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Avatar sinks Titanic...

There are constant comments about how ticket inflation and 3D pricing somehow negate Avatar's achievement. It's a strange argument, since the very fact that people are willing to shell out the extra dollars to give a movie repeat business *despite* the premium put on a 3D movie is testament to the extraordinary popularity of the film.
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Yeah I know. Me and two friends happily paid £8.20 for the 3D showing here, which is $13.31-ish. And the cinema was full, with an employee having to come in to tell everyone to shift over so that the late ones could fit in. And this was a few days ago, not right at the start of Avatar's run! I've never had that!

It just added to the amazing experience of watching the film really.

All that aside though, I just find it intersting to compare events like this to different times, such as Gone With The Wind or Star Wars. The culture was different in all these periods, and the way we digest media is also completely new, but it's still interesting.
 
I went to see it yet again last week, a month after release, and again there was applause at the end of the film. I've seen it three times, applause every time. I've never seen that. Unreal.

It shows me that, despite some sci-fi fanboy nit picking, people by and large really love it.

That is until the backlash in a year, like Titanic, where everyone you talk to has always hated it. Despite $2 billion, everyone always hated it. :lol:
 
I never liked Titanic, but that was because my friend was always watching it on video all the time, and had a mad crush on Leo DiCaprio. I think we were 12, 13 :lol:

But I understand where you're coming from. People who like the film have been beaten into submission by the nosier negative people, like me. It happens with everything - it will happen to Avatar. It happened to nuBSG, which I loved, but recently it seems like eveyone on the BBS hates it.
 
Dennis said:
"Adjusted for inflation" is a mug's game, sorry - any significance to it depends on the assumption of all other things being equal, and they never are.
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Yes because Gone with the Wind is still the biggest movie ever even with twice as many people on the planet.
 
Revolutionizing 3D and Imax3D had a lot to do with it. The majority of the word of mouth I hear about this movie is about how amazing the movie is to see in 3D and IMAX-3D. First movie in which the 3D isn't a gimmick. It's an event that people are feeling left out of if they don't see it. I mean, it's a good movie, but if it just came out in normal theaters, it doesn't get the word of mouth. It's not really a knock on the film, any more than saying a film with good dialogue wouldn't be a success if it didn't have good dialogue - it's part of what makes the film *the* film.
 
I don't think Titanic is the best film ever blah, but I did like it, certainly more than Avatar too.
The plot in Avatar was very weak, I mean the visuals were stunning... but seriously, why is the movie so successful? :wtf:
 
everyone wants to see it because it looks amazing visually, but whats making it really successful is all the over the top tv (and non-tv) promotional coverage before release. that was mainly because it was written by James Cameron, so big things were also expected with its storyline. This is the same guy that wrote (or co-wrote) movies such as Aliens, The Terminator, and Rambo.

Ive not seen Avatar yet, so I wont judge it until then! ;)
 
Ensign_Redshirt said:
James Cameron is so badass that the only guy who can beat him is James Cameron.
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I smell a "Facts About James Cameron" thread starting...

bigdaddy said:
Yes because Gone with the Wind is still the biggest movie ever even with twice as many people on the planet.
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There's another side to this coin. Back when Gone with the Wind was out, there was no home viewing of any kind. If anyone wanted to see a movie, they had to go to the theatres. Granted, it still did impressive numbers given a ticket price was something like 20 cents. But if other options for seeing the movie were available, it may not have done as well.

stillarium said:
I don't think Titanic is the best film ever blah, but I did like it, certainly more than Avatar too.
The plot in Avatar was very weak, I mean the visuals were stunning... but seriously, why is the movie so successful? :wtf:
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Good question. For the most part, I found Avatar to be dull, predictable and cliche. Seriously, this storyline has been done so many times, does having it in 3-D and fancy CG make it suddenly cool?
 
Looking ahead, Avatar has no significant competition until early May, so there's no reason it can't gross trillions upon trillions of dollars by then.
 
OdoWanKenobi said:
The average ticket price in the US is still 7-8 dollars. 3D adds 2-3 dollars on average.
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Huh? I haven't paid under $9 to see a movie in about a decade; from what I've seen the going rate for such movies in San Francisco and Chicago (the two places I've lived most recently) is around $11 now. I suspect the same is true for most people seeing first-run movies who live in urban areas.

Avatar making more than Titanic is a big surprise to me, even considering the additional costs for a 3D viewing. I guess both movies got enough repeat viewers to boost their numbers.
 
All this tells me is that it took Cameron to beat Cameron at the box-office. Just like how, before Cameron's two monster successes, it took Lucas to beat Spielberg (Star Wars over Jaws), Spielberg to beat Lucas (E.T. over Star Wars) and then back again (Star Wars - Special Edition over E.T.).
 
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