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"Have we forgotten about Avatar?"
- Thread starter bengraven
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ZombiePlatypus
Member
I still say it's basically furry-Pocahontas.
The film never was about the characters, the story etc. It was about Pandora, the way Cameron introduces the world to the audience is just brilliant. I worked in a cinema back then and in my 5 years working there i've never seen so many people go for repeat viewings and when I asked some of them they would always begin talking about Pandora as opposed to particular sequences in the film.
SCULLIBUNDO
Banned
The revisionist history on this movie is always hilarious.
SCULLIBUNDO
Banned
Nah, it's pretty much the definition of revisionist history to claim that audiences only saw it for the 3D/pre-release hype. Six weeks out from the film's release, everybody was calling it a bomb. It had zero presence. People were wondering what the hell FOX was doing with their marketing budget. It was going to be their Heaven's Gate. Blue cat people jokes existed, yes, but they were used as just another excuse why this was a surefire bomb and proof that Cameron had lost his mind. FOX releasing a film with a 3D/2D 75/25 split was called the dumbest shit they could ever do. Now people claim OF COURSE it was the 3D pre-release hype that sold it and made it that much money.
No film makes 2.8 billion based on pre-release hype. And again, the notion that there was huge pre-release hype amongst mainstream audiences is absolute bullshit. Word of mouth carried the film.
It's not revisionist if people have been saying that from the beginning! Just because something isn't true doesn't mean it is revisionist. 
Just go back to any of the threads back when it was opening. It was either "this is gonna bomb no one cares 3D is fad!" before it opened or "all hype no characters 3D fad!!!" after it opened. This is just an extension of that. I don't think people who dislike the film have ever let got of it. Nothing is being revised in their minds because I don't think they can understand why it actually became the biggest box office success of all time.
Just go back to any of the threads back when it was opening. It was either "this is gonna bomb no one cares 3D is fad!" before it opened or "all hype no characters 3D fad!!!" after it opened. This is just an extension of that. I don't think people who dislike the film have ever let got of it. Nothing is being revised in their minds because I don't think they can understand why it actually became the biggest box office success of all time.
I didn't really like the movie that much, but even the people I know who loved it (and saw it multiple times in the cinema) don't really talk about it that much. I would say that's mostly a consequence of it having a long turn around for the sequel. I'd say that as we get nearer to the release of Avatar 2, people will start talking about it again.
It doesn't strike me as one of those movies that will be something everyone talks about forever. Not a Godfather or whatever.
Hopefully I enjoy the sequel more.
It doesn't strike me as one of those movies that will be something everyone talks about forever. Not a Godfather or whatever.
Hopefully I enjoy the sequel more.
Mediocre, forgettable movie. Blows my mind that it's still the highest grossing film of all time. Like... how can something like Avengers 2 or Star Wars VII not knock it off its spot? The hype for these films is unreal. The merchandising and advertising for the Marvel and Star Wars brands is never ending. Is the Cameron brand that strong? 3D gimmick got people to watch? It sure as hell isn't the quality of the movie that had people talking.
I'd be fucking blown away if Avatar 2 even cracks a billion. The first film really does feel forgotten by the general public.
I'd be fucking blown away if Avatar 2 even cracks a billion. The first film really does feel forgotten by the general public.
Jeffolation
Banned
Literally just a nothing movie. Like drinking a flat diet soda when you weren't thirsty.
Cameron lost the plot sometime during the first clinton administration but he gets a lifetime pass for The Terminator and Aliens. So it goes.
Cameron lost the plot sometime during the first clinton administration but he gets a lifetime pass for The Terminator and Aliens. So it goes.
I understood that reference.
Phoenician_Viking
Banned
Avatar had shitty script, shitty acting, shitty chemistry, but my god, James Cameron´s building of the Avatar world is second to none. The most amazing visuals, and great imagination of the world. The floating mountains of Pandora are still amazing. No one can touch James Cameron in that regard.
Most likely Avatar had the word of mouth it had because people knew it was a big sci.fi blockbuster, but they didn't know exactly what to expect since it wasn't a sequel/remake or comic book/videogame/fantasy book adaptation, so it created a snowball effect of people watching it over and over again "to see what the fuzz is all about". I mean, both geeks and the mainstream audience know what to expect from things like Star Wars or Avengers and that's why most people know months in advance if they want to watch it or not. I could be wrong but I think that's what happened back in 2009.
