Michael Bay’s Name Pushed Paramount To Settle Injured … 
Several More New Series In Recasting Mode; Returning Ones … 
‘G.I. Joe: Retaliation’ Moving To March 2013 To … 
Directors Fortnight Says It Must “Police … 
‘Chronicle’ Helmer Josh Trank Takes On … 
Big Media Chiefs Tell Cable Operators To Speed Up ‘TV … 
Will ‘Pan Am’ Take Flight With Amazon? 
EMMYS: Showtime Launches Free Weekend Promotion Targeting … 
TOLDJA! ICM Management Buyout Complete 
RATINGS RAT RACE: ‘Dancing With The Stars’, … 
An Olympian Effort: NBCUni Plans 5,535 Hours Of Coverage … 
Netflix Exec Denies It’s Responsible For Nickelodeon … 
DESPERATE: HuffPo & Oprah Team Up Now 
Hot Trailer: ‘The Great Gatsby’ 
How Did Women Pilot Writers Fare For 2012? 
Disney Quits Snow White Film ‘Order Of The … 
Cannes Planning Surprise Screening Of Non-Fest Films; … 
Investors Unfriend Facebook As SEC Investigates IPO … 
Cash Windfalls For WME Agents, Assistants 
A&E IndieFilms Sets ‘Happy Valley,’ … 
Hot Cannes Property: Natalie Portman, Lynne Ramsay Team On … 
FRIDAY AM UPDATE: Here’s the new Top 10 including the New Year’s Eve take. Overall box office Thursday was an estimated $52.1M:
1. AVATAR (Fox) [3,456 runs] Week 2
Wed $18.5M (+1), Thurs $14.9M (-19%), Cume $283.8
2. ALVIN SQUEAKQUEL (Fox) [3,700] Week 2
Wed $11.8M (-6%), Thurs $8.7M (-26%), Cume $120.7M
3. SHERLOCK HOLMES (Warner Bros) [3,626] Week 1
Wed $9.7M (-5%), Thurs $8.7M (-10%), Cume $102.3M
4. IT’S COMPLICATED (Warner Bros) [2,887] Week 1
Wed $4.4M (+3%), Thurs $5.3M (+22%), Cume $40.3M
5. THE BLIND SIDE (Warner Bros) [2,766] Week 7
Wed $3M (+2%), Thurs $3.4M (+13%), Cume $196.4M
6. UP IN THE AIR (Paramount) [1,895] Week 5
Wed $2.3M (+3%), Thurs $2.8M (+23%), Cume $33.6M
7. PRINCESS & THE FROG (Disney) [3,475] Week 6
Wed $3.3M (-1%), Thurs $2.6M (-21%), Cume $76M
8. MORGANS? (Sony) [2,718] Week 3
Wed $1.2M (-1%), Thurs $1.3M (+8%), Cume $20.4M
9. INVICTUS (Warner Bros) [2,160] Week 3
Wed $895K (+3%), Thurs $988K (+10%), Cume $26.6M
10. NINE (The Weinstein Co) [1,412] Week 3
Wed $1M (-1%), Thurs $864K (-15%), Cume $9.8M
THURSDAY PM UPDATE: Who woulda thunk it? (End of sarcasm…) Adding Wednesday’s estimated North American gross of $18.4M, Avatar‘s new domestic cume is now a staggering $268.8M after only 13 days in release. It’s been averaging $18M a day. Avatar‘s international for Wednesday was $36.9M, down only 6% from Tuesday, making the foreign cume now $525.3M. So the worldwide total ending Wednesday was $794.1M. It has now crossed $800M today. Yowza!
Overall, today’s box office should be very good and tomorrow should be huge. In fact, Friday should be about the same as last week’s Christmas Day. That’s according to my box office gurus who once again I need to thank for another year of accurate film forecasts (except for those sleepers that shocked the hell out of all of Hollywood). Saturday and Sunday will then look normal. Saturday could be down 30% from last week and Sunday down 45% from last week. So overall this weekend could be down about 25% from Christmas weekend. The exception will probably be Warner Bros’ Sherlock Holmes which fell alot from Friday to Saturday last week and will be fighting Fox’s Alvin And The Chipmunks: The Squeakquel for 2nd place in the $40M range.
