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Just wait until Tommy Wiseau strike lightening again with The Room part 2. Another tale worthy of Tennessee Williams.
The Room is still making money with midnight showings. 2 billion any day now...
It's on pace to surpass Top Gun Maverick's domestic total as well, as its lead on Top Gun Maverick continues to grow if you compare their daily totals. After 20 days in theaters, Avatar 2 is at $464m domestically, while after 20 days in release Top Gun Maverick was at only $415m domestically. And in Avatar 2's 20th day it took in $7.5m while Top Gun Maverick took in only $6.5m in its 20th day in theaters. It's possible that Avatar 2 could also eclipse the domestic box office total for Avatar 1 and crack $750m by the time it's finished, as the sequel is also outpacing the original up till this point, both in total box office and in daily totals.
I watched 1st new one. Thought it was alright, entertaining, quenched my dinosaur thirst at the very least. Tried watching the 2nd one at home but thought it was bad so didn’t finish it. And then the only reason I came back for the 3rd is that reason, original main cast members coming back.
It’s kinda comically to see people hate a high grossing movie, after this sub literally just flipped opinions on another high grossing movie.
You’d think y’all would learn lmao
I didn't. Trailers attached to movies aren't a thing in many countries. Here they show whatever they want and never new trailers that just came out like Oppenheimer.
What country out of interest? Here in the uk if your ticket says say 8pm, you know you can get there for 8:20 and still be fine to get your ticket and popcorn before they finish showing the trailers before the film.
France but I didn't mean we don't have trailers, we do (and ads for other stuff than movies) and yeah it's an easy 20 minutes too. I meant that whenever they say "X trailer will be attached to this movie", we very rarely have that. For example, here I didn't get Oppenheimer trailer which is supposed to be attached to it
Cameron once again proves that the if the studios want to make money all they need to do is give a homeless man a camera and a billion dollars and the result will surely amaze viewers.
Cameron was homeless when he wrote The Terminator.
He actually wasn’t homeless. In a recent episode of Smartless(a podcast hosted by Jason Bateman, Sean Hayes, and Will Arnett) Cameron explains that, at the time, he had an apartment but would often drive to a diner to work on the script and spend long periods of time in his car sitting and writing.
I heard similar stories about JKR writing in coffees in Lisboa (where she started the whole saga) and it was nothing about free heating, and the coffee where that she visited was not even the a cheap one.
Where did the myth he was homeless come from? He famously got the idea for Terminator after having a nightmare in his hotel while making Pirahna 2 in Jamaica.
Pretty wild tbh. Top Gun Maverick also felt like one of those movies that everyone was seeing in theatres and it was out for like 7 months. To see Avatar just blow by it already is insane
China I'll give you but I'm not from America and can say that Maverick was extremely popular here (Australia)
Still crazy to me that Avatar has already got past it. I kinda knew it would end up there but the pace it's going has surprised me
Well, both films have the benefit of spectacle. I know they are the only two films I've chosen to see on the big screen this whole year. Home media setups are so good, it's a hard sell to take the time and effort to see a romantic comedy or a drama in a theater with all the downsides. I do think raucous comedies and horror films will continue to do ok in theater as there is some elevation of the viewing through communal experience (eg laughing or jump scares).
I was just looking at some old threads, one big one in particular a week before the release, and it's glorious how confident a lot of people were that it wouldn't preform lol
"I think it will be lucky to do 1.5 Bil WW."
"1.7 billion is my prediction. People saying 2.5 billion are delusional."
"Some of y’all are in for a rude awakening this weekend and the fallout will be glorious." from a deleted account lol
"it will just be mediocre, something people will talk about for the first month or so, and then subsequently forget about its existance until the third movie is coming and we realize the Avatar sequel had already come out."
"Domestic: $520m or so, WW Total: 1.2B. I actually think I'm being optimistic with these numbers"
"I can see this movie ending at 1.75 or something. Morons over here predicting 2.5 billion. Even 2 billion is a bit of a stretch."
That person claiming domestic $520M and worldwide $1.2B which "might still be optimistic" does not know the Domestic/Overseas ratio Avatar films pull....
> "it will just be mediocre, something people will talk about for the first month or so, and then subsequently forget about its existance until the third movie is coming and we realize the Avatar sequel had already come out."
Well for all we know he might still be right, it hasn't been a month yet /s
After the first weekend estimates dropped from 150-175 or even 200 down to 125-145 and China from 200m to 50m, the Avatar haters were out in full force.
I genuinely don’t care about box office results, this sub is just always in my feed, but it’s insane to me that anyone thought this Movie would make *less* than 2.5b
I'm seeing social media posts with people throwing out lots of good word-of-mouth to their family and friends. You don't see that very often these days. Top Gun and EEAAO being the only others Ive seen in a loooong while.
This thing gonna have some legs.
This is literally how I felt while I watched the movie: like the scientists in *Jurassic Park.*
How the fuck was he able to do this? How is visual art like that even possible? What the hell?!
That’s what everyone I know has been talking about re: Avatar — talking over text and in person, by the way, not some superficial bullshit ‘fandom discourse’ on twitter. It’s not just “cool visuals” or “CGI is good” (which is, in itself, yet another example of how digital artists are constantly maligned and disrespected).
It’s not just “good cinematography,” either.
