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MONDAY AM 4TH UPDATE: 20th Century Fox keeps refining its figures to show James Cameron’s Avatar actuals were better than expected — Friday: $26,752,099, Saturday: $25,529,036, Sunday: $24,744,346. Grosses dropped only -3% from Saturday to Sunday and finished the weekend with an opening number of $77.025481 million (not $77.3M or $76.8M or $73M as the studio previously reported). That placed second to 2D I Am Legend‘s $77.2M record for best December debut ever at the domestic box office. Internationally, the epic surisingly shot up +3% from Saturday to Sunday for $165.5M (not $159.2M) in 106 countries. That’s a $242.5M worldwide bow, including total 3D gross of $54,754,983, which Fox calls the “highest original content (non-sequel, non-franchise) opening weekend ever”.
The big budget 3D technopic was the widest 3D release to date: 2,023 3D runs of 3,452 North American theaters. At the 178 domestic IMAX theaters, a record breaking $9.5M was made. IMAX globally had to add shows to keep up with demand. Overseas, 58 Imax venues grossed $4.1M. The worldwide IMAX total of $13.6M bettered Transformers 2‘s previous record of $11.3M this summer.
SUNDAY AM: 20th Century Fox just said its big budget 3D technopic Avatar grossed $159.18M internationally from 106 territories (the six territories that have not opened are Japan, China, Italy, Poland, Argentina, and Uruguay). With North America’s snow-slowed grosses of $73M, that’s a worldwide total of $232.18M which the studio says is the “highest original content (non-sequel, non-franchise) opening weekend ever”.
Even with depressed U.S. grosses because of massive snowstorms in New York, Philadelphia, and Washington DC, Avatar finished Saturday only -5% down from Friday. That puts the technopic at $27M Friday and $25.6M for Saturday. With $20M estimated for Sunday, it’s officially a $73M pre-Xmas domestic opening weekend.
It’s the best-ever debut for director James Cameron, best-ever opening for a 3D movie with IMAX shattering their records and selling out every seat and adding shows to keep up with demand. It’s also the 2nd best December debut of all time because of Avatar‘s 3D ticket price premium compared to 2D films. (No. 1 is still 2007′s I Am Legend at $77,211,321, and No. 3 is now 2003′s The Lord Of The Rings: The Return Of The King at $72,629,713.) I’m told that 59% of 3D locations accounted for 71% of total business. The pic received a Cinemascore of “A” across every qudrant. In terms of audience demos, exit polling showed 57% male/43% female, and 38% under age 25/62% over age 25.
Avatar is playing in 3,542 total theaters in North America with 3D presentations at 2,038 sites accounting for almost 60% of the grosses. (Those 2,038 3D locations break down into 3,129 3D screens and 179 all 3D IMAX.) “Can’t wait for the East Coast snow to clear,” one upbeat Fox exec tells me about studio hopes for the tentpole to have legs because of “the tremendous word of mouth”.
Overseas, it’s playing in 17,222 screens (including a total 3D/3D Imax screens of 5,360, and a total IMAX 3D screens of 81). Fox just announced Avatar made a whopping $159.18 internationally for a worldwide weekend total of $232.1 million – more than 2012‘s hefty $225M 5-day debut number because of Avatar‘s higher 3D ticket prices.
Remember, this is the biggest 3D release in movie history, spurred by the excitement surrounding Cameron’s creation of the Fusion Camera System technology for photo-realistic computer-generated characters through motion capture animation. He wrote the script for Avatar back in the mid-1990s when he and Stan Winston co-founded Digital Domain. But when he took the screenplay to their special effects lab, Cameron was told it was just not possible to make the film with the current technology. So he sat on the project for more than a decade until there could be “several thousand 3-D screens” capable of showing the film.
All of Saturday’s pics were slammed by the snow. Disney’s holdover The Princess And The Frog placed No. 2 with a $12.2M weekend, or -49.5% from a week ago. Alcon Entertainment’s and Warner Bros’ The Blind Side finished No. 3 with $10.3M and closing in on $200M cume by still showing incredible legs at the start of its 5th week in release. Meanwhile, Sony Pictures is relieved that all the focus on Avatar this weekend meant it won’t attract much attention for the underperforming debut of Did You Hear About The Morgans? Starring Sarah Jessica Parker and Hugh Grant in what Rotten Tomatoes scored only 10% positive reviews — i.e. it’s unwatchable – the so-called comedy was lucky to open to $7M this weekend (not the $10M even the studio hoped for). It opened in 4th place Friday with just $2.5M from 2,758 runs and +5% for $2.6M Saturday. “Not what we wanted, but it will hang in throughout the holidays,” a too-optimistic Sony exec told me.
