Well, one of the reasons that they would want to make sequels, is because the first one took so long. You see, once the animated world of something like Pandora is made, the studio heads call the computer created things ‘assets’. This means, that since it took so long and so much money to manufacture the CGI world, they want to get their money’s worth with it.
So, this being said, the character models, and the different plants, ships, and creatures are already made, so they might as well be used - at least that’s the thinking…
Nice review, thedriveintheatre. I agree with pretty much all of the points you made. I’m seeing it for the second time as well, but this time I’m seeing it in 3D which I am definitely looking forward to.
To be honest, I’m not exactly excited about the trilogy idea. While it’s nice to explore the rest of Pandora (and its surrounding universe), I feel this is one of those movies which are best left alone. Some, like Cars or Pirates of the Caribbean, I don’t mind having sequels, because they are fun enough to warrant further adventures of their characters. Plus, I felt the ‘world’ was not explored enough in those movies, so I’d like to see more. For Avatar though, it’s more like a fable or myth kinda story, like Pocahontas or ]Dances With Wolves, just one tale. One beginning, one ending. I felt we explored enough of Pandora as it is, and it would be pretty difficult to top the epic climax and ending. Of course, this is the man who made a better sequel to his sophomore film, so I believe he can do it again, but if he doesn’t, I’m satisfied with the conclusion. It was perfect.
Personally, I liked it better in 2-D. The 3-D screening I went to suffered from blurred images if you move your head sideways (so you have to face the screen dead-on to have the best view). And the glasses kept sliding down my nose and felt heavy after a while, so it’s distracting now and then. But otherwise, it’s a enjoyable experience, there’s an additional depth to Pandora, so you feel more immersed, and some nice ‘poke-your-eye’ moments. Have fun!
One thing I forgot to mention in my review is I like the attention to detail throughout. Things like the [spoil]images on the holo-computers, Augustine’s photos on the fridge, Parker’s subordinate scrolling too fast through the holo-map (haven’t we all experienced that with Cover Flow in iTunes? ), the soldier who waves to a passing chopper only to get his hat blown off…[/spoil] all these little details add up to a more rich and believable world. Much like what Pixar does all the time.
By next week it might pass the $100M mark in both South Korea and Australia. I’ve heard it’s been doing particularly great in Canada. Animators and lots of lonely people live in that country. On the first night I predicted it could be a box office titan and made a guess of $1.3-1.7B final box. It’s now still #1 almost everywhere and is passing $2.2B. However some guesstimates say it only has perhaps 60% the number of admissions of Titanic. Not a really good comparison because you have to give credit for a movie that people are willing to shell out $14-15 to see in IMAX 3-D or such. Also, with all the online downloading and larger dvd market, comparisons aren’t very good. Another thing: a very large part of the spring and summer admissions for Titanic were 13 year old girls seeing it again and again, that is seeing DiCaprio. And we still don’t know when the Avatar juggernaut is going to come down to earth.
Silly Dear John beat it this weekend, but won’t that movie fizzle with a 29% TM rating? For the week I will bet that Avatar will be close in box to this contender - just having a big Friday for a spanking new movie isn’t much to crow about. Can it stay #1 thru March (7 more weeks)? It’s done so worldwide for 2 full months now. My guess is that it won’t, largely due to a powerful front loading of box where Titanic was laughable in comparison up to this date: $331M domestic thru Feb 7th, vs a whopping $630M for our blue monkey friends.
Enough about the money. Titanic couldn’t have a sequel, but this sure will, and it will put the franchise in the league of LoTR. Good job Mr. Cameron. Btw, I’ve seen it 6 times now, 2x in IMAX. Unfortunately the plotline and music are not as emotionally overwhelming as a great Pixar movie, so this is close to the end for me. I imagine they will release a 2 disk dvd in late May, unless the box continues as with Titanic, but for reasons stated above, that is unlikely to happen.
Yeah, I heard it is also frequently compared to ‘Gone With The Wind’, which remains America’s biggest box-office champion of all-time, after inflation adjustment. But one of the producers, I forgot who, reminds us that people back then had little competition in terms of entertainment. In this modern era, Avatar not only has to compete with simultaneous film releases at the B.O., but other forms of new media like cable TV, radio, video games, etc. So really, Avatar deserves more credit than it’s worth.