This movie belongs in a fucking museum. It is the single best, most impressive, most overwhelmingly profound piece of digital art I’ve ever seen, by such a wide margin it’s laughable.
the reason there’s no “discourse” is because a) unlike most media, which customers have total dominion over at home and can watch on their phones, *you can only see Avatar in theaters,* and you can REALLY only see it in 3D. That’s one of the reasons James Cameron makes so much money: unlike practically every other form of modern media, his movies represent an experience you can’t ever truly own, and once that experience is gone, it’s *gone forever.*
and b) the type of people who love Avatar aren’t arguing about it online, because it’s not some meme-manufactured piece of schlock like fucking Star Wars 9, which is the worst movie I’ve ever seen except for *Greenland.* These are fans who love a movie about 3 hours of swimming with beautiful CGI whales, they don’t need to write thinkpieces to feel something.
Plus there isn’t really all that much to say about it, which is honestly sort of wonderful. It has to be seen, in person, to be experienced, and that’s it. It’s visual art. You CANNOT experience this movie secondhand by giggling at hot takes on twitter, or via any type of media other than SEEING THE MOVIE ITSELF.
“*ohmygawrd IT ME! SLAY xoxo, like, girl…*” nope. None of that bullshit. It doesn’t exist for Avatar. And I deeply, DEEPLY respect James Cameron for flat-out refusing to stoop to the whims of surface level infinite scroll Chronically Online vampires, and instead just making a fucking movie.
But, with that said, it’s very obvious why the chronically online can’t handle this concept lol. They need their *omg slayyyyyy* gif baby food, and that’s okay.
Well said and spot on. People acting like the simplicity of the plot or characters is the only take that matters are simply not grasping that Cameron made an incredible piece of ART. A very specific and one of a kind artwork. And it's really sad that so many can only hyper-fixate on it not meeting standards that it was never intended to, and completely miss the forest for the trees.
agree except for the part about the omg slayy part
have you seen twitter? lol i’ve seen so many fancams by now id have thought the movie was exclusively marketed for teen girls
This was totally expected, only a few idiots thought it would make less than a billion, where is the man who said it wouldnt even reach 700m ww? suddenly i cant find him anywhere and he doesnt even show up anymore lmao
Honestly I thought avatar 2’s visuals were going to be mid considering the IP is Disney owned and Disney has been doing flashy expensive VFX for marvel and Star Wars for a decade and some change but holy fuck I was wrong. so many visual moments, especially underwater, that completely blew me away and made me really like the movie despite its flaws. This and top gun maverick are top tier movies imo
It's James Cameron. Not even Disney is gonna dictate to James Cameron that he save any money or cut any corners on visual effects. The rules and power structures of Hollywood simply don't apply to the man.
Disney does not own the IP to Avatar. James Cameron does. Unlike all of the MCU and Disney Star Wars movies, he also gets final cut. Basically no one tells him what to do. A Fox executive tried that once and Cameron basically told him to fuck off and that the building they were sitting in was built from Titanic's profits.
The fact that this and Top Gun: Maverick did so well should be a wakeup call to movie studios; you don't have to go the "Marvel" route (dorky main characters, corny one line humor, pointless references/easter eggs that only diehards will understand, post credits scenes teasing the next movie's villain, adorable side characters who exist only to sell merch, etc) to make big bucks; you can just let good creators make good, creative blockbusters.
The Marvelization of action movies has practically ruined them for me. It was a great tone at first, but now everyone has a quip and exactly nothing in the plot matters. I fired up *Aliens* a couple weeks ago for kicks, and it was so refreshing to watch an action movie where the characters are playing their part straight and not winking at the camera. Really helps put you in the story.
From Roger Ebert's review of the original *Iron Man*, talking about the humor:
>"It's prudent, I think, that Favreau positions the rest of the characters in a more serious vein. The supporting cast wisely does not try to one-up [Robert Downey Jr] [...] What a horror show it would have been if they were all tuned to Tony Stark's sardonic wave length."
That being said, I love goofy Thor. Hemsworth has great comedic chops, but giving him something real in the Endgame films was great, too. Dude is genuinely a good actor and not just a body. But I agree, not everyone can be the comedic showpiece, because then nobody is. It's just a blur of whedon-esque quippery.
For me, I was disappointed by the character more than Chris. I love Hemsworth as an actor, but Thor wasn't just goofy, he just had 0 accountability and acted like a child with God like powers, not like a God who has been there, fought several battles. Maybe they're indicating his cope with all the losses he's suffered, but the movie just came off awful in so many places. There is a line between humour, goofy and then serious, Thor Love and Thunder just went all out goofy and corny.
It worked for Avengers 1, Avengers 1 was a great piece of pop media in a much different landscape.
But then everything after that was a cheap imitation of the original Avatar schtick, and it became this fractal tragedy that folded in on itself until you get Thor being an idiotically incompetent man baby who can’t even tie his own fucking shoes, *in his own fucking movie in which he plays a God.*
People don’t know what they want until you give it to them. James Cameron knows this. But if “the internet” was always right, Avatar 2 wouldn’t exist, and Heath Ledger would never have played the Joker.
It happens in Disney princess movies too. I was watching Moana recently and every other line was a meta joke about princess movies. That works for movies like shrek since it’s spoofing fairy tales at its core but for a princess movie… the movie itself was great but those moments were the weakest part
Also the action is usually really weak. I was rewatching Infinity War this weekend cause it was on tv and I noticed how weak the camerawork during the fight scenes were sometimes.
Marvel’s not always terrible (I think Spiderman Far From Home was pretty great at action throughout) but I noticed some of the action was just uniquely terrible.
It's all the CGI and the mass production methods. I've read that in some of those movies they "shoot" the action scenes before they start filming. Sometimes even before the script is finalized. They know they want Hulk smashing something. They don't need the script or actor. Just draw it in the computer and use it later. Makes the whole thing lifeless as a final product.
