Heartofice Posted December 11, 2022 Share Posted December 11, 2022 How is it going to make that much money in Covid era China? Seems pretty unrealistic doesn’t it? Im very sceptical of any high numbers for this movie, I still don’t get why there would be any buzz for a sequel to a movie who’s only selling point was how pretty it looked in 3D , when nobody cares about 3D any more. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Ran Posted December 11, 2022 Share Posted December 11, 2022 If you look at /r/boxoffice, there's a lot of discussion of the China question. Nearly 75% of theaters in China are now fully open, presales have been good (it's on trend to make ~$400m), and so on. It will certainly clear $1 billion by the looks of it. Whether it'll make $2 billion is the real question at this point. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Werthead Posted December 11, 2022 Share Posted December 11, 2022 On paper, most of James Cameron's movies (especially sequels) have always seemed like bad ideas. An unknown American director making a sequel to one of the most beloved SF horror movies of all time by the revered Ridley Scott? Horseshit. A Terminator sequel with Arnold Schwarzenegger playing a "wokenator" who is friendly to kids and doesn't kill anyone in the whole film? Laaaame. A comedic take on James Bond? An old-fashioned disaster/love movie at sea? A 3D cartoon film about space colonialism? I was also startled to discover that no Cameron film has ever lost money: even Piranha II (which Cameron directed maybe 30% of) made a startlingly large amount of money on home video and overseas. The Abyss, which is sometimes labelled a bomb, actually made a decent profit by the standards of the day. From this I think the lesson is to never, ever bet against James Cameron. But there's also logic to the idea that even he has to have a dud at some point, and this project does seem like ludicrous, unwanted hubris of the kind that even dwarfs Titanic. Still, I have suspicion this film will do every well indeed. China basically stealth-cancelling its COVID protocols overnight just as the movie opens might well mean it does far better in China than expected. Ser Scot A Ellison 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Ser Scot A Ellison Posted December 11, 2022 Author Share Posted December 11, 2022 It seems to be getting pretty warm reviews. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Kalbear Posted December 11, 2022 Share Posted December 11, 2022 Cameron is IMO a lot like Spielberg in that regard - he knows how to make good movies, he genuinely cares about the way movies are making and the pace for them, and even his 'bad' ideas will be successful if not glorious. He is also an absurd stickler for details and is obsessed with really random things too - like IIRC making sure the tags on the Titanic luggage were written backwards in real life so they'd show up forwards in film just in case anyone sees them. I don't think he could ever make a movie on behalf of anyone else at this point. He won't remotely be a good collaborator. But as a leader I think he's quite solid. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Deadlines? What Deadlines? Posted December 11, 2022 Share Posted December 11, 2022 9 hours ago, Heartofice said: nobody cares about 3D any more. I'd say this glorious human cares. Like a lot. Maybe too much. This was from five days ago. The movie opens five days from now. That theater is about 80% sold out. All the moneys. 8 hours ago, Werthead said: On paper, most of James Cameron's movies (especially sequels) have always seemed like bad ideas. An unknown American director making a sequel to one of the most beloved SF horror movies of all time by the revered Ridley Scott? Horseshit. A Terminator sequel with Arnold Schwarzenegger playing a "wokenator" who is friendly to kids and doesn't kill anyone in the whole film? Laaaame. A comedic take on James Bond? An old-fashioned disaster/love movie at sea? A 3D cartoon film about space colonialism? I kind of agree with this except for Terminator 2. No one thought in those terms back then because we hadn't collectively lost our shit yet. The brilliance of Titanic was that it made the ship and its sinking a sub plot and instead focussed on Jack and Rose. Maybe that had been done before; maybe not, but I remember thinking that it wasn't the movie I was expecting when I saw it. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Werthead Posted December 11, 2022 Share Posted December 11, 2022 (edited) 3 hours ago, Deadlines? What Deadlines? said: I kind of agree with this except for Terminator 2. No one thought in those terms back then because we hadn't collectively lost our shit yet. Oh, people absolutely did. Obviously we didn't have the Internet (at least nothing like its modern form) for people to go to war over it, but in the pages of the genre magazines and in the SF fanzine spaces, a certain set of people were incensed over Arnie being a "feminine" good guy being taught how to be a father role model, Sarah Connor taking over "the masculine hero" role etc. Mostly before it came out, so when it did and 99.9% of people loved it, those people basically vanished, but it was there. The same thing a year or so later when they cast a black Star Trek captain only because of "political correctness" (even "affirmative action") and a certain frothing mad subset jumped through hoops to square their racism with the values of Star Trek (and the same thing happened in 1995 with the first female captain). This shit has always been around in fandom, it just used to be shut away from the general public who didn't give a shit and just watched whenever when it came on. Reading through the old Babylon 5 archives with the very angry people espousing pretty much QAnon-adjacent conspiracy theories in the mid and even early 1990s is quite eye-opening. Edited December 11, 2022 by Werthead Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Corvinus85 Posted December 12, 2022 Share Posted December 12, 2022 13 hours ago, Heartofice said: Im very sceptical of any high numbers for this movie, I still don’t get why there would be any buzz for a sequel to a movie who’s only selling point was how pretty it looked in 3D , when nobody cares about 3D any more. I just bought my ticket and found out my local theater only offers it in 3D. The spectacle is on!!! Deadlines? What Deadlines? 