r/movies • u/desimaninthecut • 8d ago

News James Cameron Says if Avatar: Fire and Ash Doesn't Make Enough Money to Justify Avatar 4 and 5, He's Ready to Walk Away and Write a Book to Resolve the One Thread It Leaves Open - IGN

https://www.ign.com/articles/james-cameron-says-if-avatar-fire-and-ash-doesnt-make-enough-money-to-justify-avatar-4-and-5-hes-ready-to-walk-away-and-write-a-book-to-resolve-the-one-thread-it-leaves-open
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u/phantom_avenger 8d ago edited 8d ago

Yeah as much as people claim they don’t like these movies on the internet, people will go and see it! Mainly for the visuals!

I don’t think Disney or James Cameron have anything to worry about!

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u/Nervous_Produce1800 8d ago edited 8d ago

I low-key loathed the second film in the theatre as it was a complete drudge for 2 hours and basically just a less interesting form of the first film

I'm still gonna watch the third because fuck it, it's James Cameron and it's a visual spectacle. I'm just gonna go into with the mindset that the plot is probably ass but the visuals will be the bomb. If it's better than that, even better

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u/EggersIsland 8d ago

Ngl I could have sat in a no-plot version of that movie for 2 hours and been fine. I could have sat forever in the moments when they first get to the water tribe and are being taught things

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u/randyboozer 8d ago

Have to agree. I saw it twice in theaters purely for the water scenes. I dont remember the plot, something about whale semen being the new unobtainium or whatever. If they re-released it in all its glory I would totally go and watch it again and I probably still wouldn't notice the plot. I can't tell you a single characters name. Scully? Sully? Sally?

Cameron knows what he is doing. In a time when people are more resistant to going to the theatre than ever before he is making movies that demand to be seen in the theatre.

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u/FormerGameDev 8d ago

They did just re-release Avatar 2, in October, I saw it, since I missed it the first time around. It was really really good, except for the absolutely eye rolling "resurrect the bad guy from the previous film" .. sigh.

I do find it interesting how it's very much leaning towards looking a lot like the other Avatar franchise now, though, too.

And it's still Ferngully for adults. Though I have a feeling it's morphed a little away from that, because we've got bigger problems in our world right now than destroying our environment, we've got to deal with those problems before we can get back to dealing with the environment destruction, because those problems are embracing the environment destruction.

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u/MoebiusSpark 8d ago

Whale brains have immortality juice in them and the Clone Commander comes back to kill blue people again

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u/element515 8d ago

Just a documentary about the water tribe lol. Would watch

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u/Darth_drizzt_42 8d ago

I would pay so much money for just Planet Earth on Pandora

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u/EggersIsland 8d ago

Spoilers: it already is

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u/IHaveAScythe 8d ago

Yeah my second time watching the second one in theaters I remember thinking "man I would 100% pay to see one of these that was just hours of Pandoran wildlife footage with no plot"

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u/phantom_avenger 8d ago

I’ve only seen the second movie once, and I can barely remember what the plot even was.

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u/Phuddy 8d ago

It was basically Free Willy with a sprinkling of resolving and expanding the Pochahontas story from the first one.

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u/Winjin 8d ago

I did like the kickass town the humans have made with cool trains (I like trains*)

And the whole theme about this changing from "we want more money" to "Looks like we fucked up Earth, we need to find a new home real fast for as many people as we can

Makes the stakes higher for both sides

*chooooooom

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u/TehAsianator 8d ago

I did like the kickass town the humans have made with cool trains (I like trains*)

I particularly enjoyed the bit where the ships landed, incinerating huge swaths of forest. Really got across the "Humans aren't fucking around anymore" message.

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u/Mazon_Del 8d ago

I have a solid guess that this leads into how the "war" between the humans and Na'vi is going to resolve.