Here’s the Top 10:
1. Avatar (Fox) NEW [3,452 runs] Fri $27M
, Sat $25.6M, Wkd $73M
2. Princess And The Frog (Disney) Week 2 [3,475] Wkd $12.2M (-49.5%), Cume $44.7M
3. The Blind Side (Warner Bros) Week 5 [3,407] Wkd $10.3M, Cume $164.7M
4. The Morgans? (Sony) NEW [2,718] Fri $2.3M, Sat $2.4M, Wkd $7M
5. New Moon (Summit) Week 5 [3,035] Wkd $4.4M, Cume $274.6M
6. Invictus (Warner Bros) Week 2 [2,125] Wkd $4.1M, Cume $15.8M
7. A Christmas Carol (Disney) Week 7 [2,070] Wkd $3.4M, Wkd $130.7M
8. Up In The Air (Paramount) Week 3 [175] Wkd $3.1M, Cume $8.1M
9. Brothers (Relativity/Lionsgate) Week 3 [2,009] Wkd $2.6M, Cume $22M
10. Old Dogs (Disney) Week 4 [2,630] Wkd $2.2M, Cume $43.5M
—
Precious (Lionsgate) Week 7 [1,003 runs] Wkd $1.1M, Cume $40M
The Road (Weinstein) Week 4 [396] Wkd $665K, Cume $4.9M
Fantastic Mr Fox (Fox) Week 5 [575] Wkd $600K, Cume $17.3M
Nine (Weinstein) NEW [4] Wkd $246K, Per Screen $61K
Young Victoria (Apparition) NEW [44] Wkd $249K
Me And Orson Welles (Freestyle) Week 4 [134] Wkd $159K, Cume $554K
A Single Man (Weinstein) Week 2 [9] Wkd $137K, Cume $469K
Crazy Heart (Fox Searchlight) NEW [4] Wkd $84K, Per Screen $21K, Cume $109K
The Lovely Bones (Paramount) Week 2 [3] Wkd $40K, Cume $197K
SATURDAY PM: Studio sources tell me that 20th Century Fox’s Avatar is +15% from Friday when comparing matinees. But today’s total will likely be down from yesterday because of the severe winter storm on the Northeast where it could drop -5% or more today.
SATURDAY AM: Fox’s official figure for Avatar‘s Friday total is $27M from its 3,542 total domestic theatrical release, including a slow $3.5M from midnight screenings in 2,000 venues. But the North American grosses, aided by higher 3D ticket prices, picked up steam throughout the day. Now America’s East Coast is slammed by a monster winter storm which could slow the movie’s grosses.
FRIDAY 11:15 PM UPDATE: Fox insiders are telling me that Avatar will make $27.5M to $28M Friday. As for the bad weather, an exec tells me: “Storm was in the Carolinas area today/tonight and I understand that the DC area was getting hammered. I would have to say we did get hurt in that area of the country, and I am worried about the effect in the Northeast tomorrow. Even so, this movie is getting such an incredibly positive reaction that I believe the word of mouth is just viral and those that may have been prevented from seeing the movie today or tomorrow will be there eventually without fail.”
FRIDAY 10 PM UPDATE: I’m told by sources that Avatar has been playing even with Star Trek all day until about 2:30 PM PT when 20th Century Fox’s overall gross and location average for James Cameron’s much ballyhooed technopic started pulling ahead. But 2D Star Trek had 400 more locations vs Avatar‘s 3,542 total domestic theatrical release, and a shorter running time vs Avatar‘s 160 minutes, and $7M in “pre-opening shows” vs. Avatar‘s $3.5M midnights in about 2,000 dates with a 3D ticket price premium. Of course, Star Trek had the benefit of decades of franchise awareness, while Avatar is a wholly new creation. Now Fox could be looking at mid- to high- $20sM for today from its 2,038 domestic 3D locations and 3,129 North American 3D screens and 179 all 3D domestic IMAX. Because the filmmakers are very concerned about the severe winter storm hitting America’s East Coast and the huge negative effect it could have on the domestic box office. If there isn’t significant attendance loss, then Hollywood is now estimating this pre-Xmas 3-day weekend’s opening grosses at $80M — or $27M for Friday including the midnight shows, then $30M on Saturday, and $23M on Sunday when most colleges and high schools are out Monday.
FRIDAY 9:30 AM: ‘Twas the weekend before Christmas, but I refused to wax poetic about whether James Cameron’s long awaited, much discussed, big budget technopic would be a gigantic hit, big hit, or modest hit until I saw some actual numbers. That’s because 20th Century Fox’s Avatar finally opened in theaters last night in North America and 106 countries overseas after years of fan curiosity, followed by recent months of negative buzz, followed by the past two weeks of mostly strong reviews (82% positive on Rotten Tomatoes). No one is predicting disaster for the film. Especially not after I can reveal what Steven Spielberg said after screening it on the Fox lot: “The last time I came out of a movie feeling that way it was the first time I saw Star Wars.”
Rival studios reported to me this morning that midnight U.S. and Canada grosses were around $3 million with the 3D ticket premium. Then 20th Century Fox announced its official midnight screening gross of $3,537,000, including the 3D ticket price premium, from approximately 2000 theatres.
*UPDATE: I also just heard that internationally, Avatar is huge in Australia with $4.8 million from Thursday and Friday combined, and running double what 2012 which did not have a 3D premium did there, or $2.3 million. (By contrast, New Moon opened to $7.8M.) In Germany, Avatar debuted to $1.7 million, compared to 2012‘s $1.4M. (New Moon did $2.2M.) In Korea, Avatar opened to $1.4M, behind 2012‘s $1.9M. (New Moon made only $800K.) But in the UK, opening day was hit by snow so grosses are running behind with Avatar $2.8M vs 2012 $3.2M.*
*2ND UPDATE: Meanwhile, a giant snowstorm is expected on the America’s East Coast, with 20 inches predicted for Washington DC.*
I’ve learned that today’s matinees are running about 10% better than this summer’s Star Trek. But with 3D films, matinees are normally higher because a larger portion of the business is done via presales. Then again, Fox is warning that the weekend before Christmas can be dicey for moviegoing because everyone is more focused on shopping and partying. And weather is already a factor. But movies which open the weekend before Christmas tend to do better multiples than normal from opening box office to lifetime. While in the summer tentpoles tend to have lifetime grosses of 3 to 3.5 times opening weekend. Whereas movies that open the weekend before Christmas can do 4, 5 or even 6 times the opening weekend. So if Avatar were to do $75M to $85M this weekend, it could still get to a $300M-$400M lifetime total which is what the movie’s negative cost is thought to be.
