AVATAR - See it in 3D if you haven't! #1 Movie All-Time Domestic & Worldwide!

[Joborule]

The plot was very simple and nothing caught you off surprise.

Doesn't mean it wasn't still a badass movie!!!

[mrdeeds]

Just saw Avatar last night and was amazed! 9/10 Life changing, no, but with the hype and spoilers and open discussion it is almost impossible to not have some kind of predetermined opinion of the movie. I haven't seen Fern Gully, but I thought it was very derivative of The Mission except a happier ending.

Star Wars was the only life changing movie for me. But looking back that was in completely different era, the effect that movie had will probably never be duplicated. It was the right movie at the right time. Not even Lucas could duplicate the impact of that movie if he had a 100 tries and a billion dollar budget.

LOTR life changing? Naaah... The movies that came close for me were the Dark Knight for the plot and superior acting and Avatar for the visuals. Make a movie with the best elements of those movies and that would be life changing for me. Oh yeah and I would have to stay away from the hype.

[Got Miikka?]

Going to see this tonight. Wanted to get in to the IMAX screening but it is sold out, so settling for the 'conventional' screen size - but perhaps that is the better choice anyway; this wasn't filmed with IMAX stock to the best of my knowledge, so wouldn't it just be blown up to fit the IMAX screen and therefore potentially appear fuzzier and less focused than it rightfully should? Or am I just placating myself to accept the lesser experience?

(If this movie delivers I may make time for a 2nd viewing and ensure I can do the IMAX version next time)

[droopydrew19]

I just couldnt get over how much Jake looked like Sean Avery

[AvengeR]

The CGI looks amazing, but I won't pay to see it... not my type of movie. It's the Smurfs in 3D. South Park called it "Dances with Smurfs"

[Yeah_Baby]

Originally Posted by AvengeR

The CGI looks amazing, but I won't pay to see it... not my type of movie. It's the Smurfs in 3D. South Park called it "Dances with Smurfs"

It actually has more in common with the aforementioned Furn Gully than Dances with Wolves.

[dj_patm]

Originally Posted by AvengeR

The CGI looks amazing, but I won't pay to see it... not my type of movie. It's the Smurfs in 3D. South Park called it "Dances with Smurfs"

LOL win.

That is actually a pretty good description of the Plot.

[Got Miikka?]

It is unfortunate in a way that this movie is so easily billed as sci-fi, because as a result it alientates (no pun intended) a large portion of its potential audience, myself included - but I am glad I went to see it. It truly is a remarkable experience unlike anything I have ever seen at the movies, and as one of the reviews I read says, it on this basis alone effectively demands to be seen. There have been two other movies this year that I have walked out of grinning from to ear to ear and said, "Wow" -- after Avatar, I wasn't grinning but I did say "Wow", and I also thought to myself, "this is why I love going to the movies"; from time to time you see something that really causes you to step outside yourself in the midst of your viewing and realize what an amazing, liberating, magical experience the cinema can be at its best, and this movie is absolutely a shining example of one of those experiences, for better or for worse.

Despite how overwhelming and impressive the big budget aspects of this movie can be - and rest assured, those moments are hardly few and far between, and more than won over this dubious cynic - Avatar really struck me for a few smaller details that I found brilliant, for example (SPOILERS): the way the falling of the big tree evokes the same kind of panicked, larger-than-life grandeur of Cameron's Titanic ship coming apart at the seams, and indeed, seemed to me a rather obvious homage; the symbolic meaning that almost leaps out at you when two central characters finally meet face to face in their true form (and at the same time, late in the film, the live-action world and the gorgeous digital fantasy of Pandora finally meet vis-a-vis at the center of the action); the thematic thrust of what I read as a sort of subversive take on the big reveal in The Planet of The Apes, where instead of a race of simian creatures are discovered to have become the Earth's main inhabitants, we see a distant planet populated by beings who embody and live out the better aspects of humanity in a dreamlike, harmonious world.

Avatar will challenge for major hardware when awards season hits. 2009 has been a lukewarm year at the movies, punctuated especially here by this universal, commercially-appealing vehicle that truly delivers and fully succeeds in what so many movies all year would die to: bring people into the cinema to experience it, because that is how this movie must be seen.

I think I might be too drunk to go on further with any coherence.

[driveway]

Just got back from seeing it on IMAX 3D. Nothing about the film surprised me other than how AWESOME it was.

Were the characters stock and the plot completely paint-by-numbers? Yes, totally. There wasn't a single original character or plot idea in the whole film.

Did I care? No.

Relentless eye-candy (phosphorescent forest? Hell yes!), the best CGI I've ever seen, well-paced action, surprisingly few but well placed moments of comic relief (I gotta get some samples...) love, death, pathos, redemption...

I can't wait for part 2.

