It showed up out of nowhere, made the most bank in history (for a movie), refused to explain and disappeared for like 15 years, then came back out of nowhere with a sequel movie, a AAA game, and like 3 more movies in the works.
Edit: I think it now has like a Lego line too?
It’s all a lot less fantastical when you compare it to Pocahontas:
Or Fern Gully, or Dances With Wolves… it’s not exactly an uncommon story.
Ah, but before Avatar came along it was never quite so poorly written!
Yeah, that’s kind of the point? Was the comparison between the Na’Vi and native Americans too subtle for you to notice before you saw this meme?
Dances with Smurfs
Yes but Disney’s Pocahontas was boring to tears while Avatar has cool hair-sex and explosions
And it is otherwise entirely dull and forgettable. Despite making so much money, it barely made any cultural impact. Nobody quotes Avatar like ever.
The reason it was such a hit at the time was mainly its visuals, IMO. Story might be predictable and shallow, but you can’t deny it looks beautiful. All the colorful jungle, alien species, green mountain peaks and needle rocks, it’s all just very pleasant to look at. What also helped it being directed by big Hollywood name.
PS: unrelated, but it has amazing OST.
Also it came out right at the time when 3D movies were at their (very short lived) peak.
And it did a GREAT job using that tech. I’ve never seen better.
The movie is a visual masterpiece and a king of theater-watching cinema.
Sure the story is bland but ain’t nobody watching that movie for the story.
Pretty sure it now has a theme park or something, doesn’t it?
It’s bizarre how much “stuff” there is for the blue people Avatar franchise, considering what a tiny lasting cultural impact the original movie had.
The original movie was an incredible tech demo. It was an utterly forgettable movie. I had no desire to bother watching the sequel.
Yah I saw the original in 3D and on acid, and it was incredible.
I also will probably never see the sequels.
It’s bizarre how much “stuff” there is
It’s not…
James Cameron spent a lot of money to make the first one, and wants to keep making them.
So the studio decided to just pretend that everyone wants more, and the entertainment media repeats it so the studio stays happy and tells them things.
The people don’t want, but that doesn’t really matter anymore. Enough will go see anything the media says is good, and just believe it’s good.
Lots of people are idiots, which explains a lot about capitalism
I don’t understand the appeal of Avatar. I really don’t. The writing is beyond lazy, and while the visuals may be impressive or whatever, the things they’re depicting just look weird and unappealing to me.
But even I can’t pretend that its success is only due to hype. There are plenty of successful movies that don’t deserve their success, but you don’t get as successful as Avatar without giving the audience something. People aren’t that dumb.
I didn’t say no one liked the first one.
They loved it, everything about it except the story. It was groundbreaking CGI and visually stunning.
No one wanted it a franchise except James Cameron though.
And when you strip away the story from any movie and rely on flashing visuals…
Dumb is the target demographic, they didn’t care about the story anyways.
The second one is the third highest grossing movie of all time. So clearly some people wanted more.
Are we not going to talk about the fact that the logo uses something that is almost identical to the Papyrus font?
“Showed up out of nowhere”, ie. in development since the mid 90’s; “made the most bank”, ie. made the 2nd most bank; “disappeared”, ie. Cameron said that there would be 4 sequels and that they’re being worked on; “came back out of nowhere”, ie. the first sequel came out more or less when it was supposed to, and Cameron said in 2020 that filming on Avatar 3 was nearly finished.
Bet you’re a hoot at parties
Want to have a nice cry about it?
What?
What?
i feel like the feeling of them coming “out of nowhere” and “disappearing” is created by how little cultural impact those movies managed to create. like give me a single quote, anything memorable from the story itself. we all remember it is a beautiful film to watch, but the plot might as well be a theme park ride around an alien world
nobody talks about it, there is nothing to talk about
“JakeSully” - Blue catgirl Gamora
Am I the only one here that has never seen it or understands what the hype is about?
It was another white saviour movie. It was very strange and not something I ever understood
I’m not the only one that thinks this!
that
*who
Did you all watch the first one with IMAX 3D (or whatever was called back then)? I might have weird eyes cuz it felt like I’m watching some long-ass blurry cutscene.
Did you wear the glasses?
it is unapologetically in favor of preserving nature, anticapitalist, and anti military. the boys from chapo trap house like it and point out that its one of the few movies with a mainstream theatrical release in which the audience is made to cheer on the blue furry hippie throwing a bunch of US marines out of a helicopter to their death.
Anticapitalist that made over 2 Billion dollars…
It is a solid point about the irony though. It’s one of the biggest consumer capitalism things ever, even if it’s anti-capitalism they’re selling on the screen.
Why do you think the aliens are blue natives?
Because if they were white folk, the message would resonate too much with the general audience.
If you were late teens / early 20’s or older when it first came out, I don’t think it that weird.
It was bloody amazing. And then we’ve just all been waiting for it until the sequels, which are just now starting to roll in. The second one was a bit of a disappointment (bro) in my opinion, but I’m hoping the third one will be a positive surprise.
Basically I went to watch it for nostalgia, as I think a lot did.
AAA-game? Aren’t there like lots of Avatar games?
Yeah, 2009 there was one, online shut down for it in 2014.
Guess you’re talking about “the frontiers of Pandora” from 2023?
There’s also “Pandora rising” from 2020.
The sequels were always in the works. The first movie was an experience and now people are just chasing that high again.
Hell, there’s still tons of people waiting on the continuation on what happens to Jon Snow in the books after he’s stabbed. That’s still in the works with George, hopefully. Since like 2011.
i was, but i also saw disney’s pocahontas as a kid. so uh… it was just that, but in 3d.
