How has the UK theatrical distribution of the film been managed in order to ensure the film's success in the UK?

¨ The distribution company behind the film was 20th Century Fox, a leading American distribution company.

¨ Avatar had a world premiere on December 10th in London’s Leicester Square before an audience of 3,000 at the Odeon and Empire cinemas. Some members of the cast were present to give interviews and they also gained attention from the audience and the media resulting in further publicity.

¨ The film had gained advanced publicity previously on the 21st August in which a 15 minute extract of the film was shown by 14 cinemas. This was the first taster of the film and what was to come.

¨ Avatar’s release date was December 18th 2009. The film release date was delayed to this date in order to allow cinemas to invest in 3D projectors so the film could be shown in both 2D and 3D. The film went for a Christmas release which allowed a large period of time from when the 15 minute extract was shown in August to the actual release of the film. This helped gain as much audience interest as possible. Christmas time is also best to reap in large audiences and cater to wider audiences too as people have more time during the holidays to go to the cinema so the film attracted all different audience types.

¨ The distribution company went for a saturated release, releasing the film in over 500 cinemas around the UK, each showing the film on at least 2 screens. This increased the success of the film and brought its opening weekend total to just over $159 million worldwide. The film later on went to smash the $1billion mark making it one of the most successful films ever made.

¨ The film was released at a time where there would be not much competition. Other films released in the cinema included Alvin and The Chipmunks 2: The Squeakuel, St Trinians 2: The Legend of Fritton’s Gold, Humpday and Nine. These films targeted different audiences and due to the fact that two of them were sequels, their audiences had already been gained. Also none of these films had the same technology as Avatar and were not big blockbusters.