SCULLIBUNDO
Banned
It's not revisionist if people have been saying that from the beginning! Just because something isn't true doesn't mean it is revisionist.
Just go back to any of the threads back when it was opening. It was either "this is gonna bomb no one cares 3D is fad!" before it opened or "all hype no characters 3D fad!!!" after it opened. This is just an extension of that. I don't think people who dislike the film have ever let got of it. Nothing is being revised in their minds because I don't think they can understand why it actually became the biggest box office success of all time.
Except that it went from '3D is dumb, nobody is going to buy into this, this is going to crater so hard' to 'It released in 3D. Of COURSE it was going to make a shit tonne of money'.
Basically, the uphill battle and tremendous risks Cameron and FOX took in making and releasing the film the way they did was completely undermined once it became successful, with people then trying to pigeonhole it as a lazy sure thing. Anything to rob the film of winning the box office on its own merits.
I feel there's a difference between rushing out a sequel and still releasing it within a reasonable time. When you start taking years to release a sequel (such as 5 years), if the movie wasn't like in the minds of the pop culture for a very long time people tend to just stop caring.
For example, I really REALLY wanted a District 9 sequel, hell they have talked about it. I hope it comes out eventually but honestly it's just getting to the point where I just don't care because it's been too long.
I sort of like Avatar, but I was intrigued by the idea of the sequels, however it's been too long. My intrigue is well gone and past now.
thekonamicode
Member
I've never seen Avatar. At this exact moment I'm sitting in a Wolfgang Puck restaurant in Harajuku and a TV on the wall is playing it with motion smoothing on and I can't hear anything from the movie. Do people normally keep motion smoothing on? I'm about to throw up.
Avatar is a really good case study in human group psychology. I wish someone could make a research paper out of it. Every time I was with friends or family that December in '09 we all had to go see Avatar. Someone hadn't seen it, so we all had to go see it, again.
It was as big a phenomenon as Star Wars, but with none of the staying power. It's almost totally forgotten. Cameron's trying to force the sequels like it's something that people organically want.
It was as big a phenomenon as Star Wars, but with none of the staying power. It's almost totally forgotten. Cameron's trying to force the sequels like it's something that people organically want.
Makes sense. It really was the second coming of Star Wars, strictly from a box office perspective. Everyone and their mother went to check out Star Wars back in 1977 because it was a cultural phenomenon. When Empire rolled out, it did a good deal less at the box office than the first. And that was coming off fucking Star Wars, one of the most influential and praised films of all time.
Avatar has not been influential. It also wasn't praised like the second coming when it was released (unlike Star Wars), and five years later I see a lot of people wondering just what the fuck happened with that movie (again, unlike Star Wars).
I can imagine less than half of the audience that watched Avatar will be interested in going back for a sequel. All those extra movie goers went to watch based on the word of mouth at the time, which was all about the "amazing CG" and "amazing 3D", and never about the actual quality of the film, at least from what I've seen lol.
Phoenician_Viking
Banned
Ahahahaha.
A new gimmick could REALLY grant sucess to a sequel.
Hell, i would watch it if it had ~smellovision~
The same way i watched the first Avatar in theater because it had 3D and nobody in my city or state had ever watched a 3D movie, ever
I'm not saying it won't happen. I'm just saying I'd be blown away if that many people are still interested in an Avatar sequel so long after the first.
I was similarly blown away by the box office numbers the Transformers sequels did, so there you go.
SCULLIBUNDO
Banned
So many people hungry for dat crow.
CassidyIzABeast
Member
Avatar 2 will make bank regardless of how "forgotten" the first movie is. Its a given that the visual spectacle will be off the charts. A must see on the big screen experience. Common sense really.
Sparrowhawk
Member
Best Pocahontas remake out there.
Honestly, though, the only thing impressive about it was the CGI. The story was passable.
Just an average movie with above average graphics.
Honestly, though, the only thing impressive about it was the CGI. The story was passable.
Just an average movie with above average graphics.
Is it possible?
Can special effects impress anyone nowdays?
I mean, i grew up in the 80´s when star wars had the best special effects ever, and even to me the visual spetacle of modern movies lost its appeal
I can only imagine what CGI looks to the young uns of today. They grew up with this, must be a yawn fest for them
Every movie has CGI. Hell, they catch more of my attention when they are bad then when they are good.