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Deadlines? What Deadlines? Posted December 12, 2022 Share Posted December 12, 2022 12 hours ago, Heartofice said: How is it going to make that much money in Covid era China? Seems pretty unrealistic doesn’t it? The highest grossing film of all time in China is The Battle at Lake Changjin, which was released September of 2021. according to Wikipedia, it made $913 million USD. I don't know the situation on the ground in China, but if Covid restrictions are a problem for Chinese cinema, they seem to be handling it. 35 minutes ago, Werthead said: Oh, people absolutely did. Obviously we didn't have the Internet (at least nothing like its modern form) for people to go to war over it, but in the pages of the genre magazines and in the SF fanzine spaces, a certain set of people were incensed over Arnie being a "feminine" good guy being taught how to be a father role model, Sarah Connor taking over "the masculine hero" role etc. Mostly before it came out, so when it did and 99.9% of people loved it, those people basically vanished, but it was there. The same thing a year or so later when they cast a black Star Trek captain only because of "political correctness" (even "affirmative action") and a certain frothing mad subset jumped through hoops to square their racism with the values of Star Trek (and the same thing happened in 1995 with the first female captain). This shit has always been around in fandom, it just used to be shut away from the general public who didn't give a shit and just watched whenever when it came on. Reading through the old Babylon 5 archives with the very angry people espousing pretty much QAnon-adjacent conspiracy theories in the mid and even early 1990s is quite eye-opening. This is fascinating. Is there an online archive of this stuff? I'd be interested to see the T2 stuff specifically. Still, it's encouraging to know that most of us did not lose our shit back then. Not shitless, therefore, not beyond reason. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Deadlines? What Deadlines? Posted December 12, 2022 Share Posted December 12, 2022 1 hour ago, Corvinus85 said: I just bought my ticket and found out my local theater only offers it in 3D. The spectacle is on!!! I just got mine. Thursday. IMAX 3D. Dead center and four rows back from the screen. My body is ready. Lord of Oop North 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Heartofice Posted December 13, 2022 Share Posted December 13, 2022 Lots of reviews coming out now. I'm seeing very similar themes: - Visually amazing. - Technically mind-blowing achievement - You have to see it in 3D - It's basically a fairground ride. - By the number story - Bleh characters So basically if you liked Avatar you will like this. The value is in seeing it on the big screen and in 3D. Pretty much everything that applied to the first movie seems to be true here. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Werthead Posted December 13, 2022 Share Posted December 13, 2022 Seems to be a fair bit of agreement that the film is at least moderately better than the first one in terms of story and characters, although how much you buy Sigourney Weaver playing a 14-year-old may determine that. I've seen some praise for the fact that the film goes "smaller" than the original in terms of the scale of the final battle, although it's still bloody long and has a lot going on. Also some praise for the fact it's very much a stand-alone film and there's less sequel-layering stuff going on than in films that don't already have the following movie already in the can, which is interesting. Also quite a few statements like "if you hated the first movie, this one won't change your mind." Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
polishgenius Posted December 13, 2022 Share Posted December 13, 2022 1 minute ago, Werthead said: Also quite a few statements like "if you hated the first movie, this one won't change your mind." Well, that's me done then. JGP 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Deadlines? What Deadlines? Posted December 13, 2022 Share Posted December 13, 2022 (edited) 6 hours ago, Heartofice said: - It's basically a fairground ride. - By the number story - Bleh characters This describes some of the highest grossing and highest rated films of the last decade. Edited December 13, 2022 by Deadlines? What Deadlines? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
The Grey Wolf Strikes Back Posted December 14, 2022 Share Posted December 14, 2022 Do y'all recommend seeing it in 3D? I wear glasses and am not sure how comfortable it would be to wear a second pair on top of them. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Deadlines? What Deadlines? Posted December 14, 2022 Share Posted December 14, 2022 6 hours ago, The Grey Wolf Strikes Back said: Do y'all recommend seeing it in 3D? I wear glasses and am not sure how comfortable it would be to wear a second pair on top of them. I wear glasses as well and I'm seeing it in 3D. I'll report how that works. If it doesn't I can always take off my glasses. My prescription isn't that strong and we're only 4 rows back so I might be close enough not to need them. The Grey Wolf Strikes Back 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
JGP Posted December 14, 2022 Share Posted December 14, 2022 18 hours ago, polishgenius said: Well, that's me done then. Same. My eldest really wants to see it though, so another lesson for me in... [opens hand gently] letting gooooooooooooooooo Corvinus85 and Deadlines? What Deadlines? 2 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Zorral Posted December 14, 2022 Share Posted December 14, 2022 https://www.bbc.com/culture/article/20221213-avatar-the-way-of-water-is-a-damp-squib Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
polishgenius Posted December 14, 2022 Share Posted December 14, 2022 25 minutes ago, Zorral said: https://www.bbc.com/culture/article/20221213-avatar-the-way-of-water-is-a-damp-squib A mate of mine posted this: Zorral 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Zorral Posted December 14, 2022 Share Posted December 14, 2022 And this is why we need LOTS of movies! Lots and lots of disagreement here, all right. And this one hasn't even opened yet! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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