Sci-Fi Avatar: The Way Of Water

[Kane52630]

Those opening day numbers though, not great.

Thursday numbers aren't opening day numbers tho.

 

[DarthSkywalker]

Thursday numbers aren't opening day numbers tho.

I'm talking the overseas numbers. Most places opening on Weds/Thurs (our time). The domestic preview numbers are not great though. Especially for a movie that opened up at 3pm.

Also I decided to look it up, and I was right. Maverick's multiplier doesn't compare to the original Top Gun's. Which went from an 8m opening weekend to 170m domestic. Sequels do not have the legs of the original. And by original, I am talking a historic original, like Avatar, Star Wars, etc. Part of that is definitely time period, but that's baked into estimates. TFA didn't even do it, and it's the highest grossing film in domestic history so far.

 

[Batgirl0202]

Yeah I'm a bit surprised at the pre-show numbers as well. I was expecting this to be the record smasher of all record smashers...

However, Gitesh makes some solid points. He said that movie-going is more muted at this time of year, with holiday shopping/events and other distractions taking up everyone's time. That's why studios love releasing tentpoles in December. Once Christmas is over, every day behaves like a Saturday at the box office, right through until the New Year.

He also said that enough time has passed since the original that movie-goers might approach Way of Water as an original science fiction blockbuster instead of a sequel, the same way they approached TFA and Maverick almost as originals as well. Audiences tend not to rush out to original science fiction films on opening weekend so the box office might not be as front-loaded as a typical MCU or Star Wars entry...

Anyway, he's predicting a final $2 billion global gross for WOW. We'll see how it goes over the holidays.

 

[Filmfan93]

Just saw this and it had by far the best visuals I've ever seen. I mean nothing comes close, they were pretty much photorealistic by this point and a great improvement over the first film.

Story was pretty much the same as the first film and I really hope Cameron steps it up for the sequels.

HFR was a disaster though and made everything way too video-gamish and less cinematic. The transition between normal fps and HFR was jarring as well.

It didn't work 10 years ago in the Hobbit, it doesn't work here either.

First thing I do when I buy a new TV is to switch off all these disastrous soap opera smoothing effects that make everything ugly.

8/10

 

[Iceman]

Got to say after many years of avoiding 3D since not too long after the first Avatar where I liked the depth effect a lot, I think I’m really over it unless they can manage to not lose brightness. Brightness for these beautiful outdoor natural scenes is too important for me to sacrifice.

 

[InCali]

Just saw it and don't think it'll have really great legs. I just don't see a lot of people sitting through another 3 hour showing of this. The visuals were terrific, but the movie itself is nothing to write home about. It'll do fine at the BO, but I don't foresee anything spectacular.

 

[TheVileOne]

Thursday numbers aren't opening day numbers tho.

Yes but they are counted with the opening day numbers.

 

[TheVileOne]

Got to say after many years of avoiding 3D since not too long after the first Avatar where I liked the depth effect a lot, I think I’m really over it unless they can manage to not lose brightness. Brightness for these beautiful outdoor natural scenes is too important for me to sacrifice.

3D was a bad gimmick and not worth it. It takes away the brightness and makes films darker than they should be.

 

[TheVileOne]

Was about to post it myself. Expected higher, considering the hype. Which I have none. I saw the first one once on tv and that was enough for me. I hate 3D and have no interest in watching this at a theater, especially in 3D. I need to save money anyway so Ant-Man 3 is probably the next theater movie for me.

The first movie is at 82% so this seems in line with the first one.

 

[Man in the Suit]

Cameron's other films polled by Cinemascore:

• Aliens (1986): A
• The Abyss (1989): A-
• Terminator 2: Judgment Day (1991): A+
• True Lies (1994): A
• Titanic (1997): A+
• Avatar (2009): A

 

[Ninjablade]

Just got home from this. It's pretty much the film I expected. Some of the most stunning visuals of today unfortunately packaged in a painfully boring slog of a story. Honestly would say the movie is flat out bad, which isn't something I wouldn't say about the first film despite not caring for it.

 

[Snow Queen]

For 45 minutes, I - someone who does not like the first- was thinking this was pretty solid and wondering if I'd be able to get it this time. Then it quickly slid off and never recovered. Felt like it was treading water, pun unintended. At least Stephen Lang is still here because he's doing better than this movie deserves.

 

[Asr]

7/10 for me.

Put me in the camp of those thinking the story wasn't up to par in this movie. The plot just wasn't interesting or compelling, and kept me wondering if anything was going to happen. I almost fell asleep at a couple points in the first hour, it was that boring at first.

The visuals were amazing of course, but didn't hide the fact the movie was basically style over substance.

I've also said this before but now that I've seen the full movie, will certifiably say that Cameron hasn't changed his "futuristic technology" aesthetic since Aliens. I mean, things like the dropships, exoskeletons, and even interior set designs all looked like they were pulled straight out of either Aliens or T2.

 

[Albright]

this franchise relies clearly on breathtaking landscapes.
So what could Avatar 3,4,5,6 offer, what we haven’t seen already? We‘ve seen beautiful rainforests and tropical islands with breathtaking underwater biospheres.
What else could take our breath away? Deserts, polar regions, volcanic landscapes?
If he doesn’t have a breathtaking new landscape, than he really needs to deliver on the story…which he wasn’t able in 2 movies.
I highly doubt, the franchise will make it to a 5th and 6th movie

 

[flickchick85]

I swear Cameron's dialogue is getting worse. Which is saying something.

