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Avatar 2 officially titled Avatar: The Way Of Water, releasing in NA on December 16

BeardGawd

Banned
I saw it on Christmas Eve in 3D. It was ok.

Avatar 1 & 2 still remain the best usage of 3D I've ever seen. The simple story of the original served it well, but the sequel's is a mess. The story/plot in Avatar 2 is terrible - straight up. I went to see it purely for the visuals, no expectations for a good story, and was still let down.

The visuals don't need to be discussed - it's objectively beautiful. The storyline baffles me. The whole premise and utilization of the villain is some of the dumbest shit I've ever seen. The retreading of the "training", but with water and with kids this time is just lazy. The shoehorning of the "whaling" plot was cheap. The final battle was underwhelming in scope and consequence.

Avatar 2 left me with zero excitement for more of this franchise. I genuinely can't fathom 3 more sequels - the visuals are not going to continue to carry this thing. Unless the third film mixes up the formula drastically, I might not even bother seeing it.
I just got back from viewing this and somewhat agree with you.

The visuals are unmatched handsdown. The 3D is jaw dropping.

Worth seeing for the visuals alone. And I will probably see this a second time.

But I was surprised how similar the story is to Avatar 1. While heartfelt Cameron took basically zero risks. The family dynamic was kinda cool but even with 3 hours there wasn't much time to flesh out the characters. Final battle was underwhelming compared to Avatar 1.

But even tho this felt like a retread I'm excited to see where Cameron takes this next. I'm sure we will get desert tribes and/or snow tribes for the sequels. Since Pandora is a Moon we might even get all new humanoid species on other moons or even the planet itself. There's still huge potential here I just hope he takes more risks next time.
 
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Atrus

Gold Member
It’s 3+ hours that doesn’t feel like it but the first 60-
90 minutes is similar to the first film (but a great excuse for visuals mind you) coupled with a family unity theme for the last bit you’ve already seen before.

From what I can guess it loses some steam as a stand alone film on its own in order to set up the sequel, which should by all means put the end battle of the first film to shame. Once the series is done, this one will probably be seen as the worst film in the trilogy.

They honestly could have cut the film down if they wanted to focus on the plot but really, the visual spectacle is like a theme park ride and I definitely liked seeing it on the big screen. Planet Pandora in 3D is worth going to theatres for.
 
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Alebrije

Gold Member
Avatar 2 is like those games that have great graphics but lame gameplay....like Callisto protocol.

Its fun to watch but not to remember.
 

Chiggs

Gold Member
Official: 1.03 billion and counting at the WW box office.

https://deadline.com/2022/12/box-office-avatar-the-way-of-water-billion-1235207660/

Avatar 2 in its offshore Tuesday saw $50.8M, for a $74.6M worldwide day, a $712.7M offshore total and overall $1.03 billion running global total. That’s the fastest movie to cross that threshold in 14 days since last year’s Spider-Man: No Way Home. Nancy will have more details later

In a year of flops and letdowns for Disney, Avatar 2 stands tall as their only 1 billion hit.
 
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RJMacready73

Simps for Amouranth
Just back from it, visually outstanding but man it could've really done with losing 30mins, granted I didn't notice the time as every scene was gorgeous in IMAX 3D but the middle section had a lot of fluff, the finale just didn't have the scale of the first one which was a bit of let down instead still fucking class mind but maybe it's just me but I really want to see Earth in this universe, I'm hoping for the 3rd one we get at least an extended scene to show how bad it is there for us to go act like utter cunts on another planet, yeah James we get it you're a bit of an environmentalist but I need a bit more motivation as to why all the white dudes are being cunts and destroying all around them knowing full well that they're essentially killing sentient beings
 

SlimySnake

Flashless at the Golden Globes
Just back from it, visually outstanding but man it could've really done with losing 30mins, granted I didn't notice the time as every scene was gorgeous in IMAX 3D but the middle section had a lot of fluff, the finale just didn't have the scale of the first one which was a bit of let down instead still fucking class mind but maybe it's just me but I really want to see Earth in this universe, I'm hoping for the 3rd one we get at least an extended scene to show how bad it is there for us to go act like utter cunts on another planet, yeah James we get it you're a bit of an environmentalist but I need a bit more motivation as to why all the white dudes are being cunts and destroying all around them knowing full well that they're essentially killing sentient beings
I laughed at the explanation given for whale hunting. Literally the plot of Jupiter Ascending.

You can literally clone Blue people. Just clone blue whales and farm them for the gold goo.

