Anti-Smoking Camp Targets ‘Avatar’

James Cameron’s “Avatar” has made beaucoup bucks, already taking in more than $1 billion worldwide since its release last month, but there’s at least one group that’s not happy with certain aspects of his futuristic odyssey. A campaign called Smoke Free Movies sponsored a major ad buy in Hollywood’s two prominent trade papers Tuesday to protest Sigourney Weaver’s on-screen smoking habit in the film. However, Cameron is quick on the uptake and responded to the criticism Monday. –KA

The New York Times:

The full-page ads were scheduled to run in both The Hollywood Reporter and Daily Variety. For every $100 million it earns at the box office, “Avatar” will “deliver an estimated 40 million tobacco impressions to theater audiences,” said the ads, referring to scenes involving a cigarette-smoking character played by Sigourney Weaver. That estimate of the film’s value to tobacco companies included anticipated home video sales.

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