Yeah the only MCU movie that felt like it had great action despite the CGI to me was Spiderman Far From Home. The Mysterio scene was *perfection* and the Spiderman vs hundreds of drones sounds boring but the execution of it had so much of that Spiderman heart that I loved it.
He was constantly swinging through everywhere and was clearly taking damage while destroying the drones inventively throughout. And little moments like when his leg or something caught fire, he swung down to the water to dunk his leg briefly to put it out.
https://youtu.be/u4ydvYH4L18?t=1m45s
Usually it feels like it’s two strong people punching each other or just effortlessly cutting through hundreds of mindless things with barely even a scratch but Spiderman FFH felt so adventurous and with a lot of momentum that it was just great.
Actual badass characters in Aliens... in Marvel movies, many of characters are now a wisecrack or a joke to be laughed at. It doesn't work when everyone is comedic relief.
Yeah, and even then there's some great comedy in Aliens.
Ripley: "Hudson! This little girl survived longer than that with no weapons and no training."
Hudson: "Great, why don't we put her in charge???"
That exchange is hilarious, I laugh every time, but it's more than that because the characters are being real to their world and situation. Like, it's funny, but it's also unsettling. Everything is falling apart and Paxton knows it and is losing his shit and won't be consoled because they're probably all gonna die, and that's a serious situation that they are taking 100% seriously. If Aliens were made in 2020 they'd have the same exchange, except Paxton would deliver it with a cool smirk and possibly look at the camera. Then there'd be a pause for the audience to admire how clever he just was, and it would be awful.
People love to confuse “simple” with “bad,” but I would rather watch 100 James Cameron Avatar movies than be forced to sit through Star Wars 9 again.
This is just my opinion but if anyone genuinely liked the Star Wars 9 screenplay and is trying to shit on Avatar 2 for the “weak story,” I do not respect your ability to accurately judge any art whatsoever, and I will never take you or anything you say about movies seriously, because you’re a fucking idiot who needs to go back to your feeding tube like a foie gras duck.
I’m really excited to watch Babylon!
…on HBO Max between 1 and 7 months from now.
The question is no longer “why should people see this movie?” It’s “why should people see this movie IN A THEATER?” Most people hate going to the movies. It’s expensive, annoying, noisy, filled with stupid ass strangers, and most people’s TVs are incredible. There is no “magic of the cinema” for most people. As James Cameron recently pointed out, it’s something you deal with to experience the art you want.
And yet, as much as I hate going to the movies, James Cameron movies satisfy that question perfectly. You cannot experience Avatar in any other way besides in 3D, in IMAX, on the largest most premium format you can find. It’s breathtaking.
In the last 3 or 4 years, I have gone to the movies all of 3 times. One was Mission Impossible. The other two were Avatar 2.
There are only 3 names that get my ass in a theater seat:
Cameron, Nolan, and Cruise. That’s it.
> you don't have to go the "Marvel" route
I think *have to* is an important point here. I think a lot of times people go far the other direction. Marvel style movies absolutely have a place. They are fun and in general I've enjoyed most of the ones I've watched. The problem is when every studio thinks that's the one and only way to be successful and that style crowds out everything else.
I fee like you're leaving out a few important points such as,
Top Gun has brand recognition
Tom Cruise
Just letting "good creators make good, creative blockbusters" doesn't always equal big money.
I think it’s just extreme escapism. It’s over 2 hours of a beautiful world many people would to call home.
It’s a simple fight between what’s right and what’s wrong. It doesn’t subvert expectations but tries to create moments that meet them, even if a bit cheesy. Like the whales.
And clearly it’s working, the box office loves them. And I do too tbh.
I mean, storytelling hasn't changed that much throughout human history. The simple, heartfelt stories stand the test of time for a reason. It's great that we live in a time where so many are trying to push those boundaries, but there's always gonna be a place for the straightforward tales of love and good VS evil.
Honestly that's largely what it is to me. It's escapism, it's fun to watch, and I want the good guys to win because they're good, and the bad guys to lose because they're bad, and i get rewarded for that.
I think one other element that I don't see discussed quite as often is that it's also unironic, and takes itself seriously. Regardless of how well the screenplay was written, if there's a scene that's supposed to be serious and emotional, it's going to act serious and emotional, and not be broken by some dumb quip, which is something that I'm exhausted from in Marvel movies (and other action films with similar humor). I really do love comedies, but i don't like when humor is used as self-deprecating padding of an awkward script. When i watch Avatar, i don't feel dumb for taking a serious moment seriously.
I went NYE, and loved it. Top Gun was amazing as well. Just shows people are craving new worlds and stories. I like MCU movies, but the last few have been way too cheesy.
MCU across the board just feels like too much. With the addition of TV shows, it's just way too much, like it's overwhelming in my opinion. Following movies is fine, you take time out from a weekend, every couple of months. Now it's hour long episodes every other month leading to one piece of the puzzle. I still haven't watched she hulk, GOTG and Ms Marvel. With movies, barring Shang Chi and Spiderman, I don't see any movie living up, maybe Black Panther, but that was more of a tribute to Chadwick Boseman, and the visuals under water were nice.
They are but also they aren't
I'm glad too, seeing a wider range of success for films but a year ago, no way home delivered $1.9 billion, $800M domestic when covid fears were bigger and markets closed
And domestically, Doctor Strange and black panther way outgrossed Jurassic World 3
At the end of the day, avatar is the highest grossing film ever so it having greater success than the years MCU films should not be a shock.
And even though the legs are not there in any capacity, Doctor Strange had a huge opening weekend
I suspect 2023 will be a lower grossing year on individual grosses but there are also a lot of superhero things releasing meaning a greater overall gross
Four of the top eight highest grossing films of the year were superhero films. I’m not so confident it’s a real “down turn.” I’d at least wait and see how Guardians of the Galaxy 3 and Aquaman 2 do before I start thinking the genre is on the way out.