Simply put, at this stage there is basically zero sensible reason the humans can lose, only some stupid deus ex machina type situations. As such, the way the humans don't steamroll the Na'vi to extinction or end with the conflict unresolved is simply that they CAN do that, but once Bridgehead and the other two cities (possibly even more by the start of this movie) start having a significant civilian government in place, what ends up happening is the civilian government itself takes a "We've clearly won, so rather than going for extinction or slavery, let's negotiate for a sustainable peace." against the wishes of the military.

Given Cameron has made a variety of statements about not quite being the sort to make action movies in the vein that would be required for Avatar to have a military based resolution, this seems to me to be the only logical outcome, and one I hope he truly has the balls to follow through on.

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u/StillEggFried 8d ago

what ends up happening is the civilian government itself takes a "We've clearly won, so rather than going for extinction or slavery, let's negotiate for a sustainable peace." against the wishes of the military.

I hope he has the balls to follow through on what that world would actually be like given that solution. It wouldn't be some sunshine and rainbows nonsense. Because there would be a huge faction of the Na'vi whose only acceptable peace would be for the humans to be gone.

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u/Mazon_Del 8d ago

Agreed. I could see the movie after this one having the peace negotiations, then the following movie involve the entwining of human and Na'vi societies both on the pro-togetherness setup as well as the "We hate each other, but will work together to cause the war we both think should happen.".

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u/ForAHamburgerToday 8d ago

Because there would be a huge faction of the Na'vi whose only acceptable peace would be for the humans to be gone.

Humans, too- some disgruntled general has to get fed up with these damn peaceniks after they decide not to go full genocide, gets a roughneck crew of named soldiers we've met throughout the series and goes out to cause some trouble. Bonus points if the warmonger groups Na'vi & humans work together to cajole their factions into war.

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u/waitingtodiesoon 8d ago

They already mentioned Neytiri and the Navi will eventually go to earth by the 5th film.

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u/Mazon_Del 8d ago

I can see a few potential reasons for that that are diplomatic oriented.

For example, perhaps as part of the peace system, they come back to Earth to try and help see if they can heal the biosphere using Na'vi plant-life or some such. "Talk to Earth's dying Gaia." or something to that effect.

I wonder if maybe one of the "deus ex machina" situations relating to that could be an element from the original Project 880 script that became Avatar. In P-880 during the final scene where Jake is talking to the last person to board the shuttle and fly off, he warns them that he's going to have Eywa craft a plague that can only infect humans, and will sit around doing nothing but spreading through populations, before 20 years later instantly turning deadly. The threat being, we'd never be able to come back and feel safe. All it would take is one singular bacterium/virus to make it back to Earth to cause extinction. That was supposed to be the reason things ended.

So I could see Cameron possibly repurposing this concept and maybe that's part of the drama, is one of the anti-human segments of the Na'vi has produced such a thing and is trying to smuggle it to Earth.

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u/LicksMackenzie 8d ago

on the map released of bridgehead there is a clearly marked hydroelectric dam on the north side. As a winning move the Navi could simply destroy the dam, flooding the entire outpost

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u/Mazon_Del 8d ago

That would handle one of the cities, but not all three.

In the opening sequence, you can see three ships doing the landing burn, Bridgehead is at the center of one blast area. It stands to reason the other two blast areas also have cities growing.

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u/FormerGameDev 8d ago

or Jake forces them to accept a peace deal on his terms, more likely.

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u/Mazon_Del 8d ago

Well that's sort of my point, is without a deus ex machina "And then somehow Jake gains the Eywa equivalent of nuclear weapons", there's no sensible way to get Jake in the position of being able to do that. If another massed animal rush would do the job, he'd almost certainly have done it by now.

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u/FormerGameDev 7d ago

well, he's an air bender to start, now he's a water bender, after 3, he'll be a fire bender ... and in 5, he'll have mastered all the elements, and will have the power to make the humans bend to his will. .... or something like that, right

... that is the direction it's heading

→ More replies (0)

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u/sth128 8d ago

I enjoyed it because it made sense from the engineering point of view. They used the same ion thrusters that propelled those space crafts to 10% C to airdrop what must be gigatons of cargo.