Rival studios think Avatar could do $55M-$60M and maybe even $65M this weekend. But 20th Century Fox conservatively anticipates the number in the $50M neighborhood. Nevertheless, the studio boasts that James Cameron’s big budget technopic will end 2009 as the #2 grossing domestic film. “And there’s a whole lot of gross still to come in 2010. This rocket ship still has loads of fuel in its tanks!” a Fox exec reminds me. Even rival studios tell me they expect Avatar cume to hit $335M domestic by end of Sunday. “Cameron looks like he’ll rank #1-#2 with Titanic,” a Fox competitor emailed.
So it’s no wonder that, with today being the last box office opportunity of 2009, this final week will post record numbers with nearly $500 million in revenue generated from December 25 through December 31. Overall, 2009 is looking at $10.6 billion box office, up 10.07% from 2008. Hollywood numbers guru Paul Dergarabedian is also reporting that attendance figures are the highest in the past 5 years at 1.42 billion tickets sold at an average price of $7.46.
Hollywood.com box:
Editor-in-Chief Nikki Finke - tip her here.
Loading ...
“Who woulda thunk it?” I did.
Where are those losers now who kept saying it won’t make 200 domestic?
Whiskey:
Dude, give it up. You were wrong.
And you obviously don’t really know about the life and profitability of a feature film.
Whiskey:
Again, 800 million dollars in 13 days.
You sound Elizabeth Hasselback defending Sarah Palin.
LOL!!
What great entertainment. and for all the naysayers (whiskey, you are clueless) this film WILL make a lot of profit.
From someone who knows all the ways movies bring in the dough.
Funny to see how some desperate haters still trying to provoke “discussion” about this movie quality when everything is quite obvious!
Funniest one even started to pull numbers out of his ass just to prove his point, that Avatar is a mistake and finansial failure because of 3D stuff and blah blah blah..
Oh Gosh! Do you have any balls to admit it, that you were wrong and James Cameron was right( again! ) He took this risky and ambitious project just to push the boundaries and to raise the bar( again! ). And He did it!
He invented all new technologies which will evolutionize cinema industry from now on. And in result he created this awesome movie which will be remembered in decades (like a Star Wars saga). JUST ADMIT IT!
He promised to bring back people to cinemas. And he delivered! JUST ADMIT IT!
otherwise you have to know, that with your ignorant and immature comments you look so desperate and insecure
The movie STILL has not (and likely won’t) cover its costs with domestic box office. It relies on about HALF its sales from 3-D IMAX.
In 3-D Imax, the experience is amazing even though the story is lame and boring. How is that going to make the movie profitable? I seriously doubt that theatrical alone is going to make this movie a money maker with $430 million in domestic costs alone. Plus setting up a 3-D theatrical exhibition abroad means basically, FOX will have to pony up the money OR take a lesser cut than usual, foreign exhibitors are so broke that foreign pre-sales for indies is gone as a financing mechanism.
Cameron was smart in showing IMAX 3-D with stunning effects is a piracy blocker … BUT it has caveats:
*3-D IMAX is for obvious reasons incompatible with domestic and foreign video, for now.
*3-D IMAX ticket sales with higher prices don’t translate into sales of home video, particularly in an ongoing recession.
[As far as "genocide of the poor Indians" the native Americans did a pretty good job of wiping each other out, manipulated the environment like crazy (the Plains were originally forested), and practiced slavery, ritual human sacrifice, and other ugly things romanticized treatments of noble savages leave out. While until relatively recently Europeans were history's punching bags. Caesar killing about a million Gauls during his conquest, Barbarians and Muslims ruling them as slaves, etc.]
I’ve seen the movie. The effects are amazing. The story is boring. You could watch it with the sound off. Home video sales are bound to be disappointing compared to 3-D IMAX sales.