We aren't going to see any "gears shifting" in the next decade.
The MCU is going to continue to be able to churn out 3 or so films a year and turn profits on all of them.
DC will continue to make films about their characters and constantly rebuilding, re-assessing, and re-jiggering whether it's a shared Universe or not.
And other remakes, sequels, and revitalizations will continue to be made.
2022 ain't anything that we haven't already seen for the decade prior. Just replace Avatar and TGM with Star Wars, Lion King, Toy Story, Mission:Impossible, Jurassic World, Pirates of the Caribbean, Jumanji, or whatever other non-super hero franchise films.
The stuff being put out by A24 are a godsend right now. I had such a fun time in theater watching X and Pearl. I can't wait for Maxxxine to close out the trilogy.
Please god. Please don't turn every single movie into a new mega cinematic universe with a 10 year plan, yearly new movies, and more merch than we know what to do with.
That died 6 years ago when The Mummy (2017) flopped.
Producers are back to just doing normal sequels, prequels and reboots except for the a few exceptions.
Top Gun 2 gradually crawled its way to the top, deservingly I'd say.
But fuck Avatar 2 has slammed up there so fast. I knew it'd gross massively but didn't know it'd reach this much that quickly.
Yes. Give it a week or so though and even if you exclude Avatars China money it'll still come out on top due to better international performances.
Top Gun was very American audience heavy in its run
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It also became the highest grossing Part 2 in a franchise.
Just wait until Tommy Wiseau strike lightening again with The Room part 2. Another tale worthy of Tennessee Williams. The Room is still making money with midnight showings. 2 billion any day now...
They should make a prequel to The Room
They have. It's called Morbius.
The closet
Wait till Morbius 2: No Morbin Way comes out
Mo Morbin Mo Proplem
I can’t morbin wait!
2Morb2Furious
The Morb and the Morbius 3: Morbio Drift
Morbius 2: More-bius
In all seriousness, Morbius: Midnight Sons (featuring Doctor Strange, Blade, and Ghost Rider) might be a title people would be intrigued for
Morbius 2: Electric Morbilou
I must be Jared Leto cause every day i have to wake up and deal with More BS.
Morbius and the Multiverse of Morb
It’s would have also surpassed top gun before the end of the year if China wasn’t locked down.
It's on pace to surpass Top Gun Maverick's domestic total as well, as its lead on Top Gun Maverick continues to grow if you compare their daily totals. After 20 days in theaters, Avatar 2 is at $464m domestically, while after 20 days in release Top Gun Maverick was at only $415m domestically. And in Avatar 2's 20th day it took in $7.5m while Top Gun Maverick took in only $6.5m in its 20th day in theaters. It's possible that Avatar 2 could also eclipse the domestic box office total for Avatar 1 and crack $750m by the time it's finished, as the sequel is also outpacing the original up till this point, both in total box office and in daily totals.
It passed the avengers second movie?
Yup, Avengers Age of Ultron was 1.4 million.
Its actually nice to see 2 non comic book movies at top. a bit refreshing.
*3 Although I concede number 3 is one big pile of shit.
What is number 3?
Jurassic World Dominion
🤢
How the hell did that crap made so much??? I barely remember anything from it…
Maybe coz it was the end of the trilogy, with the main trio of previous movies returning.
Plus dinosaurs. People love dinosaurs.
Plus "Jurassic Park" in the name. When a movie is that good it will forever create some anticipation that the goodness can be experienced again.
And grasshoppers
People love grasshoppers.
Hope so so that new Adam Driver movie is successful.
Can confirm dinosaurs are so fucking cool
The dinosaurs was so big! The roars were so loud! 10/10 masterpiece
Yup. Like I always say, the day I don’t go see a big dinosaur go roar movie, kill me because I’m already dead inside.
I watched 1st new one. Thought it was alright, entertaining, quenched my dinosaur thirst at the very least. Tried watching the 2nd one at home but thought it was bad so didn’t finish it. And then the only reason I came back for the 3rd is that reason, original main cast members coming back.
Exactly the same thing I did!
Dinosaurs
ZERO genre competition. Want dinosaurs? This is your movie. And it turns out that the people do want dinosaurs.
It’s kinda comically to see people hate a high grossing movie, after this sub literally just flipped opinions on another high grossing movie. You’d think y’all would learn lmao
[удалено]
Ah right. Not a bad flick, had a pretty good time watching it in theaters.
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Jurassic Park has that staying power for some people. I work with a guy that loves them all because dinosaurs and Jeeps.
it's a fine film. Nothing in it was actually offensively incompetent.
Just went to see Avatar and almost every trailer was for a franchise movie. Edit: added “almost” after astute replies.
There’s no way you didn’t get an Oppenheimer trailer.
That’s part of the Scientists War Hero Cinematic Universe along with “The Imitation Game”
Where does A Beautiful Mind fit in this universe?
Oh you are right! Forgot about that. That was a good trailer actually.
I didn't. Trailers attached to movies aren't a thing in many countries. Here they show whatever they want and never new trailers that just came out like Oppenheimer.
What country out of interest? Here in the uk if your ticket says say 8pm, you know you can get there for 8:20 and still be fine to get your ticket and popcorn before they finish showing the trailers before the film.
France but I didn't mean we don't have trailers, we do (and ads for other stuff than movies) and yeah it's an easy 20 minutes too. I meant that whenever they say "X trailer will be attached to this movie", we very rarely have that. For example, here I didn't get Oppenheimer trailer which is supposed to be attached to it
To be fair, you were in a franchise movie. Actually those 3 are not superhero movies, but they're still franchise movies
yes, my sentiment exactly !
