Avatar on Screener-TV

Tom O’Neil points us to this piece by EW’s Dave Karger about how well Avatar will play on screener-TV. Without the clunky glasses and dazzling 3-D effects …

The question is: Will it matter? When I watched a 30-minute preview of the film a few months ago, Cameron’s gorgeous 3D visuals were certainly the most impressive aspect of the production. But the studio can’t force all 6,000-plus Academy members to show up at a theater to watch it. So for many voters, their choice seems to be either to have them watch Avatar on a regular television, or not at all. Of the two options, they may be smart to choose the former.

My thinking on this is that the members of the Academy inclined to like and/or vote for Avatar will have already seen it in the theaters. When it opens, I dare say, it will become the must-see film of the holiday season. It will be a reason to actually hoist one’s cookies into the car, shell out the dough, put on those hideous glasses and enjoy the ride. It is the kind of movie you show up for.

So if you make the effort and if it’s good enough, Avatar is in. It isn’t going to need to play well on screener, in my opinion. Also, once it starts screening, just try to keep people from showing up, for free, to see it. The only thing that can derail this film for Oscar are horrid reviews. If those start piling up to the Amelia-like degree, it’s over. Then it will ace the visual effects, sound and perhaps art direction Oscars but will stop shy of the big categories.