Henry — IF this movie were such a hit, why has Fox not nailed down a sequel NOW? When if this movie is so profitable, OTHER STUDIOS could nab Cameron for something similar?
Answer: the movie has lost money, and is likely to end up as a money loser, since MOST OF A MOVIE’S profitability lies in Home Video + TV Rights sales.
I would expect people here particularly those who work in Hollywood not to follow HYPE and instead follow profits.
AVATAR is important not because of its success (its likely to be a slight net loss) but because of the MODEL: IMAX 3-D is a piracy beater. Now, that model has caveats (i.e. higher ticket prices, costs to convert to IMAX 3-D, need to control production/marketing costs). But the real impact of Cameron is not “an amazing Movie” (its dancing with Smurfs meets a rehash of his earlier Abyss that will look monumentally stupid the MICROSECOND AQ kills lots of Americans which inevitably they will).
AVATAR is important because of the piracy-beater model. Which in case you didn’t notice simply destroyed the music business.
Yeah, profitability is important. Hype is just hair blowing from Fox, like another season of American Idol. Profits enable the business to survive, not end up like the Music publishers. Seen the fiasco at EMI lately?
Whiskey,
You keep referring to domestic box office. What you either fail to mention or don’t want to take into consideration is Foreign box office. Whether you like it or not the total worldwide BO is now in the $850 million range. Even if Avatar’s budget were really $430 million (which it’s not.. It’s $250 million with an additional $150 mil in Marketing)the movie HAS turned a profit. I can respect that you didn’t like the movie but to keep searching for any little thing to to convince yourself it’s flopping and make yourself feel better is not only untrue but a little childish. The movie could close tonight, be released on DVD Tuesday and it’s still a profit.
“The movie STILL has not (and likely won’t) cover its costs with domestic box office.”
- Whiskey, you continue your quest to prove you are the dumbest comment-writer on this board.
You may not be aware but the movie wasn’t just released domestically, it was released internationally as well.
It has already taken more internationally than The Dark Knight and will reach $1bn in global B.O. next week.
Costs covered, you’re a douche, etc.
***SPECIAL REPORT***
WHISKEY TO PREDICT IRON MAN 2 A FAILURE!
Whiskey to predict Iron Man 2 a failure before opening day, saying the movie will make less than $75 million over the opening weekend and less than $150 million in its entire run. He states that Iron Man 2 cost $200 million to produce and another $50 million to market. Seeing that the studio only receives 50% of the official gross, there is no way it will make the necessary $500 million worldwide to cover production and marketing costs.
After a $150 million opening weekend for Iron Man 2, Whiskey predicts that Iron Man 2 will drop over 80% in its second weekend.
Iron Man 2 drops around 55%, and its total domestic gross stands at over $250 million. Worldwide its total stands at over $400 million after 10 days.
Whiskey changes the numbers previously stated. He says that Iron Man 2 actually cost $250 million to produce and another $100 million to market. There is no way that Iron Man 2 will cover its production and marketing costs. It has to make over $700 million worldwide.
Whiskey also makes a comment that the depiction of Iron Man as a hero is ridiculous. He makes a comment about how Iron Man could never fight crime because his iron suit would be too heavy.
We remind him that it’s fictional.
After its third weekend, Iron Man 2′s total surpasses that of the original.
Whiskey compares Iron Man to the extinction of dinosaurs. In his mind it makes sense, leaving the rest of us confused by the incoherent nonsense. He comments on the state of DVD sales and rentals, and how that won’t make any money for Iron Man 2 when it comes out on DVD. He states that Iron Man 2 only appeals to people on the big screen and that it will make less than $10 million on DVD.
Whiskey also states that the studio will only get 30% of the foreign gross.
Iron Man 2 ends with around $400 million domestically and over $900 million worldwide.
Whiskey changes the numbers again, stating that Iron Man 2 actually cost $400 million to produce and another $200 million to market. Whiskey states: I told you so! Iron Man 2 will never make $1.5 billion worldwide to cover production and marketing costs!