I bet avatar 2 will do nicely at box office. But i think it would be hard to come close to the success of the first one without a new gimmick.
And i really hope the new gimmick to be smellovision!! This is something i want to see (smell)
Phoenician_Viking
Banned
Terminator 2 came 7 years after the original and made big money. Time does not diminish an interest in what is he biggest grossing movie ever. I bet you once we see the trailer for Avatar 2, everyone and their mothers would want to see the movie.
Discotheque
Banned
It will do killer numbers internationally once again
I don't think it will beat the first film's domestic record, but I think worldwide figures will definitely make up for the decrease.
International audiences are expanding every year and it was already fucking huge in 09
I don't think it will beat the first film's domestic record, but I think worldwide figures will definitely make up for the decrease.
International audiences are expanding every year and it was already fucking huge in 09
It's funny that the quotes in the OP state that it "was an idea". I felt back then it was anything but. The story, the world, the characters, the aesthetics, the pacing, the fx, even the 3D, everything was scavanged from other works (though admittedly the 3D was on a whole new level). There was nothing new there or it was so subtile that I missed it.
I went out of the movie and said to myself that was the most forgettable hypetrain in the history of cinema.
I went out of the movie and said to myself that was the most forgettable hypetrain in the history of cinema.
Drifter_InA_Cage
Member
Is it a movie that only should be watched in 3d or would I be shortchanging myself if I watch it on my laptop on a rainy afternoon?
Rogue_Ledr
Banned
Totally overrated crap IMO.
It was successful because it rode the 3D hype wave.
The sequels will not fair nearly as well IMO.
It was successful because it rode the 3D hype wave.
The sequels will not fair nearly as well IMO.
It loses a LOT of its appeal. I think without the cinematic 3D experience it's like a glorified Final Fantasy cutscene.
looks like you backed the donkey
Is he actually going to make a good movie this time? I'd be happy to see a successful Avatar 2 if the movie doesn't suck.
neotokyo360
Member
Yes
I wait Avatar 2.
I wait Avatar 2.
BoogerFart
Banned
Yup. The story is on the level of a Saturday morning cartoon.
Beren the Empty-Handed
Member
The only thing good about that movie was the 3D. Unfortunately, spectacle doesn't mean much to me and I wasn't engaged, so I fell asleep 3 times in the theater while watching it. I knew where it was going to go, and had figured that there weren't going to be any surprises, so my brain checked out. Then something loud would happen and I'd wake up again, only to find that what was happening was exactly what I'd figured would happen.
kruis
Exposing the sinister cartel of retailers who allow companies to pay for advertising space.
The backlash is ridiculous. Quite a lot of people want to distance themselves from whatever mainstream America loves. That's particularly true of the two most successful Hollywood blockbusters in the past twenty years: Titanic and Avatar. Thank god Gaf != real world.
I thought the only interesting thing in the world was the bioluminescence bit, otherwise it wasn't that imaginative at all. If you'd seen any Roger Dean artwork, from the dragons to floating mountains it was that. It was just prog-rock album covers come to life and felt a bit dated in that regard. Bland almost.
The creature design, from the Na'vi to bolting an extra pair of legs on everything else, was also pretty awful. I never want to see a Na'vi again really.
AHA-Lambda
Member
Cos it was totally forgettable and bland, a movie this big shouldn't feel as if everyone has forgotten about it now.
It's the movie equivalent of Watch Dogs.
It's the movie equivalent of Watch Dogs.
I'm willing to guess that millions upon millions of moviegoers in the world enjoy movies with simple stories and incredibly gorgeous visuals (people saying avatar isn't gorgeous are trolling). It'd s way to escape everyday life. For those people, avatar and avatar 2 and avatar 3 satisfied / will satisfy that need for release.
Edit: I loved avatar. I realize it's not best film of the year material in story alone yet I thoroughly enjoy it on each viewing
Edit: I loved avatar. I realize it's not best film of the year material in story alone yet I thoroughly enjoy it on each viewing
ZehDon
Member
People asked the same question of 'Avatar', being that we were in a post-'Lord of the Rings' world at the time. And then it blew people's fucking minds. Now, normally I'd go with no myself, however I've learned not to underestimate James Cameron's ability to "James Cameron" the shit out special effects. If 'Avatar 2' gives us nothing else, it'll be amazing to look at.
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