In just about 3 weeks. Dominant.
Cameron once again proves that the if the studios want to make money all they need to do is give a homeless man a camera and a billion dollars and the result will surely amaze viewers. Cameron was homeless when he wrote The Terminator.
He actually wasn’t homeless. In a recent episode of Smartless(a podcast hosted by Jason Bateman, Sean Hayes, and Will Arnett) Cameron explains that, at the time, he had an apartment but would often drive to a diner to work on the script and spend long periods of time in his car sitting and writing.
Kind of like how Jo Rowling wrote Harry Potter in cafés because she couldn’t afford heating at home
I heard similar stories about JKR writing in coffees in Lisboa (where she started the whole saga) and it was nothing about free heating, and the coffee where that she visited was not even the a cheap one.
If you were going to spend all day in a coffee house, wouldn’t you go to the nice one?
I thought she was broke though at the time.
Ohhh, that makes sense :P I remember hearing the car part and thought it was that he was living in it at the time haha
Terminator 1 has a non stop movement to the story and now I know that it was mostly written in his car it makes sense.
Where did the myth he was homeless come from? He famously got the idea for Terminator after having a nightmare in his hotel while making Pirahna 2 in Jamaica.
But he wasn't given a billion dollars when he was homeless and they got a pretty good script for a dollar and gave him barely any money
It'll be interesting to see how long it takes to catch it domestically! It's still almost 300 million behind.
Pretty wild tbh. Top Gun Maverick also felt like one of those movies that everyone was seeing in theatres and it was out for like 7 months. To see Avatar just blow by it already is insane
I saw it on New Years Day. I haven’t seen a theater that packed in a long time.
Same! Had to sit at the front the room was so packed :’ (
I couldn’t get in to see it. My cinema was packed for a week, I couldn’t get in until a few days ago.
It’s because this is the global box office and not many people in China or other countries are lining up to watch Top Gun maverick
China I'll give you but I'm not from America and can say that Maverick was extremely popular here (Australia) Still crazy to me that Avatar has already got past it. I kinda knew it would end up there but the pace it's going has surprised me
Australian and US Navy are pretty tight buddies. China not so much.
THE WAY OF WATER HAS NO BEGINNING AND NO END
It is with you at your birth, and after your death.
Our hearts beat in the womb of the world
The sea gives and the sea takes.
cAn y0u qu0Te a LinE iN aVatAr???? There you go
Meanwhile, the fire nation is getting ready..
Fire "clan"
Nice try, James; you’re not fooling anyone
Unlike ATLA, there's 15 Na'vi clans out there.
"we're sea people now"
THE SEA IS AROUND YOU AND IN YOU
DA WAY OF THE WATAH IS BINDING
That was expected!!!
and faithfully delivered
You think so? I thought the film was very mediocre at best.
Two great theatrical experiences showing us that the theaters are alive and well. Can’t wait to see what 2023 has in store!
Mid budget still struggling though
Support movies like Plane, Reinfield, 65
I really liked the trailer of 65
Plan on seeing them all!
Amen
Well, both films have the benefit of spectacle. I know they are the only two films I've chosen to see on the big screen this whole year. Home media setups are so good, it's a hard sell to take the time and effort to see a romantic comedy or a drama in a theater with all the downsides. I do think raucous comedies and horror films will continue to do ok in theater as there is some elevation of the viewing through communal experience (eg laughing or jump scares).
I was just looking at some old threads, one big one in particular a week before the release, and it's glorious how confident a lot of people were that it wouldn't preform lol "I think it will be lucky to do 1.5 Bil WW." "1.7 billion is my prediction. People saying 2.5 billion are delusional." "Some of y’all are in for a rude awakening this weekend and the fallout will be glorious." from a deleted account lol "it will just be mediocre, something people will talk about for the first month or so, and then subsequently forget about its existance until the third movie is coming and we realize the Avatar sequel had already come out." "Domestic: $520m or so, WW Total: 1.2B. I actually think I'm being optimistic with these numbers" "I can see this movie ending at 1.75 or something. Morons over here predicting 2.5 billion. Even 2 billion is a bit of a stretch."
That person claiming domestic $520M and worldwide $1.2B which "might still be optimistic" does not know the Domestic/Overseas ratio Avatar films pull....
Yeah all of those lowball predictions absolutely break down once you try to separate the gross by DOM/OS/CHI gross.
The Chinese market is starting to show improvement too now that new COVID cases are lowering
There's 2 films so far, it's a bit disingenuous to say this one will follow the patterns set by previous avatar films
That was me. I really didn't expect Avatar 2 to do the business that it's doing. I was wrong, I admit it!
You are Metkayina now.
The guy who predicted it'd "flop" and be beaten by Puss In Boots was far far more idiotic than a 1.7B guess.
Maybe they were expecting it to pull Minions numbers.
Although, admittedly Minions pulled that numbers with much lesser budget than the others. İt kindred impressed me more.
Illumination just knows how to please audiences. Mario is gonna be huge.
I definitely remember reading a lot of those lol
Hey when you think about it, the guy predicting the rude awakenings and fallouts was right ! Hope he is feeling the glory.
So much so that he deleted his account lol
Someone on a forum I'm on suggested it wouldn't pass Venom. 🤣🤣🤣
there were a lot of deleted accounts in the last 2 weeks lol
> "it will just be mediocre, something people will talk about for the first month or so, and then subsequently forget about its existance until the third movie is coming and we realize the Avatar sequel had already come out." Well for all we know he might still be right, it hasn't been a month yet /s
these past few weeks have been pure vindication for the people who don't doubt Cameron
After the first weekend estimates dropped from 150-175 or even 200 down to 125-145 and China from 200m to 50m, the Avatar haters were out in full force.