THat said, humans were the worst part of the first film and every transformers, godzilla and king kong movie is trashed for having boring humans taking up the spotlight for half the movie saving studios from having to render expensive CG monsters for the full 2 hours. I kind of like that this movie was all blue people. Needed a better villain though.
 
That there ARE Avatar fans out there, and that James Cameron is the GOAT.
I don't know for the masses. But I get the feeling people perceive James Cameron movies as must see in the best theater possible.

Personally, I'm certainly no Cameron nor Avatar fan, but I think his films advance the medium in regards to R&D so I think they should be supported with money from the public. Structurally (if you take the special effects away) they're nothing to write home about, but that's only half the history here.

I can see the best movie ever at home and not feel like I'm missing anything, some films are even better that way. But that description doesn't fit a James Cameron movie. My living room TV set is a VT60, direct successor to the Panasonic "VT20-based" tech used to master and showcase the original Avatar movie, and even then, with a TV objectively better with what was on the cinema in 2009, I can't fathom seeing the original Avatar at home, in a 65" calibrated display, and think I'm having the same experience I did in the cinema.

With stuff like The Hobbit I honestly felt my TV set at home was better than the cinema one. There's just so much ambition that it just transpires that you're looking at it on a small TV, it's not enough.
No offense to Spielberg and Kubrick but they didnt get butt in the seats like Cameron has movie after movie.
Different kind of directors/people. Spielberg and Kubrick are all time greats with a infinite better body of work than Cameron does. Both pushed the medium at times, anytime they needed it, but were otherwise content providing they have the tools they needed. Issue being when they didn't. Kubrick was basically OCD, either with tech or with spending an even bigger shitload of hours cutting video than any other director. Spielberg is not OCD nor as ambitious as James Cameron, but he has great intuition.

Spielberg and Kubrick are also able to look back with fondness of old tech, I don't think Cameron is able to do that for more than anecdotes. I don't think he'd ever shoot analogue again as even going back to the avatar 1 shooting experience would be a massive downgrade for him, dude lives in the future, and he might change the course of the present to get there. Everything up till now was a stepping stone for him. What an animal.
 
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Chiggs

Gold Member
Just back from it, visually outstanding but man it could've really done with losing 30mins, granted I didn't notice the time as every scene was gorgeous in IMAX 3D but the middle section had a lot of fluff, the finale just didn't have the scale of the first one which was a bit of let down instead still fucking class mind but maybe it's just me but I really want to see Earth in this universe, I'm hoping for the 3rd one we get at least an extended scene to show how bad it is there for us to go act like utter cunts on another planet, yeah James we get it you're a bit of an environmentalist but I need a bit more motivation as to why all the white dudes are being cunts and destroying all around them knowing full well that they're essentially killing sentient beings

Cameron mentioned that we will see Earth in later episodes. The writers also seem giddy about part 3, and have said that you won’t be able to predict it.

its fun to watch some seeth with anger that this 'smurfs in space' or 'cartoon' has already surpassed a billion dollars at the box office 😂

The comments over at Deadline, when the movie opened with a less than expected amount, courtesy of Disney not understanding the trajectory of Cameron films at the box office, are the new gold standard for shit-posting.

Now it’s people just moving the goal post…which is still quite funny. Expect serious drama when the movie overtakes Top Gun: Maverick in the new few weeks.
 
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SlimySnake

Flashless at the Golden Globes
Official: 1.03 billion and counting at the WW box office.

https://deadline.com/2022/12/box-office-avatar-the-way-of-water-billion-1235207660/



In a year of flops and letdowns for Disney, Avatar 2 stands tall as their only 1 billion hit.
$25 million on its Second Tuesday in the states. Amazing. I am guessing a lot of the midwest snowed in crowd.

Whats crazy is that it might hit $1.5 billion by the end of this holiday week if it continues to perform like this. Topping Top Gun in just under three weeks.
 

Chiggs

Gold Member
$25 million on its Second Tuesday in the states. Amazing. I am guessing a lot of the midwest snowed in crowd.

Whats crazy is that it might hit $1.5 billion by the end of this holiday week if it continues to perform like this. Topping Top Gun in just under three weeks.

Top Gun’s strength was all domestic. Avatar has good domestic + really good foreign. It saw a resurgence with China, too…despite the COVID craziness.
 

