this thing has dropped like 15% the last 2 weekends, which is incredible. if it keeps this rate of decline up and makes about 35% of the weekend total during the weekdays (which it did last week), then it will reach $700M in just over 4 weekends, and will hit $800M 12 weekends from now. of course, who knows if it will still be kept in so many theaters by then or if the rate of decline may get bigger or somehow get even smaller the farther we get from opening weekend. with 20% declines, it gets to $700M in 5 weekends and tops out at ~$770M. with 10% declines, it hits $800M in 8 weekends and tops out in the mid-900's. this brings up the point, did james cameron acquire some kind of mind control device to get people to see his movies starting in 1997? i mean Titanic and Avatar are good, but neither deserves to be the top grossing movie of all time (hell, they're not even his best movies), much less the absolute runaway title holders, no matter how impressive Avatar is technically. if Titanic seemed insurpassable, we might not even be showing movies in theaters any more by the time something is popular enough to beat Avatar.
http://oscars.movies.yahoo.com/blog/38-surprising-snubs-from-the-oscar-nominations Glad I'm not the only one who thinks this...Zoe Saldana's performance was incredible.
Don''t know why I keep getting her mix up with Thandie Newton. Lets hope Avatar win the crappy Oscars just to piss off more people.
The movie was amazing to see in 3-D IMAX. The visuals were absolutely amazing. I would watch again, happily because it is such a spectacle. However, it isn't a "Best Picture". So much of the crap is recycled from other Cameron movies. Sigourney Weaver isn't the only thing. Michelle Rodriquez' character is almost the exact same as Vasquez from Aliens. The story is recycled from half a dozen other movies. It kind of attempted to act like it was tackling a serious subject, but so little attention was paid to that aspect of it and so much to the visuals that it didn't do any message that it hoped to get across justice. It was a great flick to see for the visuals. It isn't one of the 10 best pictures of the year.
I was thinking about this as well. What make's a movie "Best Picture" anyway? I would say that Avatar was the best and most enjoyable movie experience that I had this year. I don't think it should win a award for best writing/screenplay, but they have a different award for that category.
They were talking about it on Larry King with James Cameron with how the movie was done. Pretty crazy stuff.
One good thing about the Best Picture Category expanding to 10 films is that movies normally excluded are now part of the conversation. District 9 and Avatar may not win, but it's nice to see those type of films recognized. I would argue that if those films are nominated, then why not Star Trek too.
Well, looks like Avatar finall lost a weekend after pulling in an estimated $23 mil, compared to "Dear John's" $32 mil. It was a nice run, and I guess "Dear John" now joins the giant beating ranks of the otherwise forgettable "Lost in Space," which was the first movie to beat "Titanic," if memory serves correct. "Avatar" now sits at $2.2 billion worldwide and $630 mil domestic. Judging by the films coming out next wekk, I don't think it'll be returning to the top spot, but man, what a run at the top. And now, does James Cameron have the studio green light or what? "Battle Angel" is probably gonna have a $400 million budget.
Battle Angel is exactly the kind of story where I could see Cameron topping Avatar's wow factor. But it's probably going to be pushed back a few years behind Avatar 2 (and maybe Avatar 3). That's too bad.
Thanks for the depressing update -- I wanted Avatar to be number one forever. It will only be number one in my heart I guess. [sad face]
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I can't imagine seeing this movie other than IMAX 3-D... If you watch it in any other formats it wouldn't have the same movie going experience... That is why T2 will always be James Cameron Masterpiece...
Disagree, I saw it in both IMAX 3D and Real 3D...I didn't notice the 3D as near as much as on IMAX but I enjoyed the movie all the same. It stands on it's own... let's not forget the incredibly detailed alien environments and the mo-cap effects that are the most realistic I've ever seen put to film (or games). Anybody who thinks they've seen effects as good as this needs to get their eyes checked. In any case....Avatar probably won't hit number 1 again, but it doesn't need to. While it declined a measly 4% over the weekend, last week's big winner, Dear John, dropped 50 and fell behind Avatar. Wouldn't be surprised to see this weekend's big three winners do the same...since all of them received mediocre reviews.
Agree on all counts. If you get the right seat, real 3-D is almost just as good as IMAX. It's a little more crisp, as well. Also, after making an estimated $30 mil, in it's ninth (ninth!) weekend (4-day), I think next week Avatar has a decent chance of returning to #1 or being second to Shutter Island.
there is no possible way avatar beats shutter island. its getting good reviews and has the star on the screen and in the chair.
But, it's rated R. For comparison, the Departed took in 23 million on opening weekend, which is where Avatar is right now. And The Departed had a bigger cast. I think it's possible, but probably unlikely.
Cameron Plans "Avatar" Prequel Novel By Garth Franklin Wednesday February 17th 2010 12:18PM "Avatar" producer Jon Landau tells MTV News that director James Cameron has begun writing a prequel novel to the sci-fi epic which could be released as early as the end of this year. Landau says very specifically that this isn't a novelisation, and that "Jim wants to write a novel that is a big, epic story that fills in a lot of things." So what can we expect? "It would be something that would lead up to telling the story of the movie, but it would go into much more depth about all the stories that we didn't have time to deal with - like the schoolhouse and Sigourney [Weaver's character] teaching at the schoolhouse; Jake on Earth and his backstory and how he came here; [the death of] Tommy, Jake's brother; and Colonel Quaritch, how he ended up there and all that" says Landau. He adds that some of the scenes from "Avatar" that ended up on the cutting room floor might be resurrected for either the book or other forms of publishing media (e.g. comics) - "There might be opportunities in publishing to tell some of the backstory, tell some of the Earth war stories, what went on in Jake's life before the movie. We'd have that lead up to the sequel that might take place on Pandora several years after our movie closed." Landau also tells the site that Cameron has met with Marc Webb, the director of the upcoming "Spider-Man" reboot for Sony Pictures, to discuss the challenge of filming in 3D. Landau says "we want to try to support that as much as possible." http://www.darkhorizons.com/news/16383/cameron-plans-avatar-prequel-novel
