SUSTAINABILITY is THE need of the hour! And the makers of Avatar know it the best. Director James Cameron’s masterpiece Avatar and its sequels are based on the said theme and he has environmentalism rooted deep within him.
“Everything I’m doing right now, including the Avatar films and all my other investments and activities, are all-around sustainability. And I don’t mean token sustainability, I mean long-term sustainability,” James Cameron told American media company Cnet.
The long-awaited sequel to Avatar is due in December 2021 but before that Cameron collaborated with Mercedes-Benz for an Avatar-Inspired Vehicle to bring back the movie to its audience’s mind.
Human-Machine-Nature Connected
Mercedes-Benz launched VISION AVTR or ADVANCED VEHICLE TRANSFORMATION. Made under Daimler AG’s (Mercedes-Benz’s parent corporation) ‘Ambition 2039’ initiative, the company envisions a new interaction design between humans, machines and nature.
The designers from Avatar’s team along with designers from Mercedes collaborated to design the vehicle and bring it to the users. The VISION AVTR is futuristic four-seater that takes design cues from film’s production design including woodsprites. The electric car takes the concept further by adding a feature wherein the interiors of the insides will come alive by placing a hand on the control unit. The driver will be recognised by his or her heartbeat and breathing.
No points on guessing that we might soon be watching these in the Avatar sequels given Cameron is a self-proclaimed automobile geek. He told Cnet, “I love the hard stuff. The vehicles, spacecraft, aircraft, ground vehicles, weapons, the hardware. I’m a total geek when it comes to that stuff.” A car chase, perhaps?
Another Collaborative Brick in the Wall
We have seen such partnerships in the past. Audi collaborated with Marvel Studio during the release of Avenger: Endgame. But for Avatar’s team its different Cameron told The Hollywood Reporter, ‘we won’t, for commercial reasons, step over a line that we’re not philosophically aligned with.’ Echoing the sentiment Academy Award-winning producer Jon Landau added, “…They’ll come on board as we get nearer to the release in 2021 and there is going to be an integration of the promotional campaign around their new EQ line, which are Mercedes-Benz’s electric vehicles, and that’s why it worked for us with Avatar on this type of partnership, because of the messaging they wanted to go out therewith.”
Avatar 2 will take the audience back to the futuristic world of Pandora. Set 12 years into the future where Avatar left off Jake Sully and Neytiri who have kids now will wander the planet making new allies and facing new challenges.
