"Avatar" scores record-high advance ticket sales

James Cameron's new film "Avatar" set a new record for advance ticket sales in Korea, according to a press release by online reservation site Maxmovie.

As of Wednesday morning, the real-time ticket reservation rate for "Avatar" stood at 91.79 percent on Maxmovie, the highest figure for both this year and the month of December in history. It is also the highest reservation rate set by a non-Korean movie in the past five years.

"'Avatar' has entirely captivated the interest of male viewers in their thirties," Kim Hyung-ho, executive at Maxmovie, was quoted as saying. According to statistics, the ticket reservation rate by thirty-something audiences outnumbered that by twenty-somethings by 53 percent versus 30 percent.

Considering that "Titanic" -- the biggest blockbuster movie in history -- came out 12 years ago, it seems that the same viewers are putting their trust in director James Cameron, Kim explained.

"Avatar" is an action flick that stars a handful of Hollywood actors including Sam Worthington (in the lead role), Zoe Saldana, Michelle Rodriguez, Giovanni Ribisi and Sigourney Weaver. Worthington plays a paraplegic war veteran who participates in the avatar program and finds himself in another planet Pandora, where he battles the local humanoid race.

Reporter : Lynn Kim lynn2878@asiae.co.kr
Editor : Jessica Kim jesskim@asiae.co.kr