The Unprecedented Marketing Gambit That Set 'Avatar' Up for Success

The latest in pop-culture news, recaps, and reviews, plus close reads, profiles, interviews, and more from Vulture.com. [Brand Logo]( 100 Days of Avatar [The Unprecedented Marketing Gambit That Set Up Avatar’s Success]( Remember when thousands of us lined up to watch 16 never-before-seen minutes of Avatar in Imax? Photo: 20th Century Studios In 2009, Fox’s marketing team posed a $237 million question: How can we make sure that hordes of moviegoers turn out to see an ambitious tentpole about beastly blue humanoids from a distant land no one has ever heard of? That sum represented Avatar’s hefty budget, which swelled to nearly $400 million once advertising costs were factored in, [according to the studio](. Some insiders placed the price tag closer to [$500 million](. Whatever the exact numbers, James Cameron and his backers had a lot at stake. Unlike Disney’s Pirates of the Caribbean: At World’s End (reported budget: $300 million) or Sony’s Spider-Man 3 ($258 million), Avatar couldn’t rely on franchise recognition to sell tickets. Fox needed a more inventive promotional strategy. Thus something called Avatar Day was born. [Read More]( Devour pop culture with us. [Subscribe now](for unlimited access to Vulture and everything New York. The Latest TV Recaps • 90 Day: The Single Life: [Natalie Can’t Scare Us Away]( • Below Deck Mediterranean: [NSFW]( • Kevin Can F**k Himself: [Revenge of the Sitcom Wife]( • The Patient: [Breakthrough]( [Learn more about RevenueStripe...]( Stories We Think You’ll Like [How True to the Conducting Life Is Tár? The road for women is steeper, and even the fiercest maestros aren’t quite so hard on the musicians.]( [We’ve Been Thinking About Holograms All Wrong Forget reanimating dead musicians. This technology is for living performers who can’t stand their bandmates.]( [A Timeline of Black Panther: Wakanda Forever Taking Forever A new Black Panther emerges … but is it who you think it is?]( By Ashley Shannon Wu [7 Books You Should Read This October A blistering send-up of youthful pretension, a masterful novel about privilege and loneliness, an unrelentingly paced story collection, and more.]( [The 15 Best Paul Thomas Anderson Movie Scenes From a red Corvette to a waterbed delivery truck.]( [Learn more about RevenueStripe...]( [Today’s Crossword]( 20-Down, Four Letters: Black Phillip in The Witch, for one. Photo-Illustration: Vulture; Photos by Cindy Ord/Getty Images, Tommaso Boddi/Variety via Getty Images and Dimitrios Kambouris/Getty Images for Albie Awards Vulture Recommends We consume it all so you don’t have to. Photo: Murray Close/Getty Images The original Hellraiser remains the purest onscreen representation of Clive Barker’s twisted imagination. Go watch it and check out [Vulture’s ranking of all the Hellraiser movies.]( [Read more from Vulture]( Tonight at Union Hall Vulture’s weekly comedy show, Pretty Major, will be hosted by Jay Jurden and feature stand-up by Nataly Aukar, Petey DeAbreu, Arden Myrin, and Asha Ward. [Buy tickets here.]( Tuesdays at 7 p.m. Union Hall, Brooklyn, N.Y. A Saturday newsletter from the people who make New York Magazine. [Sign up]( to get it every week. [logo]( [facebook logo]( [instagram logo]( [twitter logo]( [unsubscribe](param=vulture-daily) | [privacy notice]( | [update preferences]( This email was sent to {EMAIL}. Was this email forwarded to you? [Sign up now]( to get this newsletter in your inbox. [View this email in your browser.]( You received this email because you have a subscription to New York. Reach the right online audience with us For advertising information on email newsletters, please contact AdOps@nymag.com Vox Media, LLC 1201 Connecticut Ave. NW, 12th Floor Washington, DC 20036 Copyright © 2022, All rights reserved