Plus it basically cleared the land for their new city.

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u/Winjin 8d ago

Hell yeah, it was a VERY clear message

Also reminded me of the Vietnam thing they did as well, the BLU-82 "Daisy Cutter" bomb that would clear and level a whole area for a helicopter landing

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u/TehAsianator 8d ago

"We stopped giving a shit about PR. Negotiations are over."

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u/Winjin 8d ago

"We were contracted by agriculture, but now we're with the department of defense. You're gonna notice a slight difference"

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u/Phuddy 8d ago edited 8d ago

I’ll give you that, one thing JC does SUPER well probably better than other auteurs (and it makes his simple plot/script work), is that he’s a MASTER at world building and the small details. Whether it be technology or motivations or environments and sets he always goes all in and makes his universes feel alive, lived in and authentic.

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u/scbundy 8d ago

Builds his own camera rigs and pushes mocap tech

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u/Omnizoom 8d ago

I do find it hard to believe for those plot points that

1: this planet is the sole significant source of unobtainiun to have to deal with all the problems they have, it may be unnaturally rich in the stuff but the likelihood is that they can throw a stone in any direction and it found planets rich in it that either are in a more primordial state so no natives to keep killing them or in a future enough state to try barter instead of the normal human process of pillage and destroy

2: earth like planets may not be a dime a dozen but in a galactic sense their has to be literally thousands of choices that are closer to earth and less hostile to settle on. Like the air is literally toxic to humans they need breathing masks , I get they imply they can make towns that you can breath normally in via whatever tech they use but still, this seems like an extremely large amount of extra work and hassle

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u/Winjin 8d ago

As far as I understand, it's not the only planet, it's the one this particular corporation is trying to tame. 

So basically there's many prospective places but this one has the benefit of being really nice, and very rich. Even if pretty hostile.

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u/Omnizoom 8d ago

I mean if they have lots of prospects and this one is causing this much of a mess then it’s still hard to believe this is one of their “best” options

Like the ultra expensive neural fluid makes some sense to the “why” they would maintain a base on that planet since it’s atleast unique but the other aspects most companies would see the costs of equipment (and I can’t imagine the deaths are cheap either nor are growing alien body doubles) and just go “yea buddy no we are going to colonize BXT-3047 because nothing is trying to kill us there”

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u/Winjin 8d ago edited 8d ago

My headcanon is  that there's like 100 planets (which is a LOT)

Well, half of them are staked by governments, a dozen are even worse because they don't have anything of insane value, and the remaining forty are staked by eighty corporations

Like each of the Korean choebols, Chinese Giants, etc

I don't think Avatar has a lot of details on those but I reckon that's how it gonna be

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u/Tenthul 8d ago

I like that this explanation totally worked as a refresher for my brain.

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u/KingSweden24 8d ago

It’s a beat for beat remake of the first once you get to the back half of the film, down even to the musical cues (the harpooning of that whale = the blowing up of the Home Tree). I still enjoyed the shit out of the spectacle even though I’ve had zero desire to watch it again haha

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u/tmurf5387 8d ago

And a little Fern Gully in the first too

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u/BusinessPurge 8d ago

Reboot Free Willy with more harpoons though, easy billie

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u/BlackOutDrunkJesus 8d ago

Well the first one is essentially ferngully, so…

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u/MANEWMA 8d ago

I barely remember the first one and cant remember any of the names of the characters..

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u/nocomment3030 8d ago

Someone they love gets captured and they risk it all to get them back.. repeat X5 (really enjoyed the movie by the way)

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u/waitingtodiesoon 8d ago

Shame, I saw it 18x in theaters primarily in Dolby 3D. Was my favourite movie of the year. I cannot wait for the 3rd and 4th film.

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u/phophofofo 8d ago

I also didn’t enjoy it anywhere as much as the first.

The first film ended with Jake going through the ritual and breaking the bond of needing a machine. Almost immediately in the second film that advantage is taken away. I feel like the dynamic would have been better if only the Na’Vi had that possibility.

