Cameron defends Avatar Day

James Cameron has defended his decision to show a 15 minute preview of Avatar - despite the mixed reviews.

The 3D sci-fi epic is Cameron's eagerly awaited follow up to 1998's Titanic. However, the 15 minute preview shown at selected cinemas across the country earlier this year was met with a mixed reaction.

However, Cameron insists the previews were hugely important to him.

He told Total Film, "Avatar Day, to me, was so necessary. (Fox) were going to release a teaser trailer anyway. They had to because that's the normal course of things. And I was most concerned about seeing the material in a short form, especially on a small screen.

"I thought the shock of the new, you know, inherently blue faces just don't look so real, so it's very easy to dismiss it, regardless of how well accomplished it is. So that's why I wanted to do Avatar Day, and have a more immersive first look at the movie.

"Most of the comments were 'Jury's still out, because we don't know the story yet'. I thought that was tremendously telling, because it really shows that no matter how dazzling the visuals are, or promise to be, people still want to know what it's about."

Source: Yahoo! Movies