Right now, Hollywood has refined its original unfocused $60M-$75M prediction upwards to $85 million for the 3-day domestic weekend — better than the all-time December opening of I Am Legend at $77,211,321 but only because of Avatar‘s 3D ticket price premium.*
Remember, this is the biggest 3D release in movie history, spurred by the excitement surrounding Cameron’s creation of the Fusion Camera System technology for photo-realistic computer-generated characters through motion capture animation. He wrote the script for Avatar back in the mid-1990s when he and Stan Winston co-founded Digital Domain. But when he took the screenplay to their special effects lab, Cameron was told it was just not possible to make the film with the current technology. So he sat on the project for more than a decade until there could be “several thousand 3-D screens” capable of showing the film.
This opening weekend, Avatar is playing in 3,542 total theaters domestic (including 2,038 3D locations and 3,129 3D screens and 179 all 3D IMAX), and into 17,222 screens overseas (including a total 3D and 3D Imax screens of 5,360, and a total IMAX 3D screens of 81).
Now, that’s a wide 2D release but by no means the widest. And yet last night there weren’t the usual reports pouring in to me of long lines and sold-out theaters after midnight, except for the IMAX 3D venues. Instead, Internet chatter and anecdotal accounts indicate moviehouses showing Avatar were not playing to packed houses — at least not yet.
Tracking, too, had been mixed for the film. While there was big awareness and wannasee among males of all ages, girls and women weren’t there at all. In fact, rival studios kept pointing out to me tht upcoming Sherlock Holmes was tracking better than Avatar in all quadrants.
Nevertheless, Fox is expecting Avatar to have legs domestically well into January. In any case, it’s expected to outperform internationally (not unlike 2012 did earlier this holiday season.) As for those dopey media comparisons to James Cameron’s legendary Titanic legs? Apples and oranges.
Editor-in-Chief Nikki Finke - tip her here.
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*Tumbleweeds*
Since I am a certified sci-fi geek and most science fiction movies are quite bad this habit unfortunately forces me to watch a large number of bad movies. It’s one of my little perversions. I have just watched the most expensive B-movie ever made, the US$ 237 million Avatar by director James Cameron, famous for having produced films such as The Terminator, Terminator 2, Aliens and Titanic. Briefly summed up I would say that while it is visually spectacular, as is everything Mr. Cameron makes, Avatar has to be one of the most anti-Western and especially anti-white Hollywood movies I have seen in a long time.
The hero is the U.S. Marine Jake Sully who has been sent to the planet-like moon Pandora because humans desire the mineral resources found of Pandora, which is inhabited by a race of tall, blue-skinned aliens, the Na’vi. They have a non-industrial civilization technologically inferior to ours but apparently spiritually richer and in perfect ecological harmony with the natural environment. The hero predictably falls in love with the native culture and connects with a native girl.
“Going native” is in itself not an original theme; it resembles Dances with Wolves, only with aliens instead of Sioux. Neither is the preference for pre-industrial civilization, which was after all shared by a good man such as Tolkien in his The Lord of the Rings trilogy. Tolkien had personally experienced the meaningless horrors of trench warfare during the First World War and this naturally affected his view of industrialized society. What is different about the movie Avatar is how it portrays whites as a bunch of raging monsters, something which Tolkien never did.
Basically, the white characters are portrayed as brutal, greedy and insensitive beasts who rape the environment and destroy other cultures with a smile in the search for profit. The main antagonist is the white Colonel Quaritch, a brute who hardly possesses a single positive character trait. The final climax of the movie is when he screams “How does it feel to betray your race?” to the protagonist while he is trying to murder him. Although a few of the white characters such as Jake Sully are portrayed in a more redeeming light this is only because they totally reject their own civilization and join the other team in the fight. In other words: the only good whites are the ones who utterly turn their backs on their own destructive and evil culture. As reviewer Armond White put it, “Avatar is the corniest movie ever made about the white man’s need to lose his identity and assuage racial, political, sexual and historical guilt.”
Of course, back in the real world whites are among the most self-critical and least ethnocentric people on Earth, and have been so for a long time. Whites are also disproportionately represented in the environmental movement whereas many “diverse” Third World peoples couldn’t care less about the environment. But why let the truth get in the way of making a good anti-white movie? The fact that quite a few among the predominantly white audience cheered for this movie shows that anti-white hatred and stereotypes have become so widespread and accepted that most people cannot even see it, least of all whites themselves.
White Power, Avatar, White Power!
So you are basing your opinion of the movie on the fact that politics of this fictional story make you feel like white men are being offended?
Please…..
Nevermind that Jake, Norm, and Grace are all white. Just nevermind. What does any of Avatar have to do with race?! It’s a species thing.
Anonymous,
I will respond with the OP’s own words. “Although a few of the white characters such as Jake Sully are portrayed in a more redeeming light this is only because they totally reject their own civilization and join the other team in the fight.” He kinda mentioned that.