Of course, a lot of adolescent boys could’ve been going for repeat viewings to see Zoe Saldana’s character.
nods head Very surprised by that, too.
Anyway, I’m very pleased with its recent win at the Globes, and as I’ve mentioned on the Up boards, it’s going to be a tough fight between this, Up, and The Hurt Locker for Oscar Best Pic (which I still haven’t watched, but I think it should be reaching Sing shores pretty soon in time for Oscars season). Any one of these three win, and I’ll be a happy person.
In other news, the inventive Chinese has decided to take advantage of the film’s recent box-office success to pull a little tourism campaigning of their own. The Southern Sky Column in Zhangjiajie, Hunan province, will now be known as the Avatar Hallelujah Mountain, after local officials said photographs of the mountain had been used as the basis for Avatar’s fictional world of Pandora. I’m not quite sure whether to think of this as a brilliant promotional stunt, or mere crass exploitation. I mean, aren’t there copyright issues to consider, renaming a landmark after a fictional movie property? And I’m not quite sure how the locals would handle pronouncing the new landmark name. But you gotta admit, the resemblance is uncanny.
And one of my favourite mash-up channels on Youtube has come up with a brilliant trailer spoof. Pixar/animation fans, you don’t want to miss out on this. Avatar Wars
Massive box office and generally good critical reviews are big pluses in favor of Academy Awards for this movie. But where Lord of the Rings and Titanic could make Best Picture, I really don’t think Avatar is going to do it, and it will be real people acting that will be needed to make the mark. Sigourney and Worthington and Saldana lead the charge admirably, but they just aren’t as impressive as DiCaprio/Winslet and Elijah Wood/McKellan/Mortensen. It’s epic in scope, but the screenplay isn’t as good as what Tolkien and Mother Nature here on Earth came up with, even tho Cameron’s story is entirely original.
The actors in that organization, I would bet, will ruthlessly suppress any attempt to have themselves replaced by CG images, even if voices are supplied, and we know all about this from the animation world’s record at the Oscars. The real honors will just have to come from their peers and aficionados.
thedriveintheater: slight spoilers [spoil]Hurt Locker has educated many of us as to how a clandestine roadside bomb war is conducted. And it has good acting, making it seem as real as it can get. But bombs can get boring. There is a constant state of fear/violence. I just prefer a realistic movie with some sort of redemption over depressing HL, [/spoil] such as our little Tonka truck Pixar friend.
The new opening looks cool, but I’m still not gonna pick it up. I honestly found the movie to be a bit boring. Something I’d watch once in theaters, but not again really.
I really love Avatar. I usually don’t care for what my dad calls “Liberalist propaganda”, but I’m all for eco-friendliness, and dude, it was a movie.
I loved it. I really liked the score; it was a tear-jerker for me.
That’s good of you to have your own opinion, IV. I fail to see how respecting indigenous culture, protecting the environment, and loving someone beyond their appearances (the whole point of the “I See You” theme repeated throughout the movie) can be reduced to “Liberalist propaganda”. These are essential traits of being a good, morally-upright human being.
James Horner’s soundtrack has not as many memorable tracks as recent movies I’ve seen (and some say he recycles themes from his earlier movies), but some of them are really beautiful, like 'Becoming one of the people" and “The Path to Heaven”.
I wonder what James has in store for the sequel. I read a recent article he’s in negotiations with Warner Bros. for a decade-long plan, but the bigwigs have low tolerance for that long a commitment. Come on, isn’t the director of two of the biggest blockbusters of all-time insurance enough?
lol, it’s funny you mention that. I remember reading an article online, and it was basicaly the summary of Pocahontas. Only names and places and objects were crossed out and replaced with names, places, and object from Avatar. The similarities are endless!
), the soldier who waves to a passing chopper only to get his hat blown off…[/spoil] all these little details add up to a more rich and believable world. Much like what Pixar does all the time.
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