Avatar (the movie) and its Sequels

[Disney Irish]

Is it too soon to wonder how well Avatar 3 will do, being released just one year from now?

Will it be an instant hit because people enjoyed Avatar 2 so much and are fully invested? Any doubt these are fun movies will be gone?

Or is this a franchise that needs time between installments to build interest and demand back up? Is it too soon for what will be "more of the same"?

Avatar 3 is 2 years away, releasing on Dec 20th 2024 (as of now).

 

[CaptainAmerica]

This seems to be a trend with James Cameron movies. Both Titanic and the first Avatar were considered flops after their opening weekends, but then they had unusually long legs.

There’s still a lot of time to see how it plays out, but it seemed really odd to me for people to be labeling this underperforming when it was obviously going to be something that had its value tied to legs as opposed to a robust opening weekend. Particularly with the long running time which limits the total number of shows in a day/weekend (especially the availability in premium formats).

Right on.

A lot of movies are front loaded, which doesn’t mean success in the end.

Avatar is a legs movie, as many pundits have stated. The fact it reached 1 billion so quickly, shows this. The sequel is doing great.

Sequels and franchises are usually NOT legs movies though, so there were dynamics pushing in both directions.

 

[Prince-1]

There’s still a lot of time to see how it plays out, but it seemed really odd to me for people to be labeling this underperforming when it was obviously going to be something that had its value tied to legs as opposed to a robust opening weekend. Particularly with the long running time which limits the total number of shows in a day/weekend (especially the availability in premium formats).

Avatar 2 is now the second highest grossing movie of 2022 behind Top Gun 2. It has made over $1 billion in global box office sales in two weeks.

 

[Disney Analyst]

Avatar 2 is now the second highest grossing movie of 2022 behind Top Gun 2. It has made over $1 billion in global box office sales in two weeks.

Fastest to 1 billion in 2022 also.

 

[TalkingHead]

Avatar is a legs movie, as many pundits have stated. The fact it reached 1 billion so quickly, shows this. The sequel is doing great.

Sequel is doing well, no question, but racing to $1b isn’t a sign of legs, is it? I would think it has legs if it’s pulling in, say, $20m over a late January weekend. Which seems entirely possible, but the jury is still out.

 

[Vegas Disney Fan]

Avatar 2 is now the second highest grossing movie of 2022 behind Top Gun 2. It has made over $1 billion in global box office sales in two weeks.

That’s impressive. I thought this movie would do good but my guess was a billion total, not in the first 2 weeks alone.

Now I’m curious if it can hit $1.5 billion.

 

[TP2000]

I wouldn't take too much to their box office numbers. In addition to whatever the heck is the public health situation over there, historically China has censorship issues, cinemas are not as common as in other countries and there's not a strong movie-going culture there. The main way they watch stuff is through piracy.

And for companies with legally-bound financial responsibility to shareholders, that's a winning business model how exactly?

And Burbank built them a $5 Billion Shanghai Disneyland for what reason exactly?

Avatar: The Way of Water bombs in China

With $889m in the can worldwide, Avatar: The Way of Water is closing in fast on the billion-dollar return it needs just to break even. 2009's Avatar remains the undisputed king of…

boingboing.net

 

[TP2000]

Is it too soon to wonder how well Avatar 3 will do, being released just one year from now?

Will it be an instant hit because people enjoyed Avatar 2 so much and are fully invested? Any doubt these are fun movies will be gone?

Or is this a franchise that needs time between installments to build interest and demand back up? Is it too soon for what will be "more of the same"?

I am very confident I will know the answer to that question by 7:30pm on the evening of this October 31st.

If I'm getting a bunch of blue aliens at my doorstep saying "Trick-or-Treat!" for Halloween '23, Avatar is officially a thing.

But I've never had a single blue alien on my door at Halloween in the last 13 years, even though I lived in a very popular trick-or-treat neighborhood with armies of kids and would go through several boxes of candy by 9:00pm. But never a blue alien from Avatar at my door.

Has anyone here had a kid show up at your door on Halloween dressed as an Avatar character?

 

[_caleb]

I am very confident I will know the answer to that question by 7:30pm on the evening of this October 31st.

If I'm getting a bunch of blue aliens at my doorstep saying "Trick-or-Treat!" for Halloween '23, Avatar is officially a thing.

But I've never had a single blue alien on my door at Halloween in the last 13 years, even though I lived in a very popular trick-or-treat neighborhood with armies of kids and would go through several boxes of candy by 9:00pm. But never a blue alien from Avatar at my door.

Has anyone here had a kid show up at your door on Halloween dressed as an Avatar character?

I don’t think Avatar is a kid’s movie.

 

[TP2000]

I don’t think Avatar is a kid’s movie.

It's not a kiddy movie like Strange World, but it's rated PG-13. Just like the last couple Star Wars movies were; rated PG-13.

And during Halloween 2015-2019 I had a million kids (and their parents!) dressed as Star Wars characters on my doorstep every October 31st.