Many movies these days imbed social statements. I have not seen this movie yet, but to hear that it is essentially an alegory on white guilt does not surprise me in the least. Not that I have this information, I wish that I could wait for it to come out on DVD rather than going to the theater as I have promised my niece.
Dude, I’m white and *I* think whites are annoying, arrogant, greedy little fucks. Exactly how much of your life did you spend on typing up that spew? Was it really worth it?
“Whites are annoying, arrogant, greedy little fucks.”
Thousands of years of breeding gave us self-loathing “Mark”. What a waste of time.
lol… for your record a white person from USA is different than a white South African or a white Russian. So, it’s a matter of culture, not of color of skin!
THERE IS ONLY ONE RACE: THE HUMAN RACE! Get your facts straight!
Where does culture come from? Does it appear out of thin air and impose itself on a random section of the “human race?”
you just backed his argument. and i’ve heard others say the same thing about the movie. btw do you happen to know all white people, or just how they are presented to you in mainstream media post 1960s? or are you even white?
Your comment perfectly makes the original point commenter Avatar was making: you can’t see it, but in your case it is because of self-hatred, not blindness.
That’s because you live in the Hollywood bubble. Rest assured that the average White guy, who is told he is the root of all evil and destroying the world and wielding “White Privilege” while just trying to make a buck and enjoying no special privileges such as Affirmative Action, do not feel that way.
Joe Average White Guy finds neither himself nor his ancestry the sole cause of evil nor the sole repository of good, but does resent the hell out being told his entire life and way of life (i.e. working for a living) is evil.
Dances With Wolves did alright in the 1990′s when moralizing about how “pure” one was in a go-go economy appealed to wealthy yuppies. But you’ll note Costner was never the same since (Silverado was and is a much more popular movie, a straight-up Western of good guys and bad guys).
Avatar is likely to be a financial flop due to its high cost and unappealing story. Cameron flopped before with the Abyss with much of the same themes: evil “White Guys” and “one morally pure White guy.”
Critical issue: much of the movie is taken up with a CGI avatar, literally, with all the warmth and acting skill therein, without the wide, middle class sentiment of “Up.” So life is meaningless unless you become a big blue cat and space gardener and marry a big blue cat?
The movie is B-O-R-I-N-G in the way the Matrix sequels were. Stunning effects with empty emotions, characters you can neither hate nor love, empty moralizing and philosophizing that won’t appeal beyond Malibu Millionaires and their aspirants.
Movies that make money have characters that people love (and hate). Heroes and villains. Its not rocket science. It only looks hard because creative people who hit it big get worshiped as gods and lose all touch with the audience. Titanic was a movie appealing to women (guys LOATHE Leonardo Di Caprio). Terminator I & II was a guy’s action movie. This? Waterworld meets Dances With Wolves meets the Abyss. Technically superb, but an empty, Malibu Millionaire cliche.
Transformers may have been a schlock of junk, but at least it had a populist heart — Average Joe has to step up to save … Average Joes like himself. With a dose of Mom, Apple Pie, and Baseball thrown in. Plus he gets the girl, not a giant blue cat.
Avatar is definitely a lefty’s dream film; it’s what a big-budget tentpole film by MoveOn.org would look like. (All that’s missing is an alien Guantanamo and someone shouting “No blood for unaobtanium!”) The scene where Cameron deliberately evokes many of the visual cues of 9/11 is downright sickening. It’s a cinematic manifestation of what a lot of the radical left geniunely believe: The horrible destruction of the Twin Towers, like the destruction in Avatar, is America’s fault.
Still, for all it’s cheerleading the downtrodden indigenous and hissing at America’s military and corporations, when the alien huntress finally gets it on with the white guy, she takes out her African-style braids and straightens her hair. I guess political correctness only goes so far.
LOL-think much do you ?
Yes, I do. You should try it sometime.
dude. it was a freakin alien. I don’t think we’re supposed to assume it should have curly hair.
I mentioned this to some black friends with whom I saw the movie, and they stopped, thought a minute, and said, “Oh my God! She did get herself some good hair!” Whether or not she had kinky hair – although also note the two alien women were both played by actresses of African heritage – the imagery of that is still loaded. This is a film where everything has a political meaning.
Someone asked me, “So it’s a sci-fi film with political overtones?” I replied, “No, it’s a political film with sci-fi overtones.”
Actually, the braids are a design decision to cut costs. Braids are a lot easier to render than individual hairs. They can do hair like that, but the time to render each frame is exponentially greater. They have to raytrace all dynamic lights, reflections, hdr sources, etc. Braids save a lot of money.
It has nothing to do with any of this racist crap. How you guys can go from ten foot tall blue cat people to some crazy white power screed is beyond me. And it’s sickening.
So, why did they straighten her hair for the love scene? If you’re right and it’s all economics, then it should have stayed braided throughout the movie. It actually cost MORE to change it for the one scene.
Nioe see you read your own fears and worldview into the review. It’s all about how you tell the story, and it was most entertaining. So much better than “Dances with Wolves” (Costner sucks at pretty much everything)
Maybe you can wait for Halloween XXVIII so you can see something you’ll understand.
Oh, but we make such great villains.
It’s like an epic Ferngully.
“Whites are also disproportionately represented in the environmental movement whereas many “diverse” Third World peoples couldn’t care less about the environment.”
Don’t forget those pesky homosexuals and deviant black people. You just KNOW they enjoy destroying God’s white earth.
My God! This is a chic flick like Titanic!!!
