in the attack.

The shooting happened early on Tuesday morning, soon after 2am local time (7am UK time) near Bayview Avenue and Lawrence Avenue in the affluent Bridle Path neighbourhood.

A suspect fled the scene in a vehicle, police said in a post on X.

A representative for the Toronto-born five-time Grammy award winner said Drake was not injured, Sky’s partner network NBC News reported.

Police said they could not confirm if Drake was at home at the time of the incident.

But they were “in contact with his team and they are cooperating”, Inspector Paul Krawczyk said.

Police said they were investigating the incident and had not yet established a motive.

Canadian broadcaster CBC reported a police source as saying the guard appeared to have been shot in a drive-by attack.

It added that according to the initial report, the man suffered a gunshot wound to the upper chest and was unconscious when officers arrived.

The victim then underwent surgery in hospital, CBC added.

Drake, 37, is currently embroiled in a high-profile feud with US rapper Kendrick Lamar.

They have both released new diss tracks as the feud between them intensifies with brutal verses dragging in their families.

Drake and 36-year-old Lamar – whose fourth album won a Pulitzer Prize – have for years been exchanging thinly veiled barbs.

But the flurry of diss tracks shows how their animosity has become more personal and a lot less subtle.

Drake, whose real name is Aubrey Drake Graham, is one of the world’s biggest-selling musicians.

He has had 13 number one tracks in the US, including God’s Plan, Work featuring Rihanna, and One Dance with WizKid and Kyla.

The Hotline Bling performer is Spotify’s most streamed male artist of all time.

Entertainment

Friends creators reveal final episode scripts were leaked by an insider in 2004

Published

10 hours ago

May 7, 2024

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Friends creators reveal final episode scripts were leaked by an insider in 2004

The creators of Friends have revealed that parts of the script for the final episode were leaked by an insider ahead of the show airing.

Simply titled The Last One, millions tuned in as the episode brought the hit comedy to a close 20 years ago, on 6 May 2004, finally resolving the decade-long “will they, won’t they?” romance between Ross and Rachel.

It was the end of an era for its stars – Jennifer Aniston, Courteney Cox, Lisa Kudrow, Matt LeBlanc, Matthew Perry and David Schwimmer – and fans around the world.

Looking back at the final shows in an interview with NBC’s Today show in the US, Friends creators Marta Kauffman and David Crane revealed details of the leak.

“Oh my god, we tried so hard to keep it a secret!” Kauffman said. “We were desperate to keep it a secret and it got out. And it was an inside job.”

Scripts sent out ahead of the premiere of the final episode were numbered, Crane explained.

“We knew how many people knew what it was going to be,” he said. “So it did, through an element of… it became a behind-the-scenes detective show.

“It was frustrating, but at the end of the day, what are you gonna do?”

Part of the script that leaked included the details of Ross and Rachel finally getting back together, Kauffman said.

But when asked if the mystery of who released the information was solved, she replied with a smile: “Ish.”

“Ish,” Crane repeated.

After 10 series and 236 episodes, as well as Ross and Rachel’s reunion, the final instalment saw Monica and Chandler leaving their famous Manhattan apartment and moving to the suburbs as new parents to adopted twins.

Perry, who died last year, aged 54, wrote about the finale in his 2022 memoir, Friends, Lovers, And The Big Terrible Thing.

“Before that final episode, I’d taken Marta Kauffman to one side,” he wrote. “‘Nobody else will care about this except me’, I said. ‘So may I please have the last line?'”

His character Chandler did indeed have the last line. As the Friends decide to go for one last coffee before the move, he simply asks, “Where?”, in a trademark sarcastic but poignant joke about the fact that so much of their time on screen has been spent in the Central Perk coffee shop.

“It’s incredibly poignant. It’s a legacy for him, one of his many legacies,” Kauffman said.

Friends has found a new generation of fans in recent years after being picked up by streaming sites.

Earlier this year, two scripts for The One With Ross’s Wedding, season four’s famous two-part finale filmed in London, sold at auction for £22,000 after being found in a bin.