Ubisoft Thinks Avatar Could Be Next Harry Potter

[John Funk]

Ubisoft Thinks Avatar Could Be Next Harry Potter

Ubisoft's Murray Pannell thinks that James Cameron's Avatar (and its game adaptation) could change the world of entertainment much like J.K. Rowling's boy wizard.

Well, okay. Maybe that's a bit misleading - Pannell isn't referring to the entire multimedia Harry Potter franchise. Rather, he's talking about a slightly less grand vision: The blockbuster film franchise based off of J.K. Rowling's books, and the blockbuster videogame franchise based off of the film franchise based off of J.K. Rowling's books.

Pannell (talking to MCV [http://www.mcvuk.com/news/35244/3D-movie-Avatar-could-be-the-new-Harry-Potter] in his first interview since jumping ship from EA to go to Ubisoft) thinks that the James Cameron film (and game), which will be hitting theaters and consoles in 3D at the end of the year, may blow audiences' - and gamers' - collective socks off.

"Avatar looks set to be a world-changing kind of cinema given its pedigree and elements like the 3D," said Pannell. "It reminds me of my experience at EA, working on the original Harry Potter game - which was an incredible entertainment phenomenon."

In particular, Avatar and Harry Potter both have one thing in common - a single creative mind at the helm. Cameron is to Avatar what Rowling is to Potter, and Pannell says that fact helped spur development of Harry Potter and the Sorcerer's Stone (Philosopher's Stone for those not in the States) since everyone was "terrified of disappointing" the author.

It's probably a safe bet that Avatar won't have the screaming underage legions that made the Potter series so successful, but it is James Cameron, and he has overseen some veritable hits of his own in the past. So let's give him the benefit of the doubt... for the moment.

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[Sparrow]

Lies, slander and blasphemy!

It will do no such thing!

 

[HardRockSamurai]

Actually, I don't think any other franchise can surpass the commercial trash heap that is the Harry Potter franchise.

Still, it's James freakin' Cameron we're talking about here! Even if Avatar doesn't match Harry Potter in commercial success, it will still be awesome. Why?

[HEADING=2]JAMES [small]freakin'[/small] CAMERON![/HEADING]

[small]...freakin' is his middle name...[/small]

 

[Nivag the Owl]

Avatar has always been tons cooler than Harry Potter anyway.

 

[Cousin_IT]

Someone with a vested interest in it happening has said it will happen. Therefore, it wont

 

[El Poncho]

It's called the sorcerer's stone in America ? why?!

I want to go see this movie , I remember running home from primary school so I could see the Avatar cartoon series.

 

[deleted_scifidownbeat]

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[Eric the Orange]

Avatar is a pretty good show, but TV to Film adaptations, especially with cartoon TV shows to non-cartoon film, usually don't go well. So I'm not expecting much out of this.

 

[newguy77]

Are they talking about the last airbender or something completely different here? Because if it's that western anime that they're talking about, I think they are incredibly wrong.

 

[rowan-thats-me]

-snip-
Edit: to answer your first question, I believe philosopher's was changed to sorceror's (or vice versa, I don't know which came first) because of the publishing company. They always try to change things like that.

Id guess philosophers stone came first, as thats the name in the UK, which is where rowling is from

 

[El Poncho]

It's called the sorcerer's stone in America ? why?!

I want to go see this movie , I remember running home from primary school so I could see the Avatar cartoon series.

I believe those are two different things, the cartoon Avatar and the Avatar book they are referring to here.

I admit, when the title caught my eye, my mind first jumped to the cartoon series, but the accompanying picture tells a different story.

Edit: to answer your first question, I believe philosopher's was changed to sorceror's (or vice versa, I don't know which came first) because of the publishing company. They always try to change things like that.

I didn't know there was a book, I may have to buy it now

 

[Kuchinawa212]

Well, all I know is harry potter is just an unstoppable juggernaught, then had my friend when they were 10 waiting for their letters to hogwarts.

while I haven't read Avatar, I doubt there will be anything like the above that will come out of it.

 

[Amnestic]

Edit: to answer your first question, I believe philosopher's was changed to sorceror's (or vice versa, I don't know which came first) because of the publishing company. They always try to change things like that.

Philospher's Stone came first, it was changed to Sorcerer's Stone when it was released in America.

They did a similar thing with Northern Lights (UK) and the Golden Compass (US) as far as I know, but they might have just changed the name globally to match up with the film which had a different name for some unknown reason.

Probably because there's already four Northern Lights films already.

Any folks from across the pond in the US can confirm/deny whether the Northern Lights was released as such in book form when it was first published?

 

[Andy_Panthro]

I'm not really sure how Harry Potter changed anything...

I mean, it was a series of books, films and games. That's not exactly revolutionary is it? Trying to squeeze as much as possible out of a brand/franchise?

I'm still not sure this 3D stuffs gonna catch on. Feels very much like a gimmick to me, but I guess they're trying to say that Avatar is gonna change all that.

 

[AboveUp]

This isn't the Avatar I'm thinking about, isn't it? The cartoon trying to act as a Japanese anime Avatar?

Because if it is, I find his statement laughable at best.

I'm not really sure how Harry Potter changed anything...

It made it easier for kids to call their children's books literature, and spawned other kid's book movies, such as Narnia and Twilight.

 

[SamuelT]

]I believe those are two different things, the cartoon Avatar and the Avatar book they are referring to here.

Holy shit, there's a book!?

I must go scoure the internet in search of this treasure.

 

[whaleswiththumbs]

-snip-
Edit: to answer your first question, I believe philosopher's was changed to sorceror's (or vice versa, I don't know which came first) because of the publishing company. They always try to change things like that.

Id guess philosophers stone came first, as thats the name in the UK, which is where rowling is from

It was philosopher's stone, then when they were gonna print to america the publishers thought sorcerer sounded better for an American audience.

It's probably a safe bet that Avatar won't have the screaming underage legions that made the Potter series so successful,

True, Avatar will be attracting the intellectuals, as opposed to the pre teen developing girl, who can get whatever she wants from her parents by whining and wearing alot of creepy swag. Hopefully you can see who I'd rather attract with a story of such, the hairy men, Uhh I mean the cool intellectuals, because if you can get them you will be remembered like John Cleese.

It... spawned other kid's book movies, such as Narnia and Twilight.

DAMN YOU HARRY POTTER! YOU CREATED THIS MADNESS CALLED TWILIGHT!(sorry my hatred got the best of me)

I hope nobody ever in their right mind compares Avatar, a kicik ass movie from the guy who did Titanic, to Harrry Potter, the collective result from a 3 hour train ride.

As a great man once said, know everything of something, and something of everything.

/text wall of intellectual opinions

 

[.[B@lL15T1C].]

this is completely different to the last airbender, Avatar is a new sci-fi film by james cameron in 3D. I didnt realise there was a book like someone wrote above.

It is a bit confusing seeing as shyamalan is filming the Avatar: the last airbender film also.

 

[Spaceman_Spiff]

There are 2 Avatar movies coming out. The James Cameron one which or the M Night Shyamalan one thats an addaption of the cartoon.

 

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