I absolutely agree with “Avatar’s” comments in general. My husband and I were offended by the political agenda embedded throughout the movie. From statements like “We’ll terrorize the terrorists” that satirically indict our reaction to terrorist attacks, to their outright reference of “Shock and Awe” by the unquestionably “American” military psychos.
This movie is predicated upon clear allusions to race, mainly black and white; but in general it’s a political movie that is more Anti-American than Anti-white (there’s just a strong stereotype equating one with the other in this films analogous characters).
But what do you expect from Hollywood? The effects and cinematic technique can still be appreciated, and those with intelligence are used to filtering out the flotsom infused into our media by the liberals who control it.
“We’ll terrorize the terrorists”
Yeah, you shoulda heard the groans in the audience when he said that line.
your reading way to much into this film. relax
its not about race you sci-fi fuck tard
I just got back from seeing this movie. I’m mildly offended that the makers of this movie think they can treat me like some backwards native. They try to wow me with pretties and then move in while I’m distracted and take over the way I think. The fact that they were so indelicate about it and so clumsy almost makes me despair of our entire society. Since that seemed to be the general message of the movie anyway, maybe it did it’s job.
Usually I don’t mind a little bit of agenda in a good movie. After all, people make movies and people have agendas. The breaking point for me is when the agenda, and not the movie, comes first. I didn’t pay for 2.5 hours of propaganda. If they were merely trying to make a point or to point out a real danger by using metaphor and allegory then i would not have a problem. This however is reasonably well thought out and pre-meditated brain-washing. I wouldn’t be surprised if there were subliminal messages like “don’t use gasoline” and “vote for Obama.” We are very lucky that the average person is not taken in by flashing lights and novelty, or very soon we would find ourselves in a society of people who value trees and animals over humanity and think that if we all just listened to mother earth there would be no war and everything would go back to how it was in the garden of eden.
We are so screwed.
I can’t believe that “some” White People are actually offended by Avatar – it’s actually very fair & balanced to “White People”. Who are the “Bad Guys”? White People. Who are also the “Good Guys”? White People. In both cases, they are “White People”. If anyone should be “offended”, it should be the “Navi”, but we all know they don’t really exists. It is very narrow minded to only look at one side, and say, Avatar is “Anti-White People”. And then to say that this has anything to do with Obama is just fuckin’ ridiculous. If anything, it says that we as “people” should be more concerned with preserving other cultures & living systems, and not just fuck everything up for a corporate buck.
” They try to wow me with pretties and then move in while I’m distracted and take over the way I think.”
If your mind is that weak to be taken over by a movie, you have far more important things to worry about.
I, personally, tried not to read too much into the movie and just tried to be taken along by the story. I think the experience was much better being “taken along for the ride” instead of trying to analyze every single piece of minutiae displayed.
I think if you constantly compare it to real-world scenarios, you are going to lose a lot of value to this movie. It’s a STORY, PEOPLE!! Let the movie maker tell you a story, and let yourself suspend reality for about 3 hours and enjoy the experience.
My god, not everything has to be propaganda just because it doesn’t spread a message you don’t agree with, or even a message at all.
Just goes to show white people only see what serves their “anti-white” crap…
The military fighters fighting the Na’vi, including Mr. “get-some” were VERY diverse. But I guess you all went for popcorn during those parts. The “colonel” was white, yes. He was a raving lunatic, yes. But Giovanni Ribisi’s character was played more sympathetically as having a job to do.
The scientists were all white! The lead was white. Oh wait, the one scientist was arab. Anti-white? I mean, give me a freaking break!
I agree with the bulk of the comments by Avatar. I think however he missed the object of derision of the film. The film is anti-American, anti-capitalist not anti-white.
As I left the film I said to the group I was with, “it was a good show, and a good show last time I saw it…….Dances with Wolves”.
Hey Avatar,
First of all when the Colonel Quaritch screamed “How does it feel to betray your race?” He didn’t mean white race! For your record, there is no white, black, yellow… race. There is ONLY THE HUMAN RACE! (the color has been defined in the past by white supremacy england who did want to divide people coming from different background)…
Second of all, will it change something if that colonel (the brute as you call him) was black. Let’s say if the character was played by Denzel Washington???
Third of all, I’m myself white American born- Canadian and there is a lot of real facts in the movie. And yes A LOT of white people are the way they are described in Avatar, in the real life !!! We have to stop lying TO US!!! Do you think Africa (It’s a CONTINENT by the way, not a country like most of North American think) which is the MOST RICH CONTINENT OF THE WORLD (They have everything over there: petrol, gold, diamond…) !!! would be so poor if our governments (which are composed of whites and blacks in North America)didn’t have a role to play???
Come on, think a little bit ! Yes We are the cause of their poverty. Not only white people like you thing but the west (white, black, Asian people background, and even some natives…)
The human species is made up of many different races. Simple genetics, not some English plot!
Oh please…throughout history of both this country and Europe, the “white man” has raped, pillaged and conquered in the name of manifest destiny – and it is chronicled in many films. So really, Hollywood is taking a different turn and putting the focus on the ugly deeds and make (gasp) the natives triumphant! C’mon! That never happens! Spare me the “cry for the poor white man” monologue.
Rather rich, to quote, of all people, Armond White (a raving lunatic), when complaining about anti-white bias.
