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Post by jdv on Dec 16, 2022 16:26:44 GMT -5
One should never bet against Cameron, yet....
..the original AVATAR sucked. Tried re-watching it the other day and was stunned by just how bad the SFX were, and how simplistic & 2D the story-telling was. A sort very dumbed down combo of DANCES WITH WOLVES and ALIENS, but with none of the charm or wow factor of those far better movies.
The only actor who had an ounce of charisma was Stephen Lang (who naturally was the villain). Sam Worthington has about the same star power as a cardboard box refrigerators come packaged in.
Perhaps that's why there has been virtually no long term love for AVATAR - no fan films, no on-line campaigns or demands for sequels, no toys, no video games - nothing like you see for STAR TREK or STAR WARS.
And did I mention that the effects were awful? Even the 3D seems very milquetoast.
Flash forward to this weekend and the only thing's that guaranteed is that the effects will be better - how can they not be? - but b/c it's still tied to the "natives are angels" silliness, it's likely to be doomed from the start.
Almost hard to believe this is the same cat who made TERMINATOR.
So anyway, I don't think it will outright flop, but neither will it come close to the original's (undeserved) box office haul.
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Post by Warpig on Dec 18, 2022 13:42:09 GMT -5
Avatar 2 is going to be the biggest bomb of Cameron's career. Whatever magic he had in the past has long since faded. He is a bitter old man full of resentment for everyone and he's a nightmare to work with. This movie will effectively torpedo whatever remaining career he has. Fans of the first film don't even want this and that's a pretty small number of people to begin with.
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Post by jdv on Dec 19, 2022 3:00:53 GMT -5
He's always been a nightmare to work with.
It opened to $134 mil domestic over the 4 day weekend, traditionally one of the strongest weekends of the year b/c Xmas.
While $134 million ain't chump change, it's a long long way from breaking even. With an insane (reportedly) $400 million budget BEFORE ads, this film likely has to gross somewhere near a billion just to break even.
Which itself speaks volumes as to the necessity of making this film in the first place.
That aside, there's not a whole lot of chance it makes that kind of bread with the relatively "meh" reviews coming out so far. MAVERICK - like the original AVATAR - made so much money b/c it had legs. Fans just kept going to see it.
I'm guessing that won't be the case with A2. The next 10 days of Christmas break will determine all...
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Post by Warpig on Dec 19, 2022 10:08:18 GMT -5
Plus, it suffers from the curse of "The Extra Title". It's not just "Avatar II", it's "Avatar: The way of Water". That sort of thing can work if it's not been over 13 years since the original because fans of the first one (supposedly hungry for more) will be quick to make the association. But a whole new generation of movie patrons will probably not have seen the original, so calling it something other than "Avatar II" might be a negative.
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Post by jdv on Dec 19, 2022 14:49:03 GMT -5
What's really crazy is that they already have the release dates set for 3 more sequels.
Which is just silly.
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Post by Warpig on Dec 19, 2022 15:33:05 GMT -5
What's really crazy is that they already have the release dates set for 3 more sequels. Which is just silly. What balls.
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Post by jdv on Dec 19, 2022 19:18:12 GMT -5
...And any chance of it being a hit just went the way of toilet water as AVATAR 2 has bombed in China:
"Avatar: The Way of Water belly-flopped on its opening weekend in China, bringing in $57.1 million, far below the approximately $120 million it was expected to earn. The shortfall has surely come as a disappointment for Disney, which is seeking to replicate the success of the first Avatar movie — the highest grossing Hollywood movie in China at the time of its release in 2009." ----------------------
Making it worse, Disney almost certainly pressured Cameron to make sure there was nothing anti-CCP in the film.
So the bloodbath continues for Disney who has lost money like it was going out of style before they gave Cameron and half billion dollars.
Guessing those release dates for the other proposed sequels are getting a second look right now.
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Post by Warpig on Dec 20, 2022 13:10:54 GMT -5
Wow, looks like cucking to China isn't the payoff these Hollywood simps hoped it would be.
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Post by jdv on Dec 20, 2022 17:15:39 GMT -5
What a shame.
Also a dang shame....
"Disney Stocks Tank After ‘Avatar 2’ Underperforms
Avatar 2 is underperforming, Strange World is an outright flop, and the Disney stock price is sinking like a rock.
“Disney shares … sank nearly 5% to their lowest level since March 2020 on Monday, after [Avatar: Way of the Water] and one of the priciest movies in Hollywood history fell short of the hype in its opening weekend,” reports Market Watch.
According to this stock tracker, that March of 2020 bottom was short-lived just before the stock jumped to nearly $200 per share. Outside of that temporary dive, Disney’s stock closing at $85.78 per share on Monday is the lowest number in nearly a decade, since May of 2014." ----------------------------------
Outside of the Jon Favreau guided STAR WARS efforts like MANDOLARIAN, BOOK OF FETT, and ANDOR, there's absolutely nothing Disney is doing that is even remotely interesting.
And yeah, much of it is far worse than just being boring.
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Post by Warpig on Dec 20, 2022 19:39:27 GMT -5
Ooooh, plot twist!
