Corona | Coming Attractions

Toy manufacturer Mattel will create and release a line of action figures, alien creatures and vehicles based on Avatar. The first wave of Avatar products is scheduled to arrive on store shelves in October, two months before the release of the movie.

"Avatar is one of the biggest and most anticipated films of 2009," said Elie Dekel, Mattel's executive vice president of Fox licensing and merchandising. "The new universe created in the film is everything one would expect coming from the mind of James Cameron, one of the most accomplished creators and filmmakers of our time. In bringing this fantastic new universe to life in toys, it was essential that we partner with the world's biggest and best, Mattel. Mattel's abilities to continually innovate and strategically grow a toy brand over many years will be core to our long-term strategies."

Each of the toys will come with what Mattel is describing as a "web tag". Using your computer's webcam you can scan in the toy's web tag and unlock special content through Mattel's Avatar website, for example, a character's bio and their skills or the abilities of an alien creature.

"I am a firm believer that a great toy program, done right and with the right creative collaboration can extend the movie experience," commented Jon Landau, one of the film's producers. "Jim and I have been working intimately with both Fox L&M and Mattel to ensure that this will be a top-notch innovative toy line-up. We have seen the products and can't wait for their release."

As part of Mattel's press release they also issued the following description of the film's premise: "Avatar is an epic adventure film where ex-marine Jake Sully is torn between duty and honor when he finds himself caught in a battle between the heavily armed forces of Earth's most powerful star-faring consortium and an exotic, noble alien race whose entire world is threatened by the human invaders."