After literally decades and generations of anti-non-white movies, to hear the sniveling complaints of white people like Avatar makes me want to throw up. Generations of non-whites have had to grow up with Tarzan movies where a white man goes native and dominates all the Africans, Westerns where Indians were killed by movie “heroes” like John Wayne, Rocky movies where we’re asked to cheer a Black man being beaten into submission, Dirty Harry movies where Clint points a gun at the head of a Black man and says a really cool line, not to mention the countless other white supremacist movies that have glorified white people and demonized non-whites for the past century. Can you imagine what that has done to our self-esteem, to our self-image? Have you ever given a second’s thought to it? You know you haven’t because you didn’t give a damn as long as your egos were being fed. Spare me your complaints. You’ve still got hundreds of movies and dozens of TV shows where the white guy is the big hero. We’ve NEVER had that. You’ve had it your way since Birth Of A Nation and we’ve suffered for it. You don’t get to have hurt feelings.
I just saw the movie today 11:30 am NY time, and found it to be quite breathtaking. The start is a little slow, but stay with it and you will be rewarded. The ending combat scenes involving a large theater in the air are well worth the price of admission. The views of the jungle, and the creatures inhabiting it are really cool and unique. I give it a solid three stars.
Here in Trinidad, the movie opened on Wednesday and all 3D shows since then were SOLD OUT. Its definitely raking in the cash. That midnight number is a bit meh though.
I saw Avatar in Imax 3D and was disappointed in the plot and dialoge. The visual effects are great but it remianed me of the Disney Movie Pocahontas. Could they afford to hire a writer?
Sorry folks but its not the game changer the media will have you believe. Its a small step above of what Zemeckis is doing with his mocap flicks. The more I think about the flick the more disappointed I get. Its just another product. There’s nothing special or unique about the story in any way. Trust me you’ve seen this movie before, but done better in their prior incarnations. Sure it looks pretty, the visual effects are top notch, but sorry to say…that’s it.
I agree with you completely.
This movie will drop off quickly after most everyone sees it only once. The visual effects were just OK
Let me just be the first to say that I am so sick of computer effects in movies I can’t see straight. If I want to see a computer cartoon, I’ll go see UP (which was great and apparently unlike Avatar actually had a unique, original compelling story). One of the joys of the Dark Knight (and no, I don’t think that was the greatest movie ever made–but a good summer flick) was seeing actual stunts and real stuff being blown up. All the CGI in the world can’t match that effect. Right now I’m still in the “pass” camp on Avatar.
… and the weakest moment in Dark Knight was the CGI “skyhook” balloon-to-plane escape, especially when it was done without CGI in “Thunderball”.
It won’t surprise me if the film has a less than stellar turnout given that the film portrays the humans as the bad guys. People like to root for the home team.
International audiences will see the humans as Americans. They will line up to see this movie. That and it’s reputation for being the latest and greatest special effects.
Visually stunning, intellectually vacuous, I walked out after what seemed like an eternity.
Let me see, the white people were bad, the non-white (blue) people were good.
The white people were greedy, the non-white people were spiritual.
The white guy who decides his people suck, and the non-white people are good is the hero.
What an original script…
“Visually stunning, intellectually vacuous.” –Devin
This movie was a colossal bore. A gorgeously rendered epic bore. That’s what’s so offensive about it. Not the shallow race/climate politics, but that a $400 million James Cameron sci-fi movie could be this dull. –Nytiris hot though
These two quotes are all anyone needs to know about this movie.
From what I’ve read on forums, it is because middle America is tired of the same old “holier than though” plot of the movie. The natives are one with nature,innocent occupiers of the virginal forest. Then here comes the big bad corporate fat cats destroying all in their wake for greed.
Anyone who has read real science fiction like Isaac Asimov and William Gibson probably feel the same way I do. Disappointed that instead of taking advantage of the the fantastic capabilities of the fusion camera system they wasted it on yet another greenie-weenie propaganda film.
So, the movie would have been better if the humans were simply allowed to massacre the natives to get the minerals?
Anyone who has read real science fiction would realize that Cameron has borrowed Avatar’s plot nearly wholesale from Poul Anderson’s “Call Me Joe”. THAT’S more offensive than the supposed politics of the film.
@Pete
No, it would have been better if it eschewed a tired political message for a truly original plot. James Cameron is an inventive, creative, talented writer, but this is one of his weakest scripts. What a waste to spend so much money and ground-breaking technology on such a derivative story. There’s so much great and original science fiction to draw from, why make Pocahontas/Dances With Wolves/Ferngullie in space?
Because James Cameron is also known for the commercial viability of his projects. Think of it as any of a number of commercials you see on TV making fun of men. Because guys are secure enough to notice, but not go bonkers over it, while making a woman or a minority look silly will draw a negative reaction. Who to make the bad guy in a conflict is always interesting. Remember the many “the butler did it” movies? Because the butler was considered the most trusted member of the household staff, and thus the most shocking person to have “done it”.
My take is that Cameron is strong on visual effects (Terminator II was stunning) but weak on story. This echoes (if you ever saw it) “the Abyss” where he pioneered a lot of effects but the story was the same old “Dances with Wolves” stuff and betrays a misanthropic view of human nature. Like a lot of Hollywood people, I get the sense in Cameron’s writing that he does not like average people much. No doubt he’s seen greed, envy, fame, and the other after-effects of Hollywood turn decent nice people into monsters.
But he lacks the character mastery say, of Fred Zinneman in “Day of the Jackal” or Jeb Stuart (Die Hard) or Luc Besson’s Taken. All of which have heroes you root for and villains you fear/hate.