LoneWolf&Subs

Neo Member
THat said, humans were the worst part of the first film and every transformers, godzilla and king kong movie is trashed for having boring humans taking up the spotlight for half the movie saving studios from having to render expensive CG monsters for the full 2 hours. I kind of like that this movie was all blue people. Needed a better villain though.
The humans exist in this to remind you how impressive the world, and it’s characters are that Cameron & Crew created. Plus new gadgets get thrown into the final battles in these.
 
maybe it's just me but I really want to see Earth in this universe, I'm hoping for the 3rd one we get at least an extended scene to show how bad it is there for us to go act like utter cunts on another planet, yeah James we get it you're a bit of an environmentalist but I need a bit more motivation as to why all the white dudes are being cunts and destroying all around them knowing full well that they're essentially killing sentient beings

Love the crowd reveal here
 

octiny

Banned
Best 2nd Tuesday gross over both Rogue One & No Way Home.

Added another 75 million.

65+55+70+60+65+70 WW over the next 6 days which is definitely doable if we're simply going by Rogue One % drops over the same time frame.

My 1.5 billion WW prediction by end of New Years weekend (upcoming Monday is a Holiday) was close. It'll be at 1.42 billion by then, possibly more as it might hold better from people who otherwise would've seen it this past weekend but couldn't.

Half a billion over the course of the next 2 months w/ no competition? 2 billion is inevitable.

WW is king when it comes to Avatar. 70/30 holding true.

TE2y09h.gif
 
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Just back from it, visually outstanding but man it could've really done with losing 30mins, granted I didn't notice the time as every scene was gorgeous in IMAX 3D but the middle section had a lot of fluff, the finale just didn't have the scale of the first one which was a bit of let down instead still fucking class mind but maybe it's just me but I really want to see Earth in this universe, I'm hoping for the 3rd one we get at least an extended scene to show how bad it is there for us to go act like utter cunts on another planet, yeah James we get it you're a bit of an environmentalist but I need a bit more motivation as to why all the white dudes are being cunts and destroying all around them knowing full well that they're essentially killing sentient beings

Well Jon Landau dropped this in an interview:

"In [‘Avatar 5’] there is a section of the story where we go to Earth. And we go to it to open people’s eyes, open Neytiri’s eyes, to what exists on Earth.” “Earth is not just represented by the RDA [the franchise’s evil organization known as the Resources Development Administration],” he said. “Just like you’re defined by the choices you make in life, not all humans are bad. Not all Na’vi are good. And that’s the case here on Earth. And we want to expose Neytiri to that.”
 
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Cameron mentioned that we will see Earth in later episodes. The writers also seem giddy about part 3, and have said that you won’t be able to predict it.



The comments over at Deadline, when the movie opened with a less than expected amount, courtesy of Disney not understanding the trajectory of Cameron films at the box office, are the new gold standard for shit-posting.

Now it’s people just moving the goal post…which is still quite funny. Expect serious drama when the movie overtakes Top Gun: Maverick in the new few weeks.

Never doubt Cameron. Dude has consistently put out billion dollar titans in the last 2 decades.
I re-watched this movie a second time just purely for the visuals cause I still can't believe what they achieved with the CG here and I'm sure many others will do the same. The story being better than part 1 is the icing on the cake.

I just hope this one smashes records so we can get to Part 3 and especially Part 4 which I hear is when things go crazy (in a good way).
 

ZehDon

Gold Member
Right. Nor will it ever. I was referring to Avatar 2. Everyone said it bombed there, but that may have been premature.
Always amusing to read. People are still tasking Cameron's films just like every other mindless blockbuster: monster opening thanks to slick marketing, huge drops week to week, and puttering out two months after release, before the system moves on to the next hollow blockbuster. That's simply not how Cameron's movies perform. Titanic, Avatar, Avatar 2; they open strong, moderate drops week to week, riding along month after month raking in the money from repeat and first-time viewers. Word of mouth of "you have to see it in the cinema" takes time to build. I mean, look at this thread: "worth it for the visuals alone". When was the last time you could say that about a film?
 
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Aggelos

Member
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IDKFA

I am Become Bilbo Baggins
Stop with this narrative. I want Cameron to make something along the lines.of Aliens or T2 I don't care for Avatar.

Cameron will finish his career making Avatar films. He's got a lot more planned, and probably more after that.

I love it. I want more Avatar. I don't want Cameron (or anybody for that matter) to return to old 80s franchises.
 

DKehoe

Member
Cameron will finish his career making Avatar films. He's got a lot more planned, and probably more after that.