We all believe him. After all, he has the numbers to prove it! It is numbers that he made up, but we have to believe him, right?
Simply-BRAVO….
Best post of the day…….
What does it matter if the movie doesn’t become profitable with domestic box office alone? By all accounts the movie has recovered its extraordinary costs already. It’s a world market out there and not to consider it is naive and/ or uninformed. Who drives American cars anymore? Where are films made? Considering domestic box office alone is a parochial notion.
The historical references are ridiculous. The notion that the natives denuded the Great Plains is silly. The Europeans ‘cleared the land’ when they got here. They also destroyed the Great Plains by introducing cattle that were not in harmony with the environment as the bison (buffalo) were, eventually leading to the infamous ‘Dust Bowl.’ The Europeans in North and South American were completely responsible for the genocide of perhaps a hundred million natives ‘in the name of the Lord’ through the introduction of diseases and outright murder. There can be no excuse for this and any reminder (as in the Holocaust) can only be good.
Wow. It’s making 1 Billion by the end of next week. It’s a 1,2 knockout by Mr.Cameron.
I think it’ll break $1 billion by the end of THIS weekend
Any popular film that conjures up our legacy of genocide upon the native Americans is going to stir up the haters. They poo poo the film, snidely put it down as a product of liberal Hollywood (overlooking the big corporate money backing the film) or a copy of Dancing with Wolves, but don’t really want to talk about what’s in their craw. History is a bummer!
As someone who works in the business and got to see Avatar for free and then went to see it again and paid..Good work James!! My other favorite flick..It’s Complicated ..so no I am not a videogame nut, I just like good work and love that good, interesting movies are being made and people are coming out to see them again! Gives me a little hope for 2010 and the scary business of movie making. Ok Happy New Year all and that includes you haters, you were wrong, oh well, we will be wrong in 2010 if it makes you happier. Off to see Sherlock Holmes….:)
The guy has a vision and delivers a movie that will make a billion dollars…and people criticize him. Truly amazing.
and how many billions has mcdonald’s served…enjoy your prole theater
I have to wipe the monitor, there’s drool from you fanboys dripping down the sides.
Yes, the numbers are incredible, bigger than I expected. I have no problem with this making as much as possible, no axe to grind and Cameron made a couple of my all-time favorite movies in Aliens and Terminator 2.
But – ‘original’? That’s just stupid. This is a note-for-note re-telling of Dances with Wolves, the Last Samurai and Rain Man (not sure about the last one, it’s late). The very last thing this is, is original.
This is an incredibly successful tech demo, I can’t wait for the new tools to be used to tell a good story.
King of the world, indeed.
Theatre owners are surely hoping that another twelve-year gap doesn’t elapse until his next release.
If you actually expected something ‘original’ after seeing the trailer, then the the joke’s on you Joe.
I was deeply skeptical of Avatar – but Cameron did a fantastic job. I hope it continues to do awesome box office, because it is the shot in the arm the entire industry needs. Here’s to a prosperous 2010!
So what if Avatar shows similarities, storywise and philosophically, to Dancing With Wolves? That was a very good film, very good. If I were Cameron, I would be proud of the comparison
Pochahontas is actually its main forerunner. Nobody has a problem with Flash Gordon and The Hidden Fortress being the forerunners to Star Wars, but for some reason, Avatar drawing from classical paradigms is a dealbreaker for some.
Finally, someone says it!
Every single criticism of Avatar that I have seen could just as easily be leveled at the original Star Wars. Not original. Check. Weak dialog. Check. Too much tree-hugging. Substitute too much New Age gibberish and… Check. Weak acting. Check.
Not saying I agree wtih all of the criticisms I listed, just that there is an equally strong argument for the same criticisms.
Did anyone notice that “It’s Complicated” has been beating the critics’ darling “Up in the Air?”
Hardly unexpected. It’s Complicated was prepackaged to have prolonged appeal with a predominantly female audience of old people. Up in the Air will perform steadily through award season en route to a robust gross relative to production costs. Did the readers of this site have Avatar expectations for Up in the Air’s box office or something? Or are you just overeager to take a cheap shot at Clooney?