Take one scene in Taken where the hero shockingly shoots someone you don’t expect. Its no special effects extravaganza, but shows you the hero has made his decision, he will do ANYTHING to get his daughter back, has no limits, and easy official corruption won’t be tolerated. Its both decisive dramatically and cathartic for the audience (who has followed the hero through a corrupt maze of prostitution-slavery).
Could Cameron ever conceive of that? No. Because Hollywood’s riches and fame and corrosive effect have left him both angry/bitter/shocked (in thinking that America = Hollywood, it does not) and well, decadent. In longing for some mythical purity of primitivism, which runs throughout his works. Tolkein’s and Jacksons LoTR, meanwhile, had the Shire as a real place filled with imperfections, but therefore loveable. Jackson’s NZ Kiwi friends and family clearly stood in for the Shire in character and style, not surprising since NZ itself twenty years ago resembled 1950′s England in moral codes, behaviors, attitudes, and so on.
I’m actually put off by theme as well.
EXACTLY…this movie is going to be the most expensive middle-finger to America ever produced….
There is no way they are going to break even on this. Most of the people I know have no desire whatsoever to even see this film. You need buzz beyond just those computer geeks and gamers that a movie like this would appeal to in order to reach the $400 million mark.
I would be surprised to see this film get much more than half of that.
Guess it depends on who you know My friends aren’t gamers or techies and everyone is going to see this. everyone has there point of view
I watched Avatar this afternoon, it is visually stunning! I was in awe of the catlike creatures …. the message seemed to be about an evil corporation using the USA military to exploit the natural resources of a foriegn planet..sound familiar? The 3D was revolutionary and amazing. Avatar is a masterpiece!
Based on what I’ve seen so far, I think “Avatar” will out-Dune “Dune”. In other words, a big flop despite all stars aligning on this project. and WOW! Another movie that looks exactly like a video game.
I would really like to see the games you are playing, because the ones I’m playing aren’t even remotely as good looking as Avatar. An because I’m 3D artist and games developer myself, I can quite safely say it will take quite few years till they will…
I actually liked Dune.
The problem with Dune is and always will be, that there is too much plot detail and interconnectiveness for the screen. Those of us who have read the series, enjoy the movies; but without the backstory, non-readers can’t understand the nuance of the movies.
Oh come on, judge the movie on its merits, and forget about all this agenda crap. So what if Jim Cameron watched Dances with Wolves one too many times? This is easily the first major Hollywood movie where CG characters are believable, realistic and emotional. I defy anyone to watch the moment where Neytiri pulls down a leaf and lets water spill into her mouth, and poo-poo what Cameron has accomplished. Seriously, Zoe Saldana deserves an award for her performance.
This movie will have an extremely long run at the theaters. Even most of the Drudge crowd will eventually see it.
Most people don’t want to do right, they just want to be told that what they’re doing is right; hence, the vitriol from the Drudge/FoxNews crowd.
You are correct. The same goes for the left. Thats why I am a moderate because I can think for myself and don’t have to do what the left or right say.
Exactly.
Seriously, what are you smoking? This entire movie was a diatribe against America wrapped up in a pretty little bow. Maybe Cameron thinks we are too stupid to get it, that he is far too clever for the average American to pick up his oh-so-subtle jabs.
Does it look pretty? Yes. But this movie is like going out with the prom queen who is deaf, dumb, and pretty much hates everything you stand for.
He ruins a potentially good movie by drowning the audience in left wing nonsense and a mind-numbing dialogue. This had a change to be something special, but turned out to be Micheal Moore’s dream vacation at Lucas’ CGI factory.
To be honest I’m a conservative who saw this movie and while I can obviously see the political overtones of this movie, I still thought it was great. If I went through life never seeing a movie that didn’t have political statements in it I would never see any movies! All in all I loved this movie and will be seeing it again, just leave your political ideologies at the door folks and enjoy the movie, that’s the only way anyone will ever enjoy anything out of Hollywood. And yes I am an avid Fox News viewer and even some of us can enjoy a movie for what it is, entertainment. Lol
Probably just the best movie I have ever seen!!!
I was left speechless and almost numb.
As a matter of fact the drive home took some adjusting to.
The 3D is that good! The story is that good!
Their is great and their is better Avatar has set a new Cinema
benchmark which may never be repeated…
Happy Viewing!!!
I guess you have not seen many movies.
Watch for the new right-wing meme that the film is “treasonous” and “anti-American” in a “time of war” — coming your way soon via the wingnut echo-chamber….
you sound like you know a thing or two about life in an echo chamber
I would agree with you except Fox produced this movie and I doubt Fox News is going to go against its own Corp.
Ummm…I don’t think that Fox, which effectively writes and disseminates the primary right-wing talking points in this country, will deep-six its own film. Sure there won’t be a tea party for it, but Murdoch is a businessman and only does the ideology thing when it makes him money.
But I do believe the movie’s message will mute the box office haul. The climate talks may help the movie since climate change is in the news so much right now, but the Sarah Palin crowd will not get into it since they deny climate change is even a problem worth doing anything about. I think there is a lot of overlap between the Sarah Palin crowd and the persons who watched Titanic multiple times.
While I think that people who use the term, “Climate Change” are morons (because what does climate do over generations, but change? Anyone remember a thing called the Ice Age?) I still thoroughly enjoyed this movie. I suspended my hold on reality for 3 hours and let the movie tell me a story. The visual effects were beautiful. Yes, the story reminded me of Dances With Wolves, but I still enjoyed it.