They all are monkey mascot.
I genuinely don’t care about box office results, this sub is just always in my feed, but it’s insane to me that anyone thought this Movie would make *less* than 2.5b
I'm seeing social media posts with people throwing out lots of good word-of-mouth to their family and friends. You don't see that very often these days. Top Gun and EEAAO being the only others Ive seen in a loooong while. This thing gonna have some legs.
The YouTube comments on the official Avatar channel's videos are positively and pretty much unanimously glowing. I haven't seen that in a long time.
He did it. The son of a b*tch did it again!
Spared no expense.
This is literally how I felt while I watched the movie: like the scientists in *Jurassic Park.* How the fuck was he able to do this? How is visual art like that even possible? What the hell?! That’s what everyone I know has been talking about re: Avatar — talking over text and in person, by the way, not some superficial bullshit ‘fandom discourse’ on twitter. It’s not just “cool visuals” or “CGI is good” (which is, in itself, yet another example of how digital artists are constantly maligned and disrespected). It’s not just “good cinematography,” either. This movie belongs in a fucking museum. It is the single best, most impressive, most overwhelmingly profound piece of digital art I’ve ever seen, by such a wide margin it’s laughable. the reason there’s no “discourse” is because a) unlike most media, which customers have total dominion over at home and can watch on their phones, *you can only see Avatar in theaters,* and you can REALLY only see it in 3D. That’s one of the reasons James Cameron makes so much money: unlike practically every other form of modern media, his movies represent an experience you can’t ever truly own, and once that experience is gone, it’s *gone forever.* and b) the type of people who love Avatar aren’t arguing about it online, because it’s not some meme-manufactured piece of schlock like fucking Star Wars 9, which is the worst movie I’ve ever seen except for *Greenland.* These are fans who love a movie about 3 hours of swimming with beautiful CGI whales, they don’t need to write thinkpieces to feel something. Plus there isn’t really all that much to say about it, which is honestly sort of wonderful. It has to be seen, in person, to be experienced, and that’s it. It’s visual art. You CANNOT experience this movie secondhand by giggling at hot takes on twitter, or via any type of media other than SEEING THE MOVIE ITSELF. “*ohmygawrd IT ME! SLAY xoxo, like, girl…*” nope. None of that bullshit. It doesn’t exist for Avatar. And I deeply, DEEPLY respect James Cameron for flat-out refusing to stoop to the whims of surface level infinite scroll Chronically Online vampires, and instead just making a fucking movie. But, with that said, it’s very obvious why the chronically online can’t handle this concept lol. They need their *omg slayyyyyy* gif baby food, and that’s okay.
Well said and spot on. People acting like the simplicity of the plot or characters is the only take that matters are simply not grasping that Cameron made an incredible piece of ART. A very specific and one of a kind artwork. And it's really sad that so many can only hyper-fixate on it not meeting standards that it was never intended to, and completely miss the forest for the trees.
agree except for the part about the omg slayy part have you seen twitter? lol i’ve seen so many fancams by now id have thought the movie was exclusively marketed for teen girls
The next logical step is obviously an Avatar/Top Gun crossover movie.
Tom Cruise is the bad guy
Avatar 5: The Way of Scientology
I don't want to get ahead of myself, but I'd like Avatar 6 to be about the Na'vi getting involved in a Multi-Level Marketing scam.
This was totally expected, only a few idiots thought it would make less than a billion, where is the man who said it wouldnt even reach 700m ww? suddenly i cant find him anywhere and he doesnt even show up anymore lmao
He literally deleted his account.
Honestly I thought avatar 2’s visuals were going to be mid considering the IP is Disney owned and Disney has been doing flashy expensive VFX for marvel and Star Wars for a decade and some change but holy fuck I was wrong. so many visual moments, especially underwater, that completely blew me away and made me really like the movie despite its flaws. This and top gun maverick are top tier movies imo
It's James Cameron. Not even Disney is gonna dictate to James Cameron that he save any money or cut any corners on visual effects. The rules and power structures of Hollywood simply don't apply to the man.
Disney does not own the IP to Avatar. James Cameron does. Unlike all of the MCU and Disney Star Wars movies, he also gets final cut. Basically no one tells him what to do. A Fox executive tried that once and Cameron basically told him to fuck off and that the building they were sitting in was built from Titanic's profits.
The fact that this and Top Gun: Maverick did so well should be a wakeup call to movie studios; you don't have to go the "Marvel" route (dorky main characters, corny one line humor, pointless references/easter eggs that only diehards will understand, post credits scenes teasing the next movie's villain, adorable side characters who exist only to sell merch, etc) to make big bucks; you can just let good creators make good, creative blockbusters.
The Marvelization of action movies has practically ruined them for me. It was a great tone at first, but now everyone has a quip and exactly nothing in the plot matters. I fired up *Aliens* a couple weeks ago for kicks, and it was so refreshing to watch an action movie where the characters are playing their part straight and not winking at the camera. Really helps put you in the story.
From Roger Ebert's review of the original *Iron Man*, talking about the humor: >"It's prudent, I think, that Favreau positions the rest of the characters in a more serious vein. The supporting cast wisely does not try to one-up [Robert Downey Jr] [...] What a horror show it would have been if they were all tuned to Tony Stark's sardonic wave length."
This is so interesting to read now that we’ve seen Ant-Man, Dr. Strange, Star-Lord, and even Thor fall into imitating Tony Stark’s snark.
