'Avatar' Footage Blows the Minds of All

Above: Image from Avatar on display at after party - see gallery below for larger images

Well, the time has finally come for James Cameron's Avatar to make its first ever appearance, and what a better place to start than at a packed auditorium full of fans the Cinema Expo in Amsterdam! According to various reports, 24 minutes of footage was screened from the new film, and the word "jaw-dropping" was used more than seven times, which, of course, means that the hype machine for this bad boy is already way out of control. On hand to introduce the footage were Avatar director James Cameron and actors Sam Worthington, Sigourney Weaver, Zoe Saldana and Stephen Lang. Prior to showing the footage, Cameron declared that the 3D renaissance has arrived.

Here's a few quotes to go along with two images from the film that were on display at an after party:

"Overall I was really impressed by what I saw. The effects are in a league of their own." ... "It took my breath away. I thought–just like you guys–that I've seen it all with Gollum, or The Hulk, but Cameron has done it again. These creatures seem so real, that within minutes you forget you're watching an enormous and very blue CGI character. Even the eyes are totally convincing. The characters have real personalities and a soul." -- Coming Soon



"The audience afterwards was stunned. Everyone just gasped, wondered and just couldnt believe what they saw." ... "Until now, all we saw was the base in 3D, mostly humans and now the 2 N'avi Avatars. They look NOTHING like the drawing you've seen. They're living creatures with blue skin, bigger yellow eyes than humans with tails. The avatars even look like their human connectors. You will NOT believe the detail." ..."
The world outside is amazing. It all lives, breathes and works." -- MarketSaw

"It makes me want to create a time machine like Cartman from South Park, so that I don't have to wait till the 18th of December to watch the finished movie. If it's anything like the scenes I saw, it's going to be one of the best movies of the decade." -- IESB

Avatar is set to arrive in theaters on December 18.

Discuss: Are you afraid the hype machine may hurt Avatar instead of help it?

[images courtesy of UCSNord]