The makers of Avatar are teaming up with Hewlett-Packard Co (HP) to create an immersive, digital entertainment experience to help market three future releases of the film saga.
The technology company, director James Cameron’s Lightstorm Entertainment and 20th Century Fox announced a five-year partnership in Las Vegas on Wednesday to create a new entertainment experience to support the films.
“With the movie Avatar, we looked to transform the in-theatre experience for audiences,” said Jon Landau, chief operating officer of Lightstorm and a co-producer of the film. “We are now looking to make the same type of transformation with a digital experience.”
Released in 2009, the 3-D Avatar became the biggest film in history with $2.78 billion in global ticket sales, according to IMDB.com. With a decade between the first and the last movies, digital marketing has become a must, Landau said.
Hewlett-Packard, based in Palo Alto, California, will provide cloud-computing services and data security for the Avatar digital experience, and will manage and analyse the collected data, according to a statement.
The unnamed project will be introduced in time for the second Avatar film, which is scheduled for release on 25 December 2017, Landau said.
The sequels reunite some original cast members, including Sam Worthington, who plays the paraplegic marine who sent on a mission to the moon Pandora.
The third and fourth films will be released in 2018 and 2019, according to IMDB. The project will extend beyond 2019, when the pictures roll out to home viewers, Landau said. Production of the sequels is going as planned, he added.
The filmmakers are also working with Walt Disney Co. on a theme-park experience and Cirque du Soleil, which plans an Avatar inspired show in November 2015. While Disney isn’t directly involved with the digital experience, Landau said the goal was that the whole Avatar ‘ecosystem’ would be connected.