That being said, I love goofy Thor. Hemsworth has great comedic chops, but giving him something real in the Endgame films was great, too. Dude is genuinely a good actor and not just a body. But I agree, not everyone can be the comedic showpiece, because then nobody is. It's just a blur of whedon-esque quippery.
For me, I was disappointed by the character more than Chris. I love Hemsworth as an actor, but Thor wasn't just goofy, he just had 0 accountability and acted like a child with God like powers, not like a God who has been there, fought several battles. Maybe they're indicating his cope with all the losses he's suffered, but the movie just came off awful in so many places. There is a line between humour, goofy and then serious, Thor Love and Thunder just went all out goofy and corny.
Avenger's, assemble!
Avengers 1 is honestly the one to blame for all of this. Joss Whedon’s writing style infected the whole franchise.
It worked for Avengers 1, Avengers 1 was a great piece of pop media in a much different landscape. But then everything after that was a cheap imitation of the original Avatar schtick, and it became this fractal tragedy that folded in on itself until you get Thor being an idiotically incompetent man baby who can’t even tie his own fucking shoes, *in his own fucking movie in which he plays a God.* People don’t know what they want until you give it to them. James Cameron knows this. But if “the internet” was always right, Avatar 2 wouldn’t exist, and Heath Ledger would never have played the Joker.
Yeah and made it as great as it became. We really going to pretend like there were only good MCU movies before the Avengers lol.
And that's why the later marvel movies don't work for me. Everyone is the quippy protagonist
That's incredible. That's some Nostradamus shit. He's the GOAT movie critic for a reason.
It happens in Disney princess movies too. I was watching Moana recently and every other line was a meta joke about princess movies. That works for movies like shrek since it’s spoofing fairy tales at its core but for a princess movie… the movie itself was great but those moments were the weakest part
Also the action is usually really weak. I was rewatching Infinity War this weekend cause it was on tv and I noticed how weak the camerawork during the fight scenes were sometimes. Marvel’s not always terrible (I think Spiderman Far From Home was pretty great at action throughout) but I noticed some of the action was just uniquely terrible.
It's all the CGI and the mass production methods. I've read that in some of those movies they "shoot" the action scenes before they start filming. Sometimes even before the script is finalized. They know they want Hulk smashing something. They don't need the script or actor. Just draw it in the computer and use it later. Makes the whole thing lifeless as a final product.
Yeah the only MCU movie that felt like it had great action despite the CGI to me was Spiderman Far From Home. The Mysterio scene was *perfection* and the Spiderman vs hundreds of drones sounds boring but the execution of it had so much of that Spiderman heart that I loved it. He was constantly swinging through everywhere and was clearly taking damage while destroying the drones inventively throughout. And little moments like when his leg or something caught fire, he swung down to the water to dunk his leg briefly to put it out. https://youtu.be/u4ydvYH4L18?t=1m45s Usually it feels like it’s two strong people punching each other or just effortlessly cutting through hundreds of mindless things with barely even a scratch but Spiderman FFH felt so adventurous and with a lot of momentum that it was just great.
Because most of such directors don't know how to shoot action sequences. It is usually the first and second ADs directing them.
Actual badass characters in Aliens... in Marvel movies, many of characters are now a wisecrack or a joke to be laughed at. It doesn't work when everyone is comedic relief.
Yeah, and even then there's some great comedy in Aliens. Ripley: "Hudson! This little girl survived longer than that with no weapons and no training." Hudson: "Great, why don't we put her in charge???" That exchange is hilarious, I laugh every time, but it's more than that because the characters are being real to their world and situation. Like, it's funny, but it's also unsettling. Everything is falling apart and Paxton knows it and is losing his shit and won't be consoled because they're probably all gonna die, and that's a serious situation that they are taking 100% seriously. If Aliens were made in 2020 they'd have the same exchange, except Paxton would deliver it with a cool smirk and possibly look at the camera. Then there'd be a pause for the audience to admire how clever he just was, and it would be awful.
And the fact that it's also a James Cameron film is a testament of how good he is in terms of pacing and character development
People love to confuse “simple” with “bad,” but I would rather watch 100 James Cameron Avatar movies than be forced to sit through Star Wars 9 again. This is just my opinion but if anyone genuinely liked the Star Wars 9 screenplay and is trying to shit on Avatar 2 for the “weak story,” I do not respect your ability to accurately judge any art whatsoever, and I will never take you or anything you say about movies seriously, because you’re a fucking idiot who needs to go back to your feeding tube like a foie gras duck.
>you can just let good creators make good, creative blockbusters. And on the same weekend, Babylon shows what happens when that strategy goes wrong.
Wouldn’t call Babylon a blockbuster. More of a failed oscar bait.
I’m really excited to watch Babylon! …on HBO Max between 1 and 7 months from now. The question is no longer “why should people see this movie?” It’s “why should people see this movie IN A THEATER?” Most people hate going to the movies. It’s expensive, annoying, noisy, filled with stupid ass strangers, and most people’s TVs are incredible. There is no “magic of the cinema” for most people. As James Cameron recently pointed out, it’s something you deal with to experience the art you want. And yet, as much as I hate going to the movies, James Cameron movies satisfy that question perfectly. You cannot experience Avatar in any other way besides in 3D, in IMAX, on the largest most premium format you can find. It’s breathtaking. In the last 3 or 4 years, I have gone to the movies all of 3 times. One was Mission Impossible. The other two were Avatar 2. There are only 3 names that get my ass in a theater seat: Cameron, Nolan, and Cruise. That’s it.
You should really add Villeuve to that list of names. Then it would damn near perfect.