But never a single blue alien from Avatar.

 

[_caleb]

It's not a kiddy movie like Strange World, but it's rated PG-13. Just like the last couple Star Wars movies were; rated PG-13.

And during Halloween 2015-2019 I had a million kids (and their parents!) dressed as Star Wars characters on my doorstep every October 31st.

But never a single blue alien from Avatar.

I just mean that it doesn’t appeal to kids like Star Wars or Marvel movies. The Social Network was PG-13 and brought in $225M on its $40M budget in 2010, but I don’t imagine Orange Country wasn’t crawling with little Mark Zukerbergs on Oct. 31st, 2010. Jurassic World was also PG-13 and did pretty well at the box office. Did you have a lot of kids dressed as dinosaurs in 2015?

 

[Disney Irish]

I am very confident I will know the answer to that question by 7:30pm on the evening of this October 31st.

If I'm getting a bunch of blue aliens at my doorstep saying "Trick-or-Treat!" for Halloween '23, Avatar is officially a thing.

But I've never had a single blue alien on my door at Halloween in the last 13 years, even though I lived in a very popular trick-or-treat neighborhood with armies of kids and would go through several boxes of candy by 9:00pm. But never a blue alien from Avatar at my door.

Has anyone here had a kid show up at your door on Halloween dressed as an Avatar character?

I’m pretty sure your Halloween costume metric is not as revealing as you think it is.

 

[LittleBuford]

This thread needs a “legs” drinking game (and I don’t even drink!).

 

[CaptainAmerica]

Sequel is doing well, no question, but racing to $1b isn’t a sign of legs, is it? I would think it has legs if it’s pulling in, say, $20m over a late January weekend. Which seems entirely possible, but the jury is still out.

You can usually get a reasonably good sense of what legs will be based on the percentage decline from the first weekend to the second weekend. But that's very difficult here for a number of reasons. Christmas is a complicating factor. Christmas Eve coming on a Saturday is the worst possible timing. COVID in China is a factor. The brutal weather that much of the United States had last week is a factor. The demand for PLF and 3D showings is a factor. The runtime is a factor.

Racing to $1b alone isn't an indicator of legs, but racing to $1b after a relatively tame opening weekend is a very good sign. But yeah we won't really have a firm grasp on things until we're fully out of the holiday season and everybody is back to work and school.

 

[MisterPenguin]

And for companies with legally-bound financial responsibility to shareholders, that's a winning business model how exactly?

And Burbank built them a $5 Billion Shanghai Disneyland for what reason exactly?

Avatar: The Way of Water bombs in China

With $889m in the can worldwide, Avatar: The Way of Water is closing in fast on the billion-dollar return it needs just to break even. 2009's Avatar remains the undisputed king of…

boingboing.net

I am very confident I will know the answer to that question by 7:30pm on the evening of this October 31st.

If I'm getting a bunch of blue aliens at my doorstep saying "Trick-or-Treat!" for Halloween '23, Avatar is officially a thing.

But I've never had a single blue alien on my door at Halloween in the last 13 years, even though I lived in a very popular trick-or-treat neighborhood with armies of kids and would go through several boxes of candy by 9:00pm. But never a blue alien from Avatar at my door.

Has anyone here had a kid show up at your door on Halloween dressed as an Avatar character?

Wow. Two posts in a row attempting to diminish the success of a Disney property.

China boogey man? Check!

Totally made-up "Halloween litmus check"? Check!

 

[CaptainAmerica]

It's not a kiddy movie like Strange World, but it's rated PG-13. Just like the last couple Star Wars movies were; rated PG-13.

And during Halloween 2015-2019 I had a million kids (and their parents!) dressed as Star Wars characters on my doorstep every October 31st.

But never a single blue alien from Avatar.

It has realistic gun violence, heavy cursing, and child fatality. It's not a kids movie.

 

[DKampy]

It has realistic gun violence, heavy cursing, and child fatality. It's not a kids movie.

He loses any creditably when by his own admission tp2000 does not Watch any of the movies mentioned

 

[LittleBuford]

Wow. Two posts in a row attempting to diminish the success of a Disney property.

China boogey man? Check!

Totally made-up "Halloween litmus check"? Check!

Don’t forget the multiple uses of “Burbank”. All we’re missing is a reference to a hostess gift.

 

[Phroobar]

I am very confident I will know the answer to that question by 7:30pm on the evening of this October 31st.

If I'm getting a bunch of blue aliens at my doorstep saying "Trick-or-Treat!" for Halloween '23, Avatar is officially a thing.

But I've never had a single blue alien on my door at Halloween in the last 13 years, even though I lived in a very popular trick-or-treat neighborhood with armies of kids and would go through several boxes of candy by 9:00pm. But never a blue alien from Avatar at my door.

Has anyone here had a kid show up at your door on Halloween dressed as an Avatar character?

I had a kid that looked like this show up at my door. Does he count?

 

[CaptainAmerica]

On my way to second viewing. Trying non-premium non-3D this time.