20th Century Fox and Avatar

Twentieth Century Fox Film Corporation is one of the six major American film studios as of 2010. Located in the Century City area of Los Angeles, just west of Beverly Hills, the studio is a subsidiary of News Corporation, the media conglomerate owned by Rupert Murdoch.

20th Century Fox's "Avatar" (2009) cost around $250 million to make and another $170 million in distribution and promotional costs. Much of the production costs went in developing new technology (special digital cameras) and special effects. 20th Century Fox was only able to raise this cash because it was part of  a group of companies worth many Billions.

20th Century Fox's most popular movie franchises include Star Wars, Ice Age, Garfield, X-Men, Die Hard, Alien, Revenge of the Nerds, Planet of the Apes, Home Alone, Night at the Museum, Predator, Alvin and the Chipmunks, and The Chronicles of Narnia (which was previously distributed by Walt Disney Pictures).

Avatar is a 2009 American science fiction epic film written and directed by James Cameron and starring Sam Worthington, Zoe Saldana, Sigourney Weaver, Michelle Rodriguez and Stephen Lang. The film is set in the year 2154, when humans are mining a precious mineral called unobtanium on Pandora, a lush moon of a gas giant in the Alpha Centauri star system. 

Development on Avatar began in 1994, when Cameron wrote an 80-page scriptment for the film. Filming was supposed to take place after the completion of Cameron's 1997 film Titanic, for a planned release in 1999, but according to Cameron, the necessary technology was not yet available to achieve his vision of the film. Work on the language for the film's extraterrestrial beings began in summer 2005, and Cameron began developing the screenplay and fictional universe in early 2006.

Avatar was officially budgeted at US$237 million. Other estimates put the cost between $280 million and $310 million for production, and at $150 million for promotion. The film was released for traditional two-dimensional projectors, as well as in 3-D, using the RealD 3D, Dolby 3D, XpanD 3D and IMAX 3D formats, and also in 4-D. A 4-D film (sometimes written 4D film) is a marketing term that describes an entertainment presentation system combining a 3-D film with physical effects in the theatre, which occur in synchronization with the film. Because the physical effects are expensive to set up, 4-D films are usually presented only at special venues such as theme parks and amusement park. Some of the effects simulated in 4-D films include rain, wind, strobe lights, and vibration. The use of water sprays and air jets is also common. A 4-D film is not shown in a motion simulator, although some seats in 4-D venues vibrate or may move a few inches during the presentation.