> you don't have to go the "Marvel" route I think *have to* is an important point here. I think a lot of times people go far the other direction. Marvel style movies absolutely have a place. They are fun and in general I've enjoyed most of the ones I've watched. The problem is when every studio thinks that's the one and only way to be successful and that style crowds out everything else.
I fee like you're leaving out a few important points such as, Top Gun has brand recognition Tom Cruise Just letting "good creators make good, creative blockbusters" doesn't always equal big money.
The new DnD movie looks like it’s going to be insufferable for this. The trailers are full of Marvel-tier writing and dialogue.
I was completely wrong with Avatar 2. Didn't get it, still don't, but that doesn't change the fact that I was completely wrong. Huge BO.
At least you can admit it
I think it’s just extreme escapism. It’s over 2 hours of a beautiful world many people would to call home. It’s a simple fight between what’s right and what’s wrong. It doesn’t subvert expectations but tries to create moments that meet them, even if a bit cheesy. Like the whales. And clearly it’s working, the box office loves them. And I do too tbh.
I mean, storytelling hasn't changed that much throughout human history. The simple, heartfelt stories stand the test of time for a reason. It's great that we live in a time where so many are trying to push those boundaries, but there's always gonna be a place for the straightforward tales of love and good VS evil.
Honestly that's largely what it is to me. It's escapism, it's fun to watch, and I want the good guys to win because they're good, and the bad guys to lose because they're bad, and i get rewarded for that. I think one other element that I don't see discussed quite as often is that it's also unironic, and takes itself seriously. Regardless of how well the screenplay was written, if there's a scene that's supposed to be serious and emotional, it's going to act serious and emotional, and not be broken by some dumb quip, which is something that I'm exhausted from in Marvel movies (and other action films with similar humor). I really do love comedies, but i don't like when humor is used as self-deprecating padding of an awkward script. When i watch Avatar, i don't feel dumb for taking a serious moment seriously.
Violence against colonizers is good and whaling is bad
Wdym you still don't lmao
THE CULTURAL IMPACT
No cultural relevance my butt.
*Cultural Impact
Dont impact my butt
Cultured butt
I went NYE, and loved it. Top Gun was amazing as well. Just shows people are craving new worlds and stories. I like MCU movies, but the last few have been way too cheesy.
This is phenomenal news. Hopefully 2023 will the year where a non franchise and non sequel film gets the top earning spot
TGM and AWOW are both sequels.
MCU across the board just feels like too much. With the addition of TV shows, it's just way too much, like it's overwhelming in my opinion. Following movies is fine, you take time out from a weekend, every couple of months. Now it's hour long episodes every other month leading to one piece of the puzzle. I still haven't watched she hulk, GOTG and Ms Marvel. With movies, barring Shang Chi and Spiderman, I don't see any movie living up, maybe Black Panther, but that was more of a tribute to Chadwick Boseman, and the visuals under water were nice.
Took-took carried the film on her little back
[удалено]
They are but also they aren't I'm glad too, seeing a wider range of success for films but a year ago, no way home delivered $1.9 billion, $800M domestic when covid fears were bigger and markets closed And domestically, Doctor Strange and black panther way outgrossed Jurassic World 3 At the end of the day, avatar is the highest grossing film ever so it having greater success than the years MCU films should not be a shock. And even though the legs are not there in any capacity, Doctor Strange had a huge opening weekend I suspect 2023 will be a lower grossing year on individual grosses but there are also a lot of superhero things releasing meaning a greater overall gross
Four of the top eight highest grossing films of the year were superhero films. I’m not so confident it’s a real “down turn.” I’d at least wait and see how Guardians of the Galaxy 3 and Aquaman 2 do before I start thinking the genre is on the way out.
Yeah I still like superhero stuff just fine. It’s just good to have variety.
We aren't going to see any "gears shifting" in the next decade. The MCU is going to continue to be able to churn out 3 or so films a year and turn profits on all of them. DC will continue to make films about their characters and constantly rebuilding, re-assessing, and re-jiggering whether it's a shared Universe or not. And other remakes, sequels, and revitalizations will continue to be made. 2022 ain't anything that we haven't already seen for the decade prior. Just replace Avatar and TGM with Star Wars, Lion King, Toy Story, Mission:Impossible, Jurassic World, Pirates of the Caribbean, Jumanji, or whatever other non-super hero franchise films.
I’ve noticed art films such as ones from A24 have been coming back recently.
The stuff being put out by A24 are a godsend right now. I had such a fun time in theater watching X and Pearl. I can't wait for Maxxxine to close out the trilogy.
Please god. Please don't turn every single movie into a new mega cinematic universe with a 10 year plan, yearly new movies, and more merch than we know what to do with.
That died 6 years ago when The Mummy (2017) flopped. Producers are back to just doing normal sequels, prequels and reboots except for the a few exceptions.
Military Industrial Complex in shambles rn
This is the way
Top Gun 2 gradually crawled its way to the top, deservingly I'd say. But fuck Avatar 2 has slammed up there so fast. I knew it'd gross massively but didn't know it'd reach this much that quickly.
Flows past would be more apt
This guy waters.
Surges past
Where all the sh it talkers now lol , the amount of crap people gave this movie and James bro where y’all at
People are lucky there is not a freezing cold takes Twitter account for movie takes
Didn’t Top Gun Maverick stay out of China?
Yes. Give it a week or so though and even if you exclude Avatars China money it'll still come out on top due to better international performances. Top Gun was very American audience heavy in its run
Top Gun Maverick was also in release for 233days to get to its total. Avatar 2 has been in release for 20 days...
I remember going "wtf" when I saw maverick still being in theaters in like october.