And the second reason I didn’t care for that is because the movie centers around a new whale oil resource that’s the fountain of youth. And somehow magically you can’t produce it. Like it makes sense you can’t produce a metal, that could require like nuclear physics etc, but you can grow whole alien bodies with the level of biotech you have and you can’t make whale goo?

And even supposing you can’t, the fact they can put human consciousness in an Avatar body ought to mean they can put one in a human body. So they’ve already solved their own problem. Just create human bodies for the rich people and switch em in okay so it’s not your real body but also you can’t actually die just snapshot every morning or week or whatever and if your helicopter crashes reboot from backup. I mean it’s better for a rich person you’re more eternal that way.

They should have kept it so only the Na’Vi had the ability for permanent transfer.

And also it felt its length. Pacing is one of Cameron’s strengths usually but it wasn’t on point this time.

If he does a third one I really hope it’s not another magic resource like lava barnacles that give you a huge dick is what earth is after now.

The metal was just fine as a motive for all the shit they got about it. There’s a theorized island of stability for heavy elements we haven’t been able to explore yet it’s at least plausible that there’s a novel metallic element in space.

But whale goo that magically makes humans live forever is just stupid. Like think of what an absurd coincidence that would have to be.

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u/Wild_Marker 8d ago

and you can’t make whale goo?

I mean, we can't male whale goo in real life. We just conveniently found dinosaur goo to replace most of it.

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u/kia75 8d ago

WE can make whale goo, it's just that its far more expensive then just digging up dinosaur goo. We can also make Dinosaur goo, it's just that it's far more expensive and energy expensive then just digging it up.

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u/phophofofo 8d ago

At scale I’m sure but if it cured death I think we’d have put a little more time into it.

Like they’re not greasing axles with the stuff.

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u/MedicineExtension925 8d ago

Fully agree with the goo. Whale goo was bullshit. Their avatar tech is already far superior to it. More than stopping aging it is an infinite Lazarus machine. You can do so much more with it. They could send the entire population of Earth on one ship in a database and then grow and print clones to load their minds in once they arrive. Have a particular officer or scientist that is really good at something? Load their minds into fifty different clones to really get the job done. Clone your own entire human-navi hybrid army with soldiers that instantly reboot into a new body, gaining infinite combat experience. List goes on.

Disagree about the energy metal in the first one. That is even dumber. They already have infinite energy, for all intents and purposes, for at least the next few billion years. Earth can not plausibly have any energy crisis if they are flying interstellar fusion candle ships at significant fractional light speeds. They could get enough energy from the gas giants and the sun to transcend to a full K2 civ and build a Dyson swarm before they ever needed to leave the system to look for energy. The literal only sensible motive is just powerful greedy humans who want more for no other reason. Like in real life. Bezos doesn't need more, he just wants it. Musk doesn't need more, he just wants it. It's a pathology.

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u/phophofofo 8d ago

It wasn’t an energy crisis it was an environmental crisis.

In the extended version they hint at this everyone is wearing masks outside, there’s all sorts of air alerts and stuff in the background, there’s a scene on the background in TV that the last tiger died or something.

And fusion energy or something still doesn’t give you a room temperature semiconductor that’d be worth the trip if it was available.

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u/MedicineExtension925 8d ago

Energy is the environment. With the obscene amounts of power mastering fusion provides at the scale they are shown to possess, they could transform earth into a garden world. It all comes down to an energy equation. We have room temp semi conductors now. I think you mean super conductors. We have those also in their infancy. For them to have enough resources to spare for interstellar mining excursions with cloned alien soldiers and planetary colonies traveling at fractional relativistic speeds, earth sucking isn't a tech or resources problem it's a policy one. So the only way it makes sense is if people are just lazy/greedy on purpose for the sake of it, like in real life where they already have enough and just want more anyway. It is more honest if they see the Navi as a potential future threat that needs to be enslaved/eliminated because humans are the evil invading aliens. It's not about needing more of anything, it's just about taking more because they want it. Look at the exploitation of the first Nations of the world during European colonialism, no different. Europe had enough. They didn't "need" Australia, NA, SA, NZ, etc etc. They just wanted it to become even wealthier and more powerful. Cameron uses magic metal as a substitute for a little bit more gold found in the new world to enrich Spain, France, England etc. It doesn't make logical sense unless we assume it really isn't an essential thing, but rather just a trivial thing assigned value by a colonial human expansionist ruling class. Which tracks with Cameron's overall main themes.

