Avatar Comparison between UK and US

US

Helped along by pricey tickets that brought in a projected $325 million domestically after only three weekends in theaters.

Mass marketing. With all the talk of the "Twitter effect" and social media making or breaking Hollywood releases, Fox took a decidedly big-picture approach to go to market with the most expensive film ever made.

"Avatar" was a costly gamble for Fox -- its production budget was once confirmed by the studio to be $237 million but believed to have climbed as high as $300 million with an additional estimated $150 million global marketing outlay.

In fact, no footage from "Avatar" was shown until a few months before its wide release -- during ComicCon in summer 2009 -- which was a tactical part of Fox's strategy to manage the film's hype. "We consciously held back, because this isn't a movie you want to start being too loud about too early on"

The studio teamed with Coke Zero and McDonald's for extensive promotions that gave fans access to the virtual augmented-reality world of Pandora. Consumers could download an AR application from AVTR.com and scan their Coke Zero can or 12-pack to take a virtual ride in the Samson helicopter featured in the film. McDonald's took a similar approach with its Happy Meal and Big Mac tie-ins, creating a virtual "Avatar" space called McWorld, where fans could interact with other aspects of the Pandora environment. Both marketers had large-scale media buys to promote the tie-ins, including general-market TV buys from Coke and multicultural TV, print and radio ads from McDonald's. LG and Panasonic pitched in for global tie-ins to cross-promote products with similar 3-D innovations, while Mattel partnered on the toy merchandising front.

The first theatrical trailer clocked in at three minutes and 30 seconds  airing during pod breaks for "Glee" and "House."