On the nose, Phil; they’re overeager to take a cheap shot at Clooney. This Drudgebot is particularly hilarious in that he seems to be supporting a movie that stars Alec Baldwin (who I’m sure he loathes just as much).
Saw it day one. As a writer, I found the movie derivative and predictable, as an audience member, who the fuck cared, it was bigger than the sum of its’ parts… And as a parent… After my kid and I walked out of the theatre, him stammered excitedly about it being “the coolest ever” he wanted to get into the massive lineup for the next showing, buy another ticket and see it again… we did see it again, three days later…
Only in schadenfreude addicted LA can you call the film a failure.
I have to say I’m happy Up In The Air appears to be underperforming. Almost comically overrated, that one. And Reitman seems like a douche.
I agree it’s overrated but it wasn’t designed to be a huge earner right out of the gate. They went with the strategic approach of a limited engagement followed by a gradual roll-out. Also, I read Reitman’s Tweets and to me he seems like a stand-up guy with no trace of smug entitlement because of his father’s success.
Excellent! Cameron is the master of entertaining, popular, cutting-edge movies. I plan on seeing this again in the theaters, and many of my friends are, too.
I don’t understand people complaining about the big budgets, when all that money is going to creating jobs in the film industry. It was money well spent. Fox made a smart gamble, and it’s paying off. Now that Avatar is making bank, more people will be employed making the the sequels. Can’t wait to see them.
Never for a moment doubted this film will be a masive hit, been following it since 2006 and after Titanic I was SURE jim will deliver, how can anyone doubt the guy whose last movie made the most EVER (non adjusted) at 2billion worldwide?
some right wing rags said he had a eccentric idea that people will go to see blue aliens from outer space.. guess what, people wanna see blue aliens is the movie is done right!
So, how do you like your crow?
Sauteed?
Deep-fried?
Baked?
I know I am eating crow because I called Avatar this — Smurfs 2.0
I also said it would fail.
Well, I was wrong. And after I saw it, I like many other premature nattering nabobs of the negative were blown away by the cinematic masterpiece that excels as a form of pure escapist entertainment. Were there shortcomings in the script? Sure. Was the dialogue Velveeta in spots? You betcha.
But watching Avatar, and then putting any Michael Bay movie in the DVD player, is akin to attending a master’s class at Harvard, then dropping by a junior college in Waco. Cameron may be the closest thing Hollywood has these days to a sure thing. Maybe we should celebrate this ornery but unqualified film genius, rather than tear him down, every which way when the opportunity presents itself.
Crow pie, anyone?
Finally! Someone converted! Hahaha
As I stated before, I didn’t think this movie was OUTSTANDING, but I liked it for the technical achievement that it was. So much so, that I have tried and failed twice to see it on IMAX after seeing it on regular 3D the first time.
Yes, the script has some shortcomings. Yes, the dialogue is cheesy in some parts (although, I was expecting the dialogue to be a lot worse from what critics were saying before the movie came out).
It’s one of those movies that you just have to see on the big screen in 3D!
I’m one of those event filmgoers. I wait for something I really want to see on the big screen and then I go for the best possible movie experience. So for me the only way to see Avatar is in IMAX 3D, which I did with my family on Christmas day. And I want to see it one more time the same way even though it was expensive. So I don’t have a lot of interest in what the naysayers say, except to admit I’m less interested in this on the small screen, on BlueRay™, even if they do get the 3D HDTVs into production this new year (and which in any event I’m not, myself, inclined to purchase.)
Oh, and when I go see Avatar again, the theater has got to be the true, original big-screen IMAX. This one didn’t show any commercials or anything beforehand, which was nice. I suppose that enabled the theater to have more showings in consideration of all the people lining up to see it. And yeah, profitability of course.