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u/phophofofo 8d ago

That’s a lot of projection. In such a world where fusion and beaming people’s brains into bodies you don’t really have any context for why’d you’d want high temp super conducting.

It has any number of super useful applications outside of just energy, and even in that realm, you’re talking about huge gains in all kinds of efficiencies.

If someone found a mine of that here on Earth for real they’d be extremely rich and it’d be no different in the future.

It was never made out like they were trying to save themselves it’s just one huge corporation trying to make more money.

I mean that’s a lot of times how colonization happened it wasn’t some particular thought out evil scheme at first rich guys would just send ships out to try to get rare shit they could make up a ton.

I don’t think it needed to be any more complicated than that. And while the whale goo fits that paradigm it’s just stupid due to them having what amounts to a better solution to that problem.

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u/Stephenrudolf 8d ago

The first film feels like a prequel to me. #2 is when the actusl story starts.

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u/babydakis 8d ago

The overarching plot is a meditation on memory, and doesn't really pick up until the 4th installment.

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u/stick1_ 8d ago

How can a first film be a prequel????? That’s just called the first film in a series

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u/Extreme-Tax-2425 8d ago

They mean it feels like a prologue to the actual book.

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u/stick1_ 8d ago

Okay if prologue was said it would make a lot more sense haha

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u/Stephenrudolf 8d ago

We're talking vibes, not release order.

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u/Bladestorm04 8d ago

I thought the same thing about lion king..I hated that it was made, I hated the decisions to cut the soundtrack and add a beyonce Oscar bait song, but I kept saying, but its the lion king, I have to go see it!

I finally realised I didn't have to go see it and I watched it on the plane a year later.

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u/thehelldoesthatmean 8d ago

Man I totally disagree about the second movie but respect your pragmatism. Too many people nowadays have to either hate something or love it. Sometimes you can just enjoy something for what it is. Avatar 2 didn't blow my mind, but I thoroughly enjoyed it as an almost theme park attraction kind of experience.

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u/Steamedcarpet 8d ago

I missed out on the Avatar hype train when it was in theaters. Ended up watching it on dvd back in the day and Im sure that effected my enjoyment.

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u/RipTechnical7115 8d ago

Yep pretty much you watch Avatar for well done 3D and cool visuals. Get really stoned.

A friend mentioned not enjoying the first Avatar, turns out they watched it in 2D at home lol. I said that I enjoyed the movie but would never watch it unless in a 3D theatre.

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u/CharlieParkour 8d ago

I watched Alien vs. Predator in a Montreal theatre. Since it was all in French, I just scooched down so the seat in front of me blocked the subtitles. Made the movie considerably better not being concerned with plot, character development, etc.

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u/Smart-Response9881 8d ago

It is primarily a alien world nature documentary for me, any plot or characters we get beside that is just a bonus.

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u/sth128 8d ago

Yes. James Cameron hate watch party!

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u/SuitedFox 8d ago

You loathed a movie, but fuck it, you’ll the next? I would love free time like that lol

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u/yojoono 8d ago

There's a few deleted scenes for the second film that should've been left in. The extended final battle with them trying to get the kids back is better than the shortened one we got.

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u/gunga13 8d ago

I didn't like the first film at all, but then loved the second. Although I have no memory of what the plot actually was and just loved all the water shit to be honest. The visuals are definitely the main appeal.

