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[Ignatz Mouse]

All this Avatar talk has gotten me to think about showing it to my kids. But honestly, outside if Box Office discussions, I never think of it at all. It has almost no footprint in culture or my thoughts about movies.

Even at the time I treated it more like an amusement park ride than a story.

Credit where it's due for being an excellent ride, but that's all it ever was to me.

 

[Boke1879]

Don't get me wrong. The Avatar hate in this thread is borderline comedy. Only slightly more comedic than the TFA hate.

#shakeitoff

This is hilarious. People just can't accept differing opinions

 

[guek]

Even if you think Avatar is some soulless husk , the craftsmanship on display (art direction, cinematography, direction, action staging) are in peak form. That comparison in particular is just comically wrong.

Unfortunately, people don't like to give any of that any credit unless they serve as a vehicle for a decent plot. Avatar's was competent at best.

IMO, even Michael Bay deserves a heavy dose of respect for his craft despite making films I have trouble sitting though. The frequency in which his visual style is emulated is a testament to that.

 

[Jarmel]

So I guess the question is starting to become whether this can reach $1 billion domestic.

 

[Cheebo]

This is going to be over 700 mil by Jan 3rd I am thinking.

 

[borghe]

WHAT?!

There are two in this scene...

Ford killed it in TFA. Now it's clear you're just trolling.

 

[Inferno313]

WHAT?!

There are two in this scene...

The Force Awakens has Harrison Ford's best performance in a decade, and arguably one of his stronger performances as Han Solo (If you want to see what it looks like when Ford phones-in Solo, rewatch ROTJ)

 

[Gonzalez]

Ford killed it in TFA. Now it's clear you're just trolling.

Kill what? I'm not trolling at all when I say that I believe Ford gave a shit performance, in my opinion.

 

[Dash_Riprock]

The Force Awakens has Harrison Ford's best performance in two decades

Fixed.

Kill what? I'm not trolling at all when I say that I believe Ford gave a shit performance, in my opinion.

Then you believe wrong. You want to see Ford give a shit performer, watch Cowboys and Aliens. Hell, watch just anything from the 90s onward.

 

[Cheebo]

Kill what? I'm not trolling at all when I say that I believe Ford gave a shit performance, in my opinion.

You have to admit, the vast majority opinion is Ford rocked it and gave his best performance in over a decade. You are fighting a difficult battle over there.

Fixed.



Then you believe wrong. You want to see Ford give a shit performer, watch Cowboys and Aliens. Hell, watch just anything from the 90s onward.

This is the first time since Air Force One that Ford didn't seem to be half-asleep and phoning it in it.

 

[Htown]

I look at this shit and the one thing I actually fail to understand is why is it that nerds of all people seem to hate on Avatar the most. In your gifs I see an alien dragon fighting against a 22nd century assault aircraft and a humanoid mecha jumping out of said exploding vehicle.

I know intellectually that it should be super cool, but somehow in the execution it just comes across as unexciting.

That's one of the reasons I don't super love Avatar. They made alien space dragons vs space marines kind of boring.

 

[Gonzalez]

Fixed.

Although, let me add that Ford has always been a shitty leading man. We honestly would have been better off if Tom Selleck played Indy.

 

[kswiston]

This is going to be over 700 mil by Jan 3rd I am thinking.

Probably needs to be higher than that for $1b. However that would set it up for upper 8s low 9s.

 

[Verendus]

Being a nerd doesn't mean you automatically love anything sci-fi or fantasy. Quite the opposite. We argue over every detail of every property. We're far pickier about this stuff than general audiences.

If this was really the case, Star Wars wouldn't be looked upon so favourably since they're pretty simplistic blockbuster movies. Folks just cling onto their favourite franchises and then nitpick and decry others for many of the same flaws. That's the simple truth of the matter in many of these instances.

Something can't just be okay, or decent, it has to be terrible. Then this other average thing can be great!

 

[trembli0s]

I know intellectually that it should be super cool, but somehow in the execution it just comes across as unexciting.

That's one of the reasons I don't super love Avatar. They made alien space dragons vs space marines kind of boring.

Something I also never quite understood. I've seen Avatar maybe 4 times. Couple in the theaters and a couple at home. And yet, I could really give 2 shits about any of the characters in the movie.

The parts that make the movie are unbelievably good. The characters? Couldn't give 2 shits. If your characters are bland it's hard to care.

 

[guek]

I know intellectually that it should be super cool, but somehow in the execution it just comes across as unexciting.

That's one of the reasons I don't super love Avatar. They made alien space dragons vs space marines kind of boring.

I think Avatar is just OK but I get what you mean. Its heavy reliance on an all too familiar plot and theme made it come off as kitschy. There was this weird vibe that felt like cultural appropriation of Native Americans that was...offputting.

 

[Pagusas]

Stephen Lang Mech fight finale is super underrated. Just that shot alone gives me a boner.

worst scene in the whole god damn movie. That specific scene always bothered me due to the way its cut. It just looks wrong, like the cut happened, then we jump back in time by like 20 frames, then start up again.

