As it turns out, the blue-skinned Na’vi wa­rriors of Avatar are easier to thwart than anyone tho­ught. All it takes is some snow. Avatar, the colossal space adventure from Jam­es Cameron and 20th Century Fox that has been bill­ed as a cinematic game-changer, opened No 1 in North American theatres with about $73 million in tickets but fell short of industry expectations. The reason may have been an enormous winter storm th­at pummelled the East Co­ast on Saturday.

With local television stations warning people to stay indoors, Avatar grosses in major population centres plummeted on Saturday co­mpared to Friday; typically Saturday sales mark the high point of the weekend.

Philadelphia sales fell 57 per cent on Saturday, Wa­shington’s fell 75 per cent and New York’s drooped 18 per cent, said Chris Aronson, Fox’s senior vice president of domestic distributi­on. Ticket sales were also sh­arply off on Saturday in two other important mar­kets, Dallas and New Or­le­­ans, with Fox blaming the Co­wboys-Saints football game.

Overseas Avatar opened in 106 countries, selling an additional $159.2 million in tickets for a worldwide gross of $232.2 million, Ar­onson said.

The movie will need to demonstrate supernatural hold on audiences in the coming weeks to avoid becoming a financial calamity for Fox and its financing partners, Dune Entertainment and Ingenious Film Partners. Avatar ended up costing around $310 million to produce (although tax credits will shave about $30 million off that bill) and an estimated $150 million to market.

Fox predicted going into the weekend that Avatar would sell $50 million to $60 million in tickets, an estimate that struck many box office analysts as impossibly low. Fox was not expecting a storm to dent attendance at big-city theatres at that time, but rather was cautious about a story that was not presold.

Although Avatar made its debut in 3,452 theatres in North America, movies of similar scope have historically opened in even more theatres, and that smaller number may have held back ticket sales. There is also evidence that a shortage of 3-D theatres depressed opening results. Fox had hoped to have hundreds of additional 3-D locations available, but the credit crunch and industry squabbling has delayed technology upgrades.

Audiences seem to have swallowed Fox’s message that this is a film that should be seen in 3-D.

Avatar has been cheered by critics for the way it uses 3-D technology.

Industry veterans have left screenings comparing the film to Star Wars or Jurassic Park.

International Herald Tribune