This was a slog, imo. A very pretty slog. There was not a single surprising/unpredictable moment in the whole 3+ hours. I can't say I'd ever want to watch it again, but maybe I'll put it on mute in the background as a nice screensaver while I read sometime.

Also, JC does not give a s*** about Neytiri and that was wildly apparent in this one.

 

[Snow Queen]

A very pretty slog. There was not a single surprising/unpredictable moment in the whole 3+ hours.

Every story beat is so deeply predictable before the half hour mark that it makes Cameron's recent interviews hysterical.

“I guarantee you, you won’t be able to predict it. What people hate the most is to go and see a movie and say ‘oh… predictable.’ This is not predictable, I don’t think. I defy anybody to predict where this story goes.”

I suppose the closest it took me to the unexpected is that I thought my expectations seemed so by the numbers and boring that surely there'd be something surprising. Nope.

 

[Albright]

both Zoe Saldana and Kate Winslet had obnoxious scenes were they were either revengeful or just screaming in anger.
On the other hand Sigourney Weaver has probably the best character arc, so it’s not, that JC didn’t care for the female characters.

 

[Weather Witch]

this franchise relies clearly on breathtaking landscapes.
So what could Avatar 3,4,5,6 offer, what we haven’t seen already? We‘ve seen beautiful rainforests and tropical islands with breathtaking underwater biospheres.
What else could take our breath away? Deserts, polar regions, volcanic landscapes?
If he doesn’t have a breathtaking new landscape, than he really needs to deliver on the story…which he wasn’t able in 2 movies.
I highly doubt, the franchise will make it to a 5th and 6th movie

The current edit for Avatar 3 is NINE HOURS long. I bet Disney will turn that, and the footage they shot from 4, into 2/3 movies. To recoup some of the costs that is.

 

[Gothamsknight]

Just got home from this. It's pretty much the film I expected. Some of the most stunning visuals of today unfortunately packaged in a painfully boring slog of a story. Honestly would say the movie is flat out bad, which isn't something I wouldn't say about the first film despite not caring for it.

I feel like the movie does come to a crawl in the middle, and I wish the characters were more interesting. That's my main critique of the Avatar films so far, and it's that I don't feel connected to the characters all that much which definitely can make it boring at times. That being said, I felt like the final hour made up for a lot of it.

 

[moviedoors]

The current edit for Avatar 3 is NINE HOURS long. I bet Disney will turn that, and the footage they shot from 4, into 2/3 movies. To recoup some of the costs that is.

That nine hours thing is prototypical clickbait horse****. There’s no way that rumor is true.

 

[TheVileOne]

Here are my main critiques:

Spoiler

* No one in the Sully family gives a **** about Spider until he shows up again. No one cares that he's being held captive.
* Neytiri threatens to kill Spider, and no one calls her out on that. Neytiri was in a vulnerable situation at that point yes, and she was dealing with a lot, but like...how is Spider supposed to feel about all of that?
* I don't think the movie properly built up Neytiri and Spider's relationship and that she doesn't view Spider as one of the family. She clearly has no paternal instincts for him to threaten him in that way.
* The 48FPS looks too inconsistent. The technology is a gimmick and doesn't look good. It makes certain scenes look choppy and bad. Other scenes look too smooth and artificial.
* General Ardmore disappears midway through the movie.
* Also once they leave to go to the reef, they kind of ignore the fact that they are in a winner takes all war. Not sure why they think they can just disappear to the island region and never worry about the RDA again. The RDA is there to stay. They literally want to colonize all of Pandora. What about the sanctuary area? That's what they were targeting after destroying home tree in the first movie.
* I get that they have multiple movies, but to spend three hours for Jake just to realize "Hey, we have to fight for our home," felt kind of redundant. Like the first five minutes of the movie we see the RDA returning to Pandora and causing massive destruction. I get that Jake just wants to protect his family, but schlepping off to the island regions is not a solution for that. Jake is an idiot.
* Literally no mentions of unobtainium ever again, lol. I guess they solved the unobtainium problem on Earth. It's all about the Amrita brain juice now.
* Once again, I get the wider implications are probably being saved from other movies, but I mean...the obvious answer here is that Earth and humanity are screwed. In order for Pandora and the Na'vi to survive, it basically means they have to wipe out humanity. And what I mean by that is it doesn't look like we are at a point where peace can be brokered and humanity can live in harmony with the Na'vi and Pandora.
* Unless we get to a point where the combined forces of Pandora can figure out a way to beat humanity into submission before killing them all that they would have to submit to all their laws and rules.
* In other words there's no simple, peaceful resolution here. It's a pretty dire situation. Humanity has condemned its planet to a grimy death. They can't be allowed to do the same thing to Pandora.

 

[Holy Slapper]

Down to 78% after 305 reviews. Looks like it won't get higher than that anymore.

 

[Weather Witch]

That nine hours thing is prototypical clickbait horse****. There’s no way that rumor is true.

I hadn't properly looked at the source yet. That's my bad. I guess I'm turning into an "I read it on Facebook" person.

 

[TheVileOne]

Down to 78% after 305 reviews. Looks like it won't get higher than that anymore.

Only nine percent lower than Titanic.

 

[Kane52630]