We also all of us saw Sherlock Holmes at the same theater the next day (not on IMAX.) I had somehow missed hearing about the film beforehand and was bitterly spoiled in my seat by a trailer beforehand, which was played during the NBC/Universal 20-minute ad block-slash-forced entertainment. (I would so pay extra to not have to see those!) I did manage some measure of being entertained by the movie, but each one of all 3 generations of us liked Avatar the best.
(But when I go again, I’m going to have to sneak off to see it just by myself. ‘Cos this sh*! is getting expensive!)
As a brief addendum, I’d like to address the numerous people who keep on blasting Avatar for being an unoriginal, blow-by-blow and beat-by-beat update on, say, Dances with Wolves.
Well, anyone who knows anything about story (see: Campbell, Joseph) knows there are only a handful of broad variations on any tale, especially one involving a clearly defined hero’s journey. Cameron’s story closely follows beats of the classic “fish out of water” story line, ie Dances with Wolves, Out of Africa, etc.
Here’s another way of looking at it. Say I pitched the following story:
“A down-on-his-luck sports figure gets his act together and help lead an unlikely band of competitors to unexpected triumph…”
That pitch could easily describe:
Keanu Reeves in “Hardball”
Gene Hackman in “Hoosiers”
Robert Redford in “The Natural”
Samuel L. Jackson in “Coach Carter”
As you can see, there’s nothing new, just like the Good Book says, under the sun!
Shine on, Mr. Cameron. Shine on.
5. THE BLIND SIDE (Warner Bros) [2,766] Week 7
Wed $3M (+2%), Thurs $3.4M (+13%), Cume $196.4M
Cume is 196 mil? Sorry but this film is so below my radar that I am questioning how I missed almost all the advertising for what appears to be a giant hit.
Pretty amazing run for The Blind Side. It has grossed over $1 million everyday since its release, which was now 42 days ago.
Regarding the “inflation of the gross” by 3D and Imax ticket sales:
I’m not sure how anyone could criticize the portion of the gross contributed by premium priced Imax and 3D ticket sales. If folks are willing to pay Imax and 3D ticket prices then they must think that its worth it. You gotta give credit to a guy (and his team) who can create a movie that makes fans PREFER to see the movie in the most expensive format that they can find. In the city that I live in (Kelowna, BC, pop: 110,000), Avatar is showing on 3 screens (2 in 3D, 1 in 2D, we don’t have an Imax in town). I stopped by the theatre on Wednesday (at 5:10 pm), after work, with the intention of watching the 5:30pm show (my second viewing). Incredibly enough, both the 5:30pm and 7:45pm shows, both in 3D, were already sold out. I could have easily gotten into the 6:30pm 2D show, but who cares! I want to see it in 3D again or not at all, and I’m willing to pay the premium to do that.
If you are a marketer, you might think of every movie shown in a theatre as a product purchasable by a consumer. That product includes not just the movie itself, but also the movie’s “packaging”, in other words, the experience of going to see the movie, including the entrance to the theatre, the concession, the seating and layout of the theatre, the size and shape of the screen, the quality of the sound, etc. Traditionally, the movie industry has only been able to offer the potential viewing consumer a single product, a movie in 2D at a typical theatre. Cameron, on the other hand, has created a movie product available with 3 different levels of packaging, 2D, 3D, and Imax; really not any different than Apple offers different versions of its IPod Touch, for example, in 8GB, 16GB, 32GB, etc. Some folks are willing to pay for an 8GB Ipod, while others are willing to pay the premium for the 32GB version. Cameron has created a product that is available, and desirable, on all three kinds of screens and, incredibly enough, most folks seem to be more than willing to pay the premium to purchase the most expensive version of his product that they can get their hands on. That’s just good marketing.
And don’t forget that because of the length of the movie (nearly 3 hours long), Avatar is actually being shown fewer times in a night than a regular movie running on the same number of screens. For example, here in town, the movie is shown only 3 times total in an evening between both 3D screens that are showing it; that means that it’s actually taking in fewer dollars per theatre per evening than it would if it were of a more standard length (2 hours). So the length of the movie is actually skewing the numbers (to this point) downwards from what they could be!!! In the end, of course, everyone will eventually see the movie and the total will be whatever it will be. Cameron could’ve made the movie shorter (2 hours instead of 3 hours) and made more profit sooner. But, if 2 hours made the movie less fulfilling then he might not get the total gross that he’s going to. That’s a balance that I suppose every movie must strike.