 

[Cheebo]

Probably needs to be higher than that for $1b. However that would set it up for upper 8s low 9s.

Yeah, I am not willing to leap on the 1 bil bandwagon yet. But 875-900 mil is happening.


Oh and what the hell is going on in this thread? We are witnessing what is almost guaranteed to be the greatest boxoffice run in domestic boxoffice history a feat that is typically only a once in a decade occurance and instead we are talkiing about what we don't like about Avatar???

 

[jett]

Because it's a shitty movie. It's not much different from Transformers, all spectacle, no substance or feeling,just an event picture.

But this recycled A New Hope was great, right? It has the artistic substance and sensibility of a movie that exists because the mouse house paid 4 billion for Lucasfilm.

Avatar, however, is just plain garbage. This is why you can't have a serious discourse in this forum most of the time.

 

[PopeReal]

If this was really the case, Star Wars wouldn't be looked upon so favourably since they're pretty simplistic blockbuster movies. Folks just cling onto their favourite franchises and then nitpick and decry others for many of the same flaws. That's the simple truth of the matter in many of these instances.

Something can't just be okay, or decent, it has to be terrible. Then this other average thing can be great!

Star Wars fans nitpick and criticize Star Wars more than anyone else. So I completely disagree with your sentiment.

 

[Cheebo]

Newflash, the reason Avatar was the highest grossing film of all time for the years it was and why TFA will now be is because they are both pretty derivative of what has come before. And why before it Titanic was a pretty standard disaster movie and romance story.

You don't appeal to EVERYONE in the way these films did without going for the familiar established stories that the public knows and is comfortable with.

You want a completely unique 100% original movie that is not like anything that has came before it? Well guess what, that will never be the #1 highest grossing movie of all time.

This argument is absurd.

 

[Jarmel]

I don't even like Avatar that much but damn the level of hate some people have for it despite it being a big budget planetary scifi (which we pretty much never get) is kinda astounding.

 

[Cheebo]

The top two highest grossing movies all time will be sci-fi (sci-fi fantasy in the case of TFA). That's a win.

 

[numble]

If this was really the case, Star Wars wouldn't be looked upon so favourably since they're pretty simplistic blockbuster movies. Folks just cling onto their favourite franchises and then nitpick and decry others for many of the same flaws. That's the simple truth of the matter in many of these instances.

Something can't just be okay, or decent, it has to be terrible. Then this other average thing can be great!

The kid actor who played Anakin changed his name because of Star Wars fans being obsessively nitpicky.

 

[Dash_Riprock]

I don't even like Avatar that much but damn the level of hate some people have for it despite it being a big budget planetary scifi (which we pretty much never get) is kinda astounding.

!?

 

[JB1981]

Avatar made me feel like I should hate myself and my species so it didn't really resonate with me like it should have. It's a remarkable achievement otherwise though.

 

[Gonzalez]

The top two highest grossing movies all time will be sci-fi (sci-fi fantasy in the case of TFA). That's a win.

HAHA... Sure, Sci-Fi, yeah, okay, whatever.

 

[Verendus]

The kid actor who played Anakin changed his name because of Star Wars fans being obsessively nitpicky.

Which probably says a lot about Star Wars fans in general. You could extend this to most diehard fanbases.

Children in the bodies of adults.

 

[Cheebo]

To get this back to actual BOXOFFICE talk....we are having 2015 end with massive success for two older franchise revivals Jurassic Park & Star Wars.

The flood-gates are going to quickly open in which every single even slightly remembered 80s/early 90s franchise is going to get revived now isn't it?

Old franchise revivals is going to be our new super hero films in terms of what every studio is going to be copying.

 

[guek]

The flood-gates are going to quickly open in which every single even slightly remembered 80s/early 90s franchise is going to get revived now isn't it?

Dude, that's been the hollywood climate for awhile now

 

[Dash_Riprock]

To get this back to actual BOXOFFICE talk....we are having 2015 end with massive success for two older franchise revivals Jurassic Park & Star Wars.

The flood-gates are going to quickly open in which every single even slightly remembered 80s/early 90s franchise is going to get revived now isn't it?

Old franchise revivals is going to be our new super hero films in terms of what every studio is going to be copying.

People really need to keep a close eye on Independence Day 2 next year. I can easily see it being Jurassic World all over again.

 

[numble]

To get this back to actual BOXOFFICE talk....we are having 2015 end with massive success for two older franchise revivals Jurassic Park & Star Wars.

The flood-gates are going to quickly open in which every single even slightly remembered 80s/early 90s franchise is going to get revived now isn't it?

Old franchise revivals is going to be our new super hero films in terms of what every studio is going to be copying.

Revivals and reboots are already a thing.

 

[Cheebo]

Revivals and reboots are already a thing.

But it's going to go waaaay farther now. They were already doing it pre-JW/TFA but this is going to open the floodgates. We are going to get franchise revivals for franchises no one cares about.

 

[jett]

To get this back to actual BOXOFFICE talk....we are having 2015 end with massive success for two older franchise revivals Jurassic Park & Star Wars.

The flood-gates are going to quickly open in which every single even slightly remembered 80s/early 90s franchise is going to get revived now isn't it?