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Post by jdv on Dec 21, 2022 13:36:31 GMT -5
...And while it's silly, for a company like Disney which has now stood behind many silly ideas, this will hurt: "James Cameron’s Avatar: The Way of Water faces calls for boycotts from Native Americans and indigenous groups for alleged cultural appropriation and for promoting the white savior complex. In a tweet on Sunday, Navajo artist and co-chair of Indigenous Pride Los Angeles, Yuè Begay, denounced Avatar as a “horrible & racist film” that must be boycotted. “Our cultures were appropriated in a harmful manner to satisfy some [white flag emoji] man’s savior complex.” ------------------------ Although Negay's reasoning is simplistic, the notion that Cameron's basic story is played out and dumb isn't. Regardless, this is exactly the sort of thing Disney does not need right now. Poor butterfly - Disney now looking now only at one flop, but the pulling of entire "franchise" and of course, related merch. Maybe Kathleen Kennedy can save the day... BAWHAHAHAHAHAHAHA! I mean, I wish them the best of luck. www.breitbart.com/entertainment/2022/12/21/racist-film-native-americans-indigenous-groups-call-to-boycott-avatar-2/
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Post by Warpig on Dec 21, 2022 15:24:55 GMT -5
I love seeing leftists hanged on their own petards.
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Post by jdv on Dec 23, 2022 17:45:41 GMT -5
And it's officially a bomb barring a miracle this weekend (made doubly hard to accomplish because of all the global warming causing sub-zero temps across more than 1/2 the nation): "Disney stock on its way to worst year since 1974 after 'Avatar' sequel fails to make up for string of flops.... Stock price is down 45 percent after sequel can't live up to expectations.... James Cameron said the film needed $2billion in sales to break even.... The company is on pace for its worst stock market performance in 48 years.... Disney+ has also struggled, losing $1.5billion in 2022 alone...." --------------------------- AVATAR II will lose money and doom any sequels. Disney+ will lose a billion and a half. The Avengers money train is stuttering to a halt. They've already wrecked STAR WARS as a viable movie franchise. At least 1/2 the country believes Disney is openly advocating for pedophiles and for children to change their sex. But hey, besides that, they're doing great! www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-11567283/Disney-stock-way-worst-year-1974-Avatar-sequel-disappoints.html
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Post by jdv on Dec 26, 2022 14:02:18 GMT -5
AVATAR II dropped 58% over Christmas weekend, a sure sign that the bloated sequel will lose money, perhaps as much a billion dollars despite now grossing $850 million total world wide. The one (really only) thing going for AVATAR (and Disney), is that there is literally nothing else to watch at cineplexes (unless you count the 3 hour long BABYLON, a loving look at early Hollywood - who doesn't want that?). Like literally nothing. And nothing else coming anytime soon. But that alone won't save A2. Sadly for battered Disney, Cameron's bragged that AVATAR 3 & 4 already mostly shot. I'm sure they're overjoyed about being connected to a massively expensive project with no actual fans. www.msn.com/en-us/movies/news/christmas-weekend-box-office-is-exceptionally-depressing-as-avatar-the-way-of-water-repeats-at-number-one-and-babylon-flops/ar-AA15EPHA
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Post by Warpig on Dec 27, 2022 23:03:27 GMT -5
Couldn't happen to a nicer group of satanic pedophiles.
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Post by jdv on Dec 28, 2022 11:25:29 GMT -5
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Post by jdv on Jan 2, 2023 15:20:45 GMT -5
SO what happens when a movie grosses a billion dollars but still hasn't broke even? That's the question the brass at Disney must answer as AVATAR II just hit a billion world-wide over the New Year's weekend.
If Jim Cameron is to be believed, AII must gross another billion to break even, something that's now certain not to happen. As in a mere billion short.
Yet a lot of that money spent is tied up with the promise of having 3 more sequels to help pay for all it. But that's going to be a mighty tough pill to swallow as Disney must be well aware that there is no clamor for those sequels, and that but for an utterly barren of competition in cineplexes, AVATAR II would have done even worse than it did.
Add to it that Cameron is now radioactive to people on the right and the left - nice work there Jim - there's an even bigger hill to climb. Let's put it this way - if something like TOP GUN III is out during the same time as AVATAR III, AIII makes 10 cents. Maybe not that much.
And that's because even though people have seen AVATAR II, no one - as not a single person on the planet - seems to actually enjoy the 3 plus hour long snorefest. Well, no one besides Jim Cameron, who also is said to enjoy the smell of his own farts.
Which is weird.
Anyway, Disney - which is already bleeding money at an insane rate - needs to decide fast as AVATAR III is scheduled for a Christmas release 2 years from now, almost all of which would be post-production. Very expensive post-production. Yet that 2 years is also at least a year too long of a wait for modern audiences, not to mention that LOTR was able to put vastly better films in back-to-back-to-back years.
Throw in the now common-place practice of having all episodes of a series available, or at the very least available in weekly installments, and a 2 year delay for a film that no one's terribly excited for and the recipe for disaster is written in large print.
But will Disney read the signs, or blindly hope for the best? I'm guessing we'll first hear about a delay in release date, then a quiet as possible cancelling of the sequels.
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Post by Warpig on Jan 3, 2023 8:46:52 GMT -5
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Post by jdv on Jan 3, 2023 11:54:47 GMT -5
Old man farts to boot.
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