Great comment!
I had the same issue as you about seeing Avatar for a second time. First of all, I have to say that I didn’t LOVE this movie the first time I saw it. But I saw it on regular 3D, and right after the movie, eventhough I was a little disappointed with the story and some of the characters, I told my girlfriend that we just HAVE TO see it on IMAX. She agreed.
On Thursday (New Year’s Eve) we went to IMAX for the 1:30PM showing. We showed up 10 minutes before the movie started. I know, the movie has already been out for 2 weeks, but we should’ve known that it would be sold out…LOL
In fact, not only was the 1:30PM show sold out, but also the next one that started about 4 hours later.
So, we decided that we would go back on New Year’s Day and try again. This time we went 2 hours before the movie started. We thought that we would buy the tickets, have dinner and then go watch the movie.
And, of course, again the movie was sold out…We got there around 7PM for the 9PM showing and it was sold out! Hahaha
It’s strange. I don’t love this movie. I don’t think it’s the greatest movie ever. What I do know, is that it has to be seen on the big screen, especially on IMAX. I have never even seen a movie on IMAX before, but if there ever was one, Avatar is it!
Yes, I will also buy the movie once it comes out on Blu-Ray, but it just won’t be the same. Maybe Avatar can be one of these movies like Nightmare Before Christmas that gets re-released annually so that we can catch the magic on the big screen every year!
Hi everyone I would just like to say Im experiencing the same thing here in the D.C. area. I saw the movie first with my wife in IMAX 3D. We loved it. After I saw it, I called my daughter from a previous marriage and treated her to the matinee showing at 1230pm. My wife took a day off from work to take her daughter to see it, again a matinee show. We all loved the movie. But guess what, me and my son inlaw have failed to see it in the evening for the second weekend in a row, even the 1130pm show was sold out. I believe that reason the film is so sucessful is that after you leave the theater you feel like you have been on a vacation and made new friends. In other words you feel like you have visited Pandora. This film will make 2 billion in total sales because it’s a film no one can see just once.
Once upon a time, walking into an almost empty, small town movie house prior to a movie, I heard the mgr. tell the snack counter person ” I’m sending this turkey back tomorrow -it’s a bomb!” That movie was the original TERMINATOR.
So, as a shameful member of the proletariat, I am often faced with the difficult decision of how to spend my discretionary dollars. When I have to pick between say – AVATAR or ANTICHRIST, I ask myself -”How much am I getting paid to see these flicks?” Once I’m certain they won’t be paying me, I go see the one I’ll actually enjoy. I can always get that drained & disturbed experience once I leave the theater. . ..
Why were all the black people in the film blue? Just wondering why Cameron did not allow African Americans to “sully” his vision, yet, include them as “race neutral” Blue People. Oh right forgot about the forgettable Rodriguez chick and token brown guy, but all the brown people were BLUE in the film.
Just noticing this bit of racism from Cameron.
Missy,
CCH Pounder, Zoe, and the other actors of colors are going to make buckets of dollars off this gig. They will take that money, feed themselves and their families,make their Ins.req.,and pay their bills.
They were not slaves,mammies,coons,or jiving bucks in this film.
I am happy they had work that allowed them to look at themselves in the morning.
Laz Alonso is of African AND Cuban descent. Zoe Saldana is Dominican and Puerto Rican. Wes Studi is Cherokee.
I’m sure you mean well, but you may want to consider means other than ignorance to fuel any future agendas, because as someone you’d likely lump into the “race neutral” group, your own racism is far more pungent than Cameron’s.
You’re wrong. While – unfortunately – all of the main human characters are white, there are other human characters that are various shades of brown.
It’s pretty clear that at least on one level the film is staging a colonial narrative in which the aliens stand in for an amalgamation of various indigenous groups. In this sense it would make sense for the aliens not to be played by whites.