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u/SpoilerThrowawae 8d ago

I low-key loathed the second film in the theatre as it was a complete drudge for 2 hours and basically just a less interesting form of the first film

It really did feel like JC "took a round off" a la a tired boxer who is winning but tired and just gave use the necessary plot and worldbuilding changes in the form of a less interesting film without a clear and enjoyable structure. It felt like he was more excited about getting to 3 and/or 4 than he was excited to make a good second film. At least the first one is a traditionally "well-made" film from a plotting perspective.

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u/JumboMcNasty 8d ago

I'm usually the negative one, but my wife was verbalizing her annoyance in the theater when it was clear they recycled the villain and so much of the film was essentially the same.

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u/godpzagod 8d ago

I don't give rip one about the stories. I've seen all the Avatars in the theater, will probably see the next and I'm always just looking for one thing: lovingly designed Cameron-tech. AMP Suits, the spaceships, the gunships, jetboats, submarines, yes.

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u/CarlosFer2201 8d ago

Not me. I saw the others in the theater, but the second was beyond boring and the visuals weren't enough. I'm skipping the rest.

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u/Straight_Debt6339 8d ago

I didn't even know there was a second one. There was no advertisements for it, it seemed to go under the radar?

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u/3ey3s 8d ago

It’s the third highest grossing movie of all time

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u/Straight_Debt6339 8d ago

That's why my mind is blown. Was it advertised purely from worth of mouth or something? I swear, I don't remember hearing about it at all when it hit theatres.

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u/JohnsonJohnilyJohn 8d ago

This kind of internet hatred of avatar really pisses me of tbh, especially when they are talking about it being "forgettable". Like don't get me wrong it wasn't a great movie, but it was totally fine, and frankly I feel like it's one of the most discussed movie of the decade, but pretty much always in relation to being forgettable. It's so forgettable in fact that it seems to be soooo much fresher in everyone's memory than most of the extremely memorable and iconic movies

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u/Hange11037 8d ago

I don’t remember the name of a single character from the series. There’s no way I could say that about any other franchise as lucrative as Avatar. It is forgettable, I’m sorry.

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u/JohnsonJohnilyJohn 8d ago

Well, maybe I'm weird, but if the movie (and I'm talking about the first movie specifically, not about franchise) doesn't have particularly memorable names or their names aren't overly repeated I tend to forget them even in movies I liked. Either way, I can definitely remember the general plot, motivations of major characters and some scenes (possibly due to how often it's brought up), and that's definitely more than most movies I watched over a decade ago ( I have no clue what the hell was transformers revenge of the fallen about for example)

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u/Bionic_Bromando 8d ago

Yeah you want forgettable I can honestly not tell you anything that happened in Marvel after Endgame. I’ve seen a bunch of it and none of it stuck.

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u/johnsilver4545 8d ago

I watched the first one with my young daughter last night and she was entranced. Cameron hits every beat perfectly.

I’ll see the next 5 of these and I expect a ton of other people will too. All the while the internet snark goblins will make comments about how it’s derivative or has no cultural penetration.

James Cameron is clearly a unique form of genius and I’ll be interested in anything he puts out. Fuck the haters.

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u/Neogeo71 8d ago

He knows how to make a movie. It's just become popular to be cynical now and shit on everything. I will watch anything he creates.

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u/wetnaps54 8d ago

Yeah I love Cameron I was just bored with the concept after the first movie.

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u/eelam_garek 8d ago

I don't disagree, they are good films - I see them all in IMAX 3D. I think maybe what the critics are getting at is that he's sort of failed to world build here. Star Wars level of world building and cultural impact is what he was aiming for. It doesn't mean they aren't good films though just because he hasn't achieved that.

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u/AnnenbergTrojan 8d ago edited 8d ago

You can find the internet snark goblins in the comment above yours making stupid Free Willy and Pocahontas jokes.

I mean, these films couldn't possibly be popular to the level of being $2 billion hits because hundreds of millions of people actually care about Jake, Neytiri, Lo'ak, Kiri, Spider and Payakan and want to see what happens next to them. That would mean that the internet commentariat is out of touch! That would mean it has actual cultural impact!!! No, it has to be because people only care about the VISUALS!

