The Obamas, like everyone else, see ‘Avatar’

This article was originally on a blog post platform and may be missing photos, graphics or links. See About archive blog posts.

Maybe they heard that James Cameron’s ‘Avatar’ posted the second-biggest second-weekend box office take ever, after ‘Dark Knight.’ Maybe they were just sick of the beach. Either way, the Obama family headed off for an early movie on New Year’s Eve, arriving at the Windward Mall in Honolulu shortly after 9 a.m.

‘Avatar,’ a 3-D adventure flick set in 2154 that features blue aliens and distant planets, has been described by some as a criticism of the war in Iraq. There are no clues as to whether President Obama will agree with that comparison -- the press traveling with the president were not invited into the theater. Neither was anyone else, as the first family had reserved the movie theater.

No word on whether the first family went for popcorn or Junior Mints.

-- Alana Semuels, reporting from Honolulu

Photos, from top: A Navi warrior in the film ‘Avatar.’ Credit: WETA / Twentieth Century Fox. The Obama sisters, Malia and little sister Sasha, on an outing with the folks (not pictured) in Honolulu to see Cameron’s epic. Credit: Jewel Samad / AFP/Getty Images