Does this constitute ‘othering’ of nonwhites? Is there a problem essentializing native cultures in this way?
Maybe, possibly, sure. But these questions are distinct from the blunt criticism you’re trying to draw, which – again – is without foundation if you look at the film closely.
what planet do you live on? this is a science fiction film. colour is not an issue with this film.
You sound like a crazy person…….
Hi All,
I hope race doesn’t become a factor in discussing this movie it has nothing to do with race. Everyone in the move was treated fairly and with respect. If you want to be fair about it I think the colonel played and excellent villan, and he may well be nominated for something, maybe a darth vader type beloved villan, and you have to admit he died an honorable death. But this IS science fiction. A good suggestion, look at the positive side of the movie, I noticed almost all the races on the planet in the movie, it has a little something for everyone. Enjoy the show.
I guess I’ll be the only person in America (in the world?) who chooses not to see Avatar.
It’s making a lot of money and apparently audiences like it. So now expect even more effects laden, story deficit vehicles to be made in the coming year. Gawd, what is the world coming to?
And it’s again a “white-centric” movie about guilt and redemption, because obviously the natives can’t possibly redeem themselves without help from a guilty white man.
Sheesh.
Jake Sully may be white but he’s not guilty. He’s simply smitten by the beautiful Neytiri! His love for her is what guides him over to their side, and frankly, who could blame him? They’re a very noble race in a wondrous environment and the evil corporate mercenaries are trying to violently uproot them.
Buzz is starting to build for Zoe Saldana to set a precedent by being nominated for Best Actress. Frankly I would be tickled pink if it happened because I think her essence really shined through the complicated technology that it took to bring the character to life.
Your comments, at best, are ignorant guesses. Come back when you’ve put in your time and money like everyone else.
My comments are based upon the overhyping of the movie, including ruining an episode of my favorite television series “Bones” by spending half of the episode hawking the movie as a “plot” device.
That ruined it for me. You ruin my show, I don’t see your movie.
In 2009, over 500 movies were released in theaters. Of the over 500 released, about 25 or so had budgets of $100 million or more.
That leaves over 450 releases that are not “effects laden, story deficit vehicles”. So, there are still plenty of movies for you to choose from.
And eventhough these “effects laden, story deficit vehicles” make up about 5% of movies released, it still makes around 40% of the total domestic box office. Which means that studios have the money to make the “movies with a great story” you want.
No one ever said that Avatar was about “story”. It has always been about a new techinical advancement in cinema. That’s what everyone likes about it.
We still go see the other movies that have a great story, because they overrun the movie market. So, let some of us enjoy the 25 or so movies that have the great effects every year.
And before you say that the big budget movies make it impossible for smaller movies to make money, just take into account that “The Hangover” which cost only $35 million to produce, made $277 million, good enough for #6 on the list of 2009′s top movies.
Also, “The Blind Side”, which cost only $29 million to make, has crossed the $200 million mark and “The Proposal” which only cost $40 million made $163 million. “Distric 9″ cost $30 million and made $115 million. “Paranormal Activity” which cost only $15,000 to make, grossed $107 million.
So, there are a few movies that cost a lot to produce and they “have no story” and are only “effects laden”. So what? People enjoy that! They can always go and see the other movies too. That’s whats great about movie theaters! They have more than one screen these days.
Some of the better movies I’ve seen this year:
- District 9
- Sunshine Cleaning
- Moon
Story counts. Effects are nice. But story first.
I have to agree with you. District 9 is better than Avatar. I haven’t seen Sunshine Cleaning or Moon, although I really want to see Moon badly. I think it’s coming out on DVD soon though.
So, there you go then! You got to see three movies with a good storyline. Does it matter that there is a few movies that are effects laden?
By the way, Sharlto Copley, the star of District 9 is “amazing” in that movie! I can’t believe there isn’t talk about him during this awards season. Or Sam Rockwell for that matter. Ok, I haven’t seen Moon yet, but just from the previews it seemed like a great performance!