I love it. I want more Avatar. I don't want Cameron (or anybody for that matter) to return to old 80s franchises.
Avatar is clearly what he wants to do and is excited about. So I'm cool with him pursuing that for as long as he likes.
 

ManaByte

Banned
Stop with this narrative. I want Cameron to make something along the lines.of Aliens or T2 I don't care for Avatar.

Cameron has spent the last 20+ years of his life exploring the oceans. That's his passion. The Avatar franchise allows him to turn his own passion into entertainment that makes billions of dollars. That's what makes him happy and how he'll end his career. It's not your place to tell the man what he should do with his life.
 

Days like these...

Have a Blessed Day
Cameron has spent the last 20+ years of his life exploring the oceans. That's his passion. The Avatar franchise allows him to turn his own passion into entertainment that makes billions of dollars. That's what makes him happy and how he'll end his career. It's not your place to tell the man what he should do with his life.
I'm not telling him what to do it's just sad that his immense talent is wasted on such a shit franchise. He wants to be Jack Cousteau by all means more power to him. Can we get a titanic sequel instead of this "spectacle which prints money"?
 

ManaByte

Banned
I'm not telling him what to do it's just sad that his immense talent is wasted on such a shit franchise. He wants to be Jack Cousteau by all means more power to him. Can we get a titanic sequel instead of this "spectacle which prints money"?

I love what he's doing with Avatar, he's turning it into a generational Godfather-style saga but in SciFi. Cameron explores the oceans and has five kids. He's basically made Avatar his Fabelmans, but in a SciFi setting.
 

Punished Miku

Human Rights Subscription Service
I'm not telling him what to do it's just sad that his immense talent is wasted on such a shit franchise. He wants to be Jack Cousteau by all means more power to him. Can we get a titanic sequel instead of this "spectacle which prints money"?
A Titanic sequel lol. That's such a bad idea I almost want it.

Could probably make Titanic and Avatar part of the same cinematic universe. Jack gets brought back after they find his body frozen, but somehow fully preserved and still alive. They need him and his expertise on boats to fight the sea people and ship him to space.
 

ManaByte

Banned
A Titanic sequel lol. That's such a bad idea I almost want it.

Could probably make Titanic and Avatar part of the same cinematic universe. Jack gets brought back after they find his body frozen, but somehow fully preserved and still alive. They need him and his expertise on boats to fight the sea people and ship him to space.

Paramount wanted a Titanic sequel about the trial following the sinking. I'm not kidding.
 

Punished Miku

Human Rights Subscription Service
Paramount wanted a Titanic sequel about the trial following the sinking. I'm not kidding.
Yeah that doesn't sound great. The epilogue really makes it a one and done kinda movie. Most stories don't really have a satisfactory ending but that movie actually does. Oh well!
 

Pagusas

Elden Member
I'm sure it could be neat, but my vote is Battle Angel 2 all day. I think T2 and Aliens have kinda run their course. Cameron has publicly talked about a Terminator movie though focusing on AI, so it's on his mind.
Recently read a AI apocalypse style book called “Level Five”, fun read and could totally see its plot points used for a Terminator AI film.
 

LoneWolf&Subs

Neo Member
Remember the bit at the MTV movie awards where they floated the idea to Cameron of air pockets as the catalyst for a Titanic 2?
 
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Bragr

Banned
It's an ok movie and all, but when you have to defend it with "it's popular", you know there is an issue here.
 

Bragr

Banned
I'm sure it could be neat, but my vote is Battle Angel 2 all day. I think T2 and Aliens have kinda run their course. Cameron has publicly talked about a Terminator movie though focusing on AI, so it's on his mind.
Battle Angel? Are we talking about the same movie here, Alita Battle Angel?
 
Hard to get seats for the IMAX showings here. Wanted to go with my mates here yesterday and it was basically sold out. Now the scheduele for next week has been released and the showings are already half sold out, which means I have to wait at least one more week.

This movie is going to make bangers and the haters are going to cry again. Never doubt Cameron.
 
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Chiggs

Gold Member
It's an ok movie and all, but when you have to defend it with "it's popular", you know there is an issue here.

I’d just defend it as being a feast for the eyes/vacation to a new world.

As for the story, I think it’s perfectly fine, but then again I live in a world where Star Wars is considered an original story-telling masterpiece…so it’s definitely an “eye of the beholder” sort of thing.


I think he’s pointing to the Marvel universe, where the plots are generally MacGuffin-stuffed snoozefests and yet still perform quite well at the Box Office.
 
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