AEfx
Well-Known Member
Ever hear of the Matrix trilogy? LOL.
Look, no one denies that Avatar made a TON of money. It's quite obvious why it did so. It was the first "really for real" made for 3-D major theatrical release, the 3-D fad was at it's height of ebb/flow (like it was in the 50's, then again in the early 80's), and studios pushed the HECK out of it, just like they did with 3-D in general, because attendance at films has dropped dramatically since home video, and now the Internet, are part of the equation, and if they couldn't bring people back to the theater, they settled for charging the "3-D tax" to those that do still go.
It is extremely unlikely that this confluence of events will happen again. 3-D is already passing as a fad - sure, the studio's keep trying to push it, but as they are finding out - most people don't care. It's for theme parks and occasional films, not for everyday viewing.
As several others posted above, Avatar is now virtually gone from the cultural Zeitgeist. Part of this is Cameron's short-sightedness in using such a generic title. Not only is it a common word, there is also a successful children's media franchise with it in the title. It's also because there simply isn't much there to create anything out of - it was a film, it made an exceptional amount of money when it was released, and now...it's pretty much gone. And even when it had it's few minutes as the big thing to talk about, it simply never expanded beyond the theater. I mean, it's not like little kids were dressing up as the characters for Halloween in droves, stuff like that.
Add to the fact that we are half a decade probably away from the second film, and that 3-D is already losing it's novelty, and it's hard to see what some uber-Avatar fans see as the future of this "franchise" (it isn't one yet, folks) when the only thing that can be said is that it made a crap ton of money (but was far from being the most attended movie of all time, as a big part of the large gross was the "3-D tax"). It's so the Matrix all over again...but at least Matrix had a somewhat unique take on a quirky idea, whereas there was nothing whatsoever intellectually stimulating about Avatar. It was just really, really pretty.
When kids walked out of Star Wars in 1977, they wanted to be Luke or Han or Leia. When kids walked out of Harry Potter, they wanted to be Harry Potter or Hermoine. While both films are special effects heavy, it's the characters that brought the love. The first screenings of Star Wars are legendary for their technical skill, to the same level if not more than Avatar, based on what the technology was at the time (Cameron didn't invent any new techniques, people have been doing motion capture for many years, it was that he used it so fully and spent quite a bit of money to do so). But what kept Star Wars alive, and still does, is the characters and the emotions and the themes.
Avatar did nothing in that respect. I've seen the film, and I actually own it on Blu-ray - but I'm not a fan, and I doubt I'll ever see the other ones. I thought it was a boring mess of a movie. So my $20 for the Blu-ray was counted among that gross, simply because I was at Wal-mart, I had just gotten a Blu-ray player, and I was like, "Heck, I bet the picture looks good" and checked it out. It was a fad, a novelty - that's why I bought it. I doubt I was alone.
To continue those Matrix comparisons, it's quite funny because the Matrix was the first DVD to sell over a million copies, which is similar to the record Avatar now holds on Blu. It's almost comical how much the two franchises (or, the Matrix franchise and the future Avatar franchise, should it become one) have in common. And we all know how the Matrix ended up - once the "gimmick" was out there, and everyone was doing "Matrix fight scenes" all the way down to TV commercials, it got watered down - just like the "gee wow!" of the 3-D aspect of Avatar.
It's not about being a "hater", if I don't like a movie - I don't care if others do. But this teenage boy fantasy of it's the greatest thing ever made and is this major cultural force is simply laughable. It's not. Go out on the street and ask 10 people what "Avatar" is. Out of those people who actually know what you are talking about (without being reminded of Blue people), ask them what their favorite character was. Or to name ANY character.
My guess is you would be hard to find even 1.
I'm sorry to play Mr. Pragmatist, but the only ones who think Avatar is somehow even a blip on the cultural radar at this point, or that it somehow is some vastly superior marvel of storytelling, are generally teenage boys who haven't seen this stuff come and go before.
It's not even relevant at the moment. Notice how the Disney announcement was kinda, "Meh?" Someone farts over at Universal and it sounds like Harry Potter and it's on "Entertainment Tonight" and "Access Hollywood" and across the web. The Avatar/Disney thing was reported (thanks guys, I can google too - I don't need anyone to post the links) but it was a tiny little bit of "news" that didn't reach any significance at all.
They very well could come up with some amazing attractions from a really mediocre movie that simply had a bunch of external factors contributing to it's obvious financial success. We won't know till they actually announce what is coming. That said, I won't be surprised if it just quietly goes away, either. Even on Disney boards, you rarely see anyone excited about the theme - it's usually Johnny-come-post-lately types who came just to talk about Avatar. That's not saying EVERYONE, but it's rare to see anyone who is particularly excited that Avatar itself is coming; most either wish something else had been picked, or are just happy AK is getting any major attraction.
And if the public will even care in five years is the half-billion dollar question; while Universal picked up Potter rights when it was already a proven franchise and developed way beyond the motion pictures and books, Avatar had one big movie that everyone has forgotten about by now. It's a HUGE gamble for Disney, and it will be interesting if they are able to work with the notoriously hard to work with Cameron - if they do follow-through, my guess is they will be wishing to Dumbledorf they had just dealt with JK Rowling in the first place, because a pain in your butt is a lot better than the sitting on a spear that working "with" Cameron is like (as far as anyone can actually work "with" him).
