There is a standard way to launch a new film.We ignored it. We built and extended anticipation by leveraging every available piece of the heavily restricted film material. We launched with Australian Idol using a 3 minute 20 second trailer. As the first glimpse into the world of AVATAR we positioned this not as advertising, but as content, gaining key listings within TV guides countrywide – a media first.The second wave of reveal occurred with another key free to air TV partner, Channel 9, this time in the form of a half hour AVATAR programme. Hosted by the film’s lead, Sam Worthington, Enter the World, showcased unreleased studio content.In addition we introduced long form featurettes to further bring elements of Pandora and the characters to life.

By using this unique approach we successfully positioned the film as an experience like no other and created unprecedented demand.

In the trailer launch audiences actually increased versus the previous Australian Idol segment – where ad break audiences generally decline.'Enter the world' attracted half a million viewers – deemed so successful, Channel 9 broadcast again without charge in January.Commercially AVATAR became a box office phenomenon.It achieved $114 million at the box office – and is still going strong! In only 22 days AVATAR sank James Cameron’s last record-breaking effort, Titanic, which achieved nearly $58 million.

We smashed the generally accepted Australian:American 10% box office benchmark by 53% ($114m:$745m), making Australia the most successful per-capita market!