Old franchise revivals is going to be our new super hero films in terms of what every studio is going to be copying.

Well Indiana Jones is surely coming, starring generictwentiesorthirtieswhiteguy.

And I predict we'll get Back to the Future AGAIN starring midgetfromhungergames.

 

[freenudemacusers]

Mac and Me: Part 2

 

[Vanish]

I don't even like Avatar that much but damn the level of hate some people have for it despite it being a big budget planetary scifi (which we pretty much never get) is kinda astounding.

It's because Avatar has bland, shitty characters that no one cares about and an uninteresting story stolen from a million other movies. The only thing it has going for it pretty cgi.

I don't like Star Wars either but I can at least see why people like those films

 

[jett]

Mac and Me: Part 2

Directed by Max Landis, gonna do his father proud.

 

[numble]

But it's going to go waaaay farther now. They were already doing it pre-JW/TFA but this is going to open the floodgates. We are going to get franchise revivals for franchises no one cares about.

They already have opened the floodgates. Creed came out. Goosebumps. Peanuts came out. Alvin and the Chipmunks came out. Point Break is coming out. This is just the last 3 months or so.

 

[guek]

But it's going to go waaaay farther now. They were already doing it pre-JW/TFA but this is going to open the floodgates. We are going to get franchise revivals for franchises no one cares about.

Again though, that's been happening for awhile now. We got a Jem and the Holograms movie this year. You can't get much more bottom of the barrel than that.

 

[LevelNth]

Deadline is saying ~$40.2-40.5 for yesterday to push the total to just over $288m in 4 days.

I wonder if there is any chance at it breaking the Tuesday record of ~$36m? Tough since that was an opening total too.

 

[kswiston]

To get this back to actual BOXOFFICE talk....we are having 2015 end with massive success for two older franchise revivals Jurassic Park & Star Wars.

The flood-gates are going to quickly open in which every single even slightly remembered 80s/early 90s franchise is going to get revived now isn't it?

Old franchise revivals is going to be our new super hero films in terms of what every studio is going to be copying.

They are burning through those hits pretty fast already. You have Independence day and ghost busters next year. Indy, star wars, JW, terminator, were all done already. What's left? Home alone, ET. And a few others don't really lend themselves to that sort of thing.

I guess you can get into smaller franchises like Gremlins and Goonies but those aren't out grossing Batman or the Avengers.

 

[PopeReal]

Which probably says a lot about Star Wars fans in general. You could extend this to most diehard fanbases.

Children in the bodies of adults.

You just said Star Wars fans don't nitpick Star Wars movies. Make up your mind lol.

 

[DopeyFish]

Deadline is saying ~$40.2-40.5 for yesterday to push the total to just over $288m in 4 days.

I wonder if there is any chance at it breaking the Tuesday record of ~$36m? Tough since that was an opening total too.

I don't think the hold will be high enough

I'm personally projecting low 30s with a cap of 35

 

[mcfrank]

Deadline is saying ~$40.2-40.5 for yesterday to push the total to just over $288m in 4 days.

I wonder if there is any chance at it breaking the Tuesday record of ~$36m? Tough since that was an opening total too.

I am doing my part with 7 IMAX tickets today for $91.

 

[Nairume]

They are burning through those hits pretty fast already. You have Independence day and ghost busters next year. Indy, star wars, JW, terminator, were all done already. What's left? Home alone, ET. And a few others don't really lend themselves to that sort of thing.

I guess you can get into smaller franchises like Gremlins and Goonies but those aren't out grossing Batman or the Avengers.

Armageddon II: The Legend of Harry's Oil

 

[Dash_Riprock]

I don't think the hold will be high enough

I'm personally projecting low 30s with a cap of 35

I find your lack of faith disturbing.

 

[Tobor]

If this was really the case, Star Wars wouldn't be looked upon so favourably since they're pretty simplistic blockbuster movies. Folks just cling onto their favourite franchises and then nitpick and decry others for many of the same flaws. That's the simple truth of the matter in many of these instances.

Something can't just be okay, or decent, it has to be terrible. Then this other average thing can be great!

Star Wars is a series of simplistic blockbuster movies(some great, some awful). It's also a cultural phenomenon because it taps into our subconscious need for mythology in a modern age. It's far more than the sum of its parts. It's world captures imaginations.

Avatar doesn't move me. Its had no impact whatsoever on the culture since its release beyond legitimizing 3D in theaters. It's technically great in its execution, but execution and technical prowess is not all there is. It's not a terrible movie. It's a forgettable movie.

 

[Cheebo]

I don't think the hold will be high enough

I'm personally projecting low 30s with a cap of 35

After 40 mil monday? No chance.

 

[Gonzalez]

Armageddon II: The Legend of Harry's Oil

Joking aside, I really would like a follow-up to City Slickers 2. That ending was a big cliffhanger.

 

[DopeyFish]

After 40 mil monday? No chance.

I did project 40 mil yesterday too

I expect the numbers to teeter off into another large weekend

40 35 30 20-25 40 55 40-45

(my rough estimates)