Avatar 2

My 8 year old absolutely loved it. Went to see it in cineworld with the full 4d and she was mesmerized

I've read a few people comment on Neytiri being sidelined etc. It is true that she is sidelined initially, but isn't that clearly the point?

A major theme of the film is "fight or flight". It surfaces repeatedly in different ways, but one of the main ways is in the depiction of Jake and Neytiri. Despite having the reputation of a "warrior", Jake's instinct is to repeatedly run/hide/compromise. This frustrates Neytiri, who is sidelined as "the mother" yet clearly believes that they need to take risks and confront the threat they face head on. Both are afraid for their family, and both are right/wrong. There is no easy answer, but the film does take a position.

As the film progresses, Jake offers to make the ultimate sacrifice in order to protect his family. This goes against Neytiri's instincts, and she finally snaps. The situation escalates and the audience absolutely gets what they have been "missing" from the film up until that point. The "fight" ensues and while it's the right call, everything comes at a price...

This theme is explicitly reinforced by the final line and shot of the film. The film is ultimately saying that you can't run and hide forever, and you have to fight for your family - safety isn't guaranteed either way.

IMO Cameron is a much smarter screenwriter than people give him credit for. On the surface, his films appear to have a very basic plot structure, but on reflection they are very sharp thematically.

I should note that he also wisely recruited the writers of the Planet of the Apes films to assist.

I don't think that's a break even figure, but rather a "success" threshold. That said I imagine break even is success in this case, as it can make a lot more on streaming and future films will be cheaper to produce.

Search Twitter and you'll find lots of people passionately insisting that they won't be watching Avatar, that they don't care about its box office and that it has no cultural impact due to a lack of memes. It's a bizarre reaction, and not something you see with other films. Titanic had similar treatment in the years following it's release, suddenly it was "the worst film ever made".

Only a tiny percentage of the population uses Twitter, and its users can have a really distorted view of what's actually happening with something like this. The Glass Onion comparison isn't reasonable. That film was released on Netflix worldwide on the same day, causing a spike in viral mentions. I doubt it had much social media activity while it was in the cinema last month.

The box office figures do prove that people are talking about it and recommending it. Most big films released these days experience front-loaded opening weekends and then heavy drop off. A slow drop off is rare and means strong word of mouth. This is what happened with Titanic and Avatar and it is now happening with Avatar 2.

This makes sense to me. Morbius was memed to death. It meant nothing

You've left out the whole 'member berries' aspect of both Maverick and Avatar 2 which is heavily relied on in their success.

Both rip off plot points, themes etc of the original movies in as bad or even worse ways than other recent sequels that got absolutely slated for it.

It works for these long awaited sequels which is fine but they are really one off event/experience movies but there is nothing really beyond that.

Being stereoscopically challenged, I saw this in 2D HFR just now.

The action sequences are magnificent. Nobody comes close to Cameron. He has put down the gauntlet to wannabe CGI action jockeys out there. Hands down the best CGI action scenes I've seen.

There is one long brutal section that is actually quite painful to watch with a huge payoff. Brilliant.

The HFR really worked for me. I felt I could process the action sequences more easily, or maybe they were just so well done anyway.

It's too long and story wise not up to much. But THAT DOESN'T MATTER. It's pure escapism. Definitely a movie to see in the Cinema Vs at home.

Avatar 3: Dances with Wolves ☺️

I have to laugh at tweets like this and some of the responses. There is an obsessive regurgitation of "nobody cares" talking points from some corners of the internet. Avatarophobia.

These people are weirdly desperate to insist that the film is not succeeding, or that they somehow know an objective truth regarding people's feelings about the film. Why are some folks so triggered by the success of these films? So interesting.

The tremendous box office performance is fascinating, particularly given the post-covid/streaming-era context. It is undeniably a global phenomenon. At this point, it is quite clear it will surpass the $2 billion mark. The only question is by how much.

There are no justifiable arguments against it being a spectacle or having thrills, it is most else that is lacking.

The only thing that is stopping Avatar from being called out more for cheap nostalgia is the fact that the first movie had so very little impact that most people don't even remember key moments of it. For example, bad guy v2 taming the flying creature in the same spot as the first movie, which even included one of the crigiest attempts at comedic one liners of the year.

If the movie isnt full of nostalgic call backs then it is filled with pure rip offs of the original - just this time some of them are on water. There is a pretty decent argument that this movie is worse than Force Awakens for it.