http://www.nytimes.com/2010/01/26/movies/26arts-AVATARMAKESM_BRF.html?scp=1&sq=Pandora%20in%20China&st=cse
I have seen Avatar and I've heard nearly a lifetime's worth of information about it, but this article I came across in the Times really stood out to me. It's a short article that talks about the impact Avatar has had abroad, with a focus here on China.
According to the article, a mountain in Zhangjiajie City in the Hunan region has recently been re-named after the movie. This peak, found in the Southern Sky Column of the city is now called the Avatar Hallelujah Mountains, and this change is apparently an effort to draw Chinese and other tourists to this area.
It almost seems like this geological change was a direct reaction of the James Cameron film being pulled off the screens of Chinese theaters. This has happened because the film made more than $100 million in ticket sales there, even though the film only started showing ealier this month. And as the governement only allows certain amounts of foreign films in the country, the fact that this one was pulling in so much money started to worry the government.
However, travel companies have already begun offering tours that emphasize the region's resemblance to Pandora, the mountain from the movie. The regional government advertises the site as a way into the movie that the people all love. This just goes to show that American movies have a large impact abroad, as the money from over there has contributed to the movie topping the charts for highest grossing films.
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