[SebC]

Originally Posted by Yeah_Baby

Any idea how long the IMAX 3D will be playing. When I'm back in Edmonton after New Years I'd love to go again and see it in IMAX.

Asuming Cameron or whoever owns the technology makes it available, costs should come down. The development cost is already paid for, and Avatar would've been expensive even in 2D because of all the CGI.

Originally Posted by droopydrew19

I just couldnt get over how much Jake looked like Sean Avery

Unlike! Unlike!

[Nehkara]

Box office update:

Looks like Avatar may have a second $70+ million weekend and may actually beat Sherlock Holmes.

Sherlock Holmes opened to an estimated $24.86 million on Friday while Avatar pulled in $23.50 million.

Avatar has made ~$161 million domestic and a total of ~$416 million worldwide through 8 days and is still going strong.

Source: Box Office Mojo

[Hemi-Cuda]

Originally Posted by Nehkara

Box office update:

Looks like Avatar may have a second $70+ million weekend and may actually beat Sherlock Holmes.

Sherlock Holmes opened to an estimated $24.86 million on Friday while Avatar pulled in $23.50 million.

Avatar has made ~$161 million domestic and a total of ~$416 million worldwide through 8 days and is still going strong.

Source: Box Office Mojo

416 million, isn't that what it cost for Cameron to make the movie, or at least close to it? so from here on out it's pure profit, which means good news for him continuing the franchise

[awildermode]

Originally Posted by Hemi-Cuda

416 million, isn't that what it cost for Cameron to make the movie, or at least close to it? so from here on out it's pure profit, which means good news for him continuing the franchise

there is also advertising cost. generally the 'cost of the movie' does not include advertising...and is usually double cost of film.

a $250 million movie would cost and additional $250 million (in general). that movie would been to make over $500 million to start seeing profit. of course, dvd, and other licensing will make up for it.

apparently, no one knows...or is willing to say, how much Avatar actually was to make. some say $300-$500 million.

[HPLovecraft]

^^^ What he said. They say you need to make at least double the cost of the film to start making profit. Some are saying the movie needs to pull in only a few $100M less than a billion to start turning a profit... That is a lot. It's cloudy how much the movie actually cost... In this economy, some suspect the studio of being cautious about releasing a figure that is too monstrous because of its ability to turn some people off.

[PyramidsofMars]

I thought it was a visual spectacle, but the story (and storytelling) was far from special, and the new age one-with-nature crap was unbelievably annoying.

[Nehkara]

From what I know, Fox claims firmly that it cost $237 million to make and $150 million to market, bringing the total cost to $387 million.

The highest estimate I have seen puts total costs (production and marketing) at $500 million. This report was from the Times and was largely discredited and considered inaccurate.

Avatar will soon be making a profit if it hasn't already.

[Kybosh]

I agree with the others about the Fern Gully or Dances with Wolves comparisons .... but .... this movie was absolutely amazing. The world that Cameron created was so real that it blew my mind all over my face. I can't recall seeing a movie where I was drawn into the world like Pandora. Do yourself a favour and go see this movie in theatre.

[Nehkara]

Originally Posted by Kybosh

I agree with the others about the Fern Gully or Dances with Wolves comparisons .... but .... this movie was absolutely amazing. The world that Cameron created was so real that it blew my mind all over my face. I can't recall seeing a movie where I was drawn into the world like Pandora. Do yourself a favour and go see this movie in theatre.

This is the point exactly and it has never been denied by anyone. Yes, the story is familiar but it is well executed and the world in unlike anything ever seen before on film.

[Nehkara]

Wow.

Weekend estimates have come out.

Avatar will make an estimated $75 million this weekend.

This means Avatar will soundly beat Sherlock Holmes (Holmes is also a good movie, btw). Holmes will make an estimated $65 million.

Now... this is interesting because the "estimated" 1st weekend for Avatar was $73 million but when the actuals came out (the amount the movie actually made) on Monday, Avatar had made $77 million in its 1st weekend.

Given that the estimates for this, the 2nd weekend of Avatar's run, are sitting at $75 million, if it makes more than the estimates the movie may end up with a 2nd weekend that is larger than its 1st. This is likely due in large part to the storm last weekend that disrupted the movie-going public in the eastern US.

Also of note, if Avatar beats its estimated 2nd weekend even by the slightest margin, it will be the most successful 2nd weekend ever. (The Dark Knight is currently #1 with $75,166,466)

Estimated total worldwide gross for Avatar through 10 days? $615 million!

I think that Avatar is going to hit $1 billion very quickly. Note that only 4 movies have ever made more than $1 billion worldwide... the most obvious in this case being Titanic at $1.8 billion.

Source: Box Office Mojo

[endeavor]

Going to see it in IMAX tonight. Woot!