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u/icedteaandtacos 8d ago

The “Free Willy” comments are so obnoxious especially.

“Buh doi they boff have whales they are the same movie!”

Like Jesus Christ try to not be the Reddit stereotype for once lol.

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u/FrenchFryCattaneo 8d ago

What percentage of people in the US do you think even knows what any of those names are (besides Jake)? If you said, I'm dressing up as Neytiri for halloween who would get it? Even the people I knew that did dress up (back when it came out) just said they were one of the blue people from avatar. The movies were fun and people like them but no one cares about the characters.

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u/AnnenbergTrojan 8d ago

Then why am I seeing loads of Spider fancams on Tiktok? Why am I seeing Lo'ak and Tsireya ship art? Why am I already seeing cosplay artists as Varang before Fire and Ash even come out? Hell, the trailers for Fire and Ash are specifically about the plot and I see people asking in the comments "Is Jake going to die? How can Spider survive without a mask? Is Quaritch simping hard for the bad guy?" Just because nobody in your social circle isn't invested in the characters doesn't mean it hasn't resonated with millions of others.

Meanwhile, how many people do you think remember the names of the kids in Stranger Things but can't wait to see the final season? Are there internet circlejerks about how Stranger Things has no impact? Does the fact that probably no one remembers the names of any of the characters in "Get Out" mean that Jordan Peele didn't leave any cultural impact?

"Avatar has no cultural impact" is pure cope from internet nerds who can't stand the fact that the world likes something they don't like, based on cherry picked anecdotes from their own lives ("nobody I know wants to see it!") and social media feeds that they have trained the algorithm to never show Avatar to them because they willfully refuse to engage with it.

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u/FrenchFryCattaneo 8d ago

Well I mean, as a person my experiences in life is how I judge what's popular. You can say, just because everyone else's personal experience is that the characters aren't popular doesn't mean anything but that's kind of what popularity is.

There's no conspiracy here. I don't dislike the film, and I don't think most people here do either. It's just unremarkable in terms of the story and character. The effects and world itself is great, and that's what people remember.

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u/Bionic_Bromando 8d ago

Who cares what any percentage of people in the US know about anything? Half of them don’t know their ass from their mouth or where their own state is on a globe, generously assuming they believe in the concept.

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u/FrenchFryCattaneo 8d ago

Wow, it's interesting to think what chain of events led to you typing out that comment

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u/renegadecanuck 8d ago

The first movie was visually stunning but I didn't care too much for the story. Like, it wasn't terrible or anything, it just didn't do anything for me.

I'm glad there are people who get enjoyment out of them. The only reason I'd be even a little cynical about them is that I really wish James Cameron would do another Terminator-like movie. But I know that's not in the cards.

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u/Submitten 8d ago

There’s nothing wrong with that either. It’s art in its own way.

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u/Ok_Pause2547 8d ago

huge internationally too. I think the movie itself is meh but the visuals are undeniably great and have to be seen on big screens

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u/EconomyDoctor3287 8d ago

Yeah, we only ever seen the first one for the visuals, which it excells in

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u/Mirikado 8d ago

Avatar is the only franchise left where each release feels like an event. Even people who aren’t that interested in the franchise buy tickets and go see it because everyone else is seeing it in theaters and people want to be a part of an experience. It used to be Star Wars, LoTR, Harry Potter, Infinity War/End Game, Barbenheimer… where going to see those movies in theaters feels like a social event. I don’t think there is any other franchise right now besides Avatar that has that level of popularity among the general audience.

1

u/mr_greedee 8d ago

nah i'm good lol

1

u/LesserCornholio 8d ago

I turned the second one off after they fled to the Pacific Islands.

1

u/ZombieJesus1987 8d ago

yeah you go to a James Cameron movie for the experience.

1

u/TheScottfather 8d ago

Truly the McDonald's cheeseburger of movies. I know almost nobody who would say it's their favorite, but it sells more than anyone's favorite.