Lo and behold, I still retain my views and beliefs after I’m done watching the movie. Because, it’s just a movie. Try enjoying the ride, for once.
Went to see the first show and was stoked to see it.
It is technologically impressive but anyone outside of the business won’t see it. It’s no better looking than any other 3D film to the average person.
I appreciate Cameron’s love for the environment but these themes have been played out ad nauseam. And the love story was a three on the Twilight scale.
But it is the closing credits that tell you who this film was for and how the filmmakers felt about it. Cameron first, 20th, Cameron again, then the tech and CGI people, the producers, the music guy and then the actors. It is the actors who bring emotion and life to a film.
This film has none.
DUDE, WITHOUT JC THERE WOULDN’T BE THIS FILM, LOL! OF COURSE HE GETS TO BOW FIRST AND AGAIN. NO ACTORS? HOW THE HELL DO U THINK HE CREATED THE CGI CHARACTERS AND THEIR LIFE-LIKE MOVEMENTS? PLEASE READ MORE ON THE PRODUCTION OF THIS FILM BEFORE YOU MAKE ASININE COMMNENTS.
It’s important to remember that “Titanic” did only $25 million its opening weekend. This was partly due to its running time. That first weekend was considered a modest disappointment.
What made it a phenomenon were its incredible legs. It just went and went and went, weekend after weekend.
Too soon to say if this is the same scenario, but I wouldn’t be surprised.
Powered by the repeat performances demanded by the young women of the time. Good luck with that here. The are far too many explosions and very few Love Story scenes to entice the young females back to the theater. Like Die Hard, people are going to see the once and that will be it.
Do you actually hear yourself? Stop talking in Hollywood cliches, women will see a film if it’s good, not because there isn’t enough of a love story or too many expositions.
My sister, who had never even heard of the movie a week before it opened, is going to go see it again. My brother-in-law, who was poo-poohing it as America-bashing and reused storyline (based on what he’d heard) is now going to go see it.
I’m going to go see it again and take my wife this time — and I’d sworn off EVER going to see a movie in a theatre again. Avatar on Friday was the first one I’d been to in about a year.
I’m on the right side of the political spectrum, but it was a *fun* movie. I’ll bet there’s a lot more repeat business than you think.
Fern Gully on CRACK.
With just as much writing, plot and dialogue.
I do get tired of putting up my hard earned money to be told I’m the cause of all the universes grief.
What’s the matter – You got a guilty conscience
“Most people don’t want to do right, they just want to be told that what they’re doing is right; hence, the vitriol from the Drudge/FoxNews crowd.”
Ponderous. What in the hell are you talking about?
BTW – this movie just looks bad.
The Drudge/Breitbart owned Big Hollywood website has been flogging the “anti-America, anti-white” talking point about Avatar for over a week. Nikki is routinely linked by Drudge. Hence, you are seeing the same kind of comments here.
okay, that makes sense. I couldn’t figure out why all the white power posts tonight. thanks for the insight.
um…..sorry- I have’t read ANYTHING negative about this on Drudge or Fox, and YES, I do frequent them- I have come to these conclusions all on my lonesome. This movie is a leftist hit-piece, pure and simple. Do you honestly think that everyone who disagrees with you is some sort of puppet? I’ll debate you into the ground on any subject, any time. It is this better-than-though-art attitude that you display that is going to cause you to wake up confused in a puddle of your own sweat come the morning of November 3rd after the mid-terms. We are tired of having our opinions marginalized, and Mr. Cameron is going to suffer big-time in the wallet for releasing this movie as an ideological trojan-horse. The sooner you idiots realize that the majority, or AT LEAST HALF of the country disagrees with you..the sooner your empty lives will find purpose…that purpose would be the quest for common sense, so that you can keep up with the rest of us- now go outside and freeze in the “global warming” I’m quite sure you believe in….
see, just the fact that you are talking about midterm elections on an industry website about the movie business makes you seem a little fanatical for the right wing. Fox put this movie out, and I don’t think Rupert Murdoch is down with leftist propaganda. stop being so paranoid.
the only thing worse than the drudgebots are their opposite number who crop up at the first hint of criticism on “values” grounds or really any critique that rankles them for some unknown reason
whether your knee jerks right or left, it’s still a knee jerk and a pretty sad way to determine how you feel about the world…personally I think the Abyss and Titanic, both terrible movies, and Aliens which was massively overhyped in its day, are more than enough reason to approach a Cameron venture with due skepticism and dread
This film was spectacular. Everything about it: story, flow, depth, and above all the visuals, make this a masterpiece. It was simply stunning. The colors and effects of the forest in the evening with the glow was so beautiful. I’ve never seen anything like it, and I’m sure you haven’t either!
OMG, this is going to be bigger than Star Wars!!! Sorry, Drudge Report and Fox-news puppets.
Just watched it in 2D in Lithuania (I’m an expat). It sucked. Flat out sucked. Audience was about half-full though which isn’t bad.
The effects aren’t stunning … they’re what you’d expect today. Nothing was stunning about it, least of all the score. What a terrible musical score this movie had.
The movie is really a throwback to the old Morality Plays the Medieval church put on: preachy, allegorical, and stupid.
Very stupid. I hated it as did my twenty-five year old daughter and her boyfriend.
The movie was meant for 3-D viewing. You didnt really see the movie IMO.