Avatar: An Unforgettable Moment in History (Thanks to Social Media)

Remember when Titanic held the box office record with a seemingly insurmountable $1.84 billion? Well that’s obviously not that case anymore, seeing as Avatar trampled all over the sappy romance flick’s former #1 spot with its worldwide gross of $2,717,928,000.

One could argue that it merely comes down to Avatar being a better film, that it appeals to a broader demographic, or that these days more people want to see groundbreaking CG rather than attractive, young actors getting it on in a shiny, Renault town car.

One should then consider that during the ’97 release of Titanic, there was no such thing as MySpace (2003), Facebook, (2004) or Twitter (2006). All of which, however, were most certainly around for the December, 2009 release of Avatar. Social media created a perfect online environment for Avatar to grow in popularity months prior to its release, and shows the power of social media counted not only in the number of wall comments, but in where it really matters–cold hard cash.

Additionally, Avatar is now making a killing in DVD and Blu-ray sales as well. Within the first four days, 6.7 million DVDs and Blu-ray disks were purchased by adoring fans, bringing the total revenue to $130 million and counting. Why do you think that is?

It’s because despite the groundbreaking visual effects in Avatar being a clear cut reason to go to the movies, film goers want to be a part of something cinematically grandiose. They want their small piece of movie making history, to have and to hold forevermore. The piece, in this case, comes in the form of a 7 1/2 X 5 1/2 inch DVD case. And thanks to social media, it doesn’t matter that the film will look vastly different on their comparably microscopic TV screens.

Facebook applications like Avatarize Yourself and features allowing fans to interview James Cameron personalized the film, making the pubic feel like they were participating in something that newspapers, magazines and websites were unanimously calling “epic.” People were already personally invested and, in their minds at least, “involved” long before Avatar hit the shelves at Best Buy. And social media  gave them that impression.

Mashable wrote a great piece on the various elements of Avatar‘s extensive social media campaign. To reiterate their point, here are just a few more fancy ways the film generated an enormous amount of buzz in the magical, mystical world of–no, not Pandora–ether space:

1. Facebook: With 1,637,709 fans and continual updates on a multitude of ways for fans to engage themselves. Opportunities range from asking questions to the cast and crew via Ustream, to postings about Pandora booths set up at multiple fairs where visitors can get their faces painted like the Na’vi. Just last week, almost four months after the film’s release, Facebook posted an event for users to live chat with Avatar Producer Jon Landau via the Home Theater Forum online.

2. James Cameron’s Avatar for iPad: Owners of either the iPhone or the iPad shell out an exta $9.99 by purchasing this application. The realistic HD game allows users to immerse themselves in the fatasy world of Pandora for hours by becoming their favorite characters and bringing the Na’vi fight for freedom right into their bedrooms.

3. Avatar Home Tree Initiative: This application allows users to plant a tree in their name by registering as an Official Home Tree Initiative member. Once the user has adopted a tree, they receive an Official Home Tree Initiative Certificate, a virtual Home Tree profile page and the chance to interact with other Home Tree members. Thus far, about 157,833 users have signed up. Their goal is 1,000,000.

4. Interactive Avatar Video: Linked to the movie’s homepage, this interactive video allows users to click on a specific image while the video plays, pausing it to bring up informative text as well as a separate subset of video clips from the film pertaining to the chosen item. The only thing it doesn’t include, but should, is an introductory snippet of text saying: “Warning: users may experience serious lack of daytime while experimenting with this video.”

5. Avatar Program: Members give 20th Century Fox their information, and in exchange receive first dibs on the Avatar DVDs, sneak peaks, content updates, money saving offers and more.

There are countless examples that prove the domination this campaign achieved throughout the social media scene. However, unlike the many other promotional strategies films use to generate awareness, Avatar‘s was truly an all-encompassing user-generated experience. Fans were given the chance to get up close and personal with the crew and the characters on more occasions than one, and eventually created what is now an ongoing online social event, rather than just a movie.

Critics called the film epic for its mind-blowing CGI, which to some degree is true. But moreso than that, the film is epic for its effect on the ever-expanding, increasingly powerful culture of social media.