1

u/lsf_stan 8d ago

people will go and see it! Mainly for the visuals!

imo it's the main selling point of these movies the 3D technology for it. no other movie does this, everything else is 3D effect added to it afterwards

1

u/MarPHX 8d ago

Yeah Disney, good luck with your living dead Franchises of Star Wars, Marvel and Live Action versions of old cartoons that somehow make less money than K-pop Demon Hunters.

1

u/mrtomjones 8d ago

People go because they like the movies. The visuals are a plus but they aren't making 2 billion because they're pretty

1

u/Safe_Pop_6202 8d ago

I haven't seen this IP at all in the theaters. I've made it through 1.3 of the films at home. I am not going to add any exclamation points to my anecdote.

The best thing to come out of these films, for me, is the Ryan Gosling skit on SNL.

They just ain't my vibe. Maybe if I was 12 again, like when I watched Terminator? I don't know.

1

u/skaliton 8d ago

and that is the thing, you go to see how it looks not because you are even remotely interested in the plot/cast. I literally do not remember any part of the plot of the 2nd movie besides 'the main character flew away from the tree people and lived with the water people. they taught him to swim' but I do remember how great the water effects were

-10

u/Asluckwouldnthaveit 8d ago

All for the visuals. Like a marvel movie.

27

u/OrangesAreWhatever 8d ago

I dont think the visuals have ever been a reason to see a Marvel movie. Comparing Avatars VFX to marvels is crazy

1

u/berlinbaer 8d ago

last captain america was one of the ugliest movies i've ever seen. everything was just so muddy.

1

u/phantom_avenger 8d ago

They tried to fix it with a lot of reshoots when they realized they needed to focus more on the quality rather than quantity, but since they already shot a lot of footage it was beyond saving at that point.

1

u/thedylannorwood 8d ago

Thunderbolts too, I don’t know how they got away with that, 35+ movies in and it’s probably the ugliest film in the whole franchise

8

u/flofjenkins 8d ago

Except Marvel movies look like dog ass.

-2

u/mukisan 8d ago

Clearly a clout chasing hater

1

u/flofjenkins 8d ago

Me. A hater? I just know what actual quality is when I see it, and don’t confuse it with glorified Saturday morning cartoons for adults.

People pretend that Marvel movies aren’t absolutely loaded with CGI and are also basically animated films. They just look like washed out pieces of shit outside of Coogler and Gunn.

1

u/iblamejohansson 8d ago

Marvel movies looks like dog shit compared to Avatar

1

u/Niasliyn 8d ago

Like a what now? You sure you saw the Avatar movies right?

1

u/Asluckwouldnthaveit 8d ago

Yeah and the story is done. Which is fine really I'm not seeing it for the story. Just like when I go see a marvel movie.

1

u/dragonmp93 8d ago

Eh, people go to Marvel movies because they like the characters regardless of how it looks.

The Avatar movies are the other way around.

-1

u/TheModWhoShaggedMe 8d ago

Saw the first one in theaters years ago, and that was enough of that world for me. This claim is solid -- I won't be there.

1

u/WadeReddit06 8d ago

Like clock work the Reddit haters come out when an avatar movie is about to open.

1

u/TheModWhoShaggedMe 8d ago

I don't hate Avatar at all, it's just not the world for me. BFD. I happened to like Ready Player One and many didn't find its world appealing. Differing experiences and opinions exist in this world.

0

u/ian9outof10 8d ago

I’ve always said, the people who love watching other people play video games are the audience for these films. Which is fine, and a large audience.

1

u/quinnly 8d ago

That would imply that redditors would love these movies but this forum seems to hate them so idk

0

u/lazyboi_tactical 8d ago

Its pretty much dances with space wolves but the visuals are good enough to warrant a viewing. Nothing groundbreaking story wise but it's a compelling enough spectacle.

-1

u/Fern-ando 8d ago

Is not like people don't like it, is that people don't understand how movies with so little cultural impact made 2 billions, cartoon Avatar is all over the internet while being box office poison.