But did those stories happen just after the movie came out or now, years later? It was incredibly popular at the time, but it isn't constantly referenced the same way things like Star Trek, Star Wars, or Harry Potter are. Pretty much anytime something space related comes up, there's a pretty good chance you'll get a reference to one of the ST or SW, and if contemporary fantasy comes up you'll get a Harry Potter reference. I don't really remember ever seeing those kinds of references to Avatar in the last few years.
Nonsense. It dominated movie box office far longer than most films today and people were talking about it again when it came out on bluray. I don't think there's any movie more anticipated than the next Avatar sequel.
Really? There is no way the anticipation for it is at the same level as it was for Star Wars last year, or Batman v Superman or Captain America: Civil War this year. I've seen some stories about it on the entertainment news sites, but there doesn't seem to be anywhere near the level of excitement I've seen for other movies. Hell, I think there is probably more excitement for the Independence Day sequel than there is for the Avatar sequel. That might change some one we get solid news, but right now I doubt it's even on most people's radar.
Your original point was a comparison of merchadise produced:
The link does not offer any details about that, so I would say it is not at all rational to conclude a property heavily merchandised for 50 years is somehow behind a property that is not as long lived or prolific in the ancillary market.
I do see one curious similarity in numbers: the Potter link claims a theme park attraction earned $364 million.
The TIME ST piece says the cable network TNN (now Spike) paid exactly $364 million to rerun various ST episodes in 2001.
As mentioned earlier, with 14 additional years of earnings and innumerable items produced since that 2002 article, who can honestly doubt ST's merchandise profile is not paralleled or surpassed by many properties.
Next, you still have not proven that Potter is so ingrained in the popular culture in the way ST is. You posted box office earnings. That alone does not demonstrate cultural impact, otherwise, characters and dialogue from Avatar would be on the lips and minds of the average person. It is not.
To this day, i've not seen random people or the media use any character references or catchphrases from Potter on a common basis, but ST is everywhere. In more recent history, the term "redshirts" (a direct reference to you know who) has taken a reverential life in media culture, standing alongside the rest of the ST terms, catchphrases or dialogue so inseparable from the world. Where is the potter parallel?
What? The novel was a runaway bestseller (and inspired the aforementioned outrage from certain parts of society)--the very reason Paramount moved to adapt it not long after its publication. The novel was praised when first published and is considered one of the great works of fiction of the 20th century. What Potter book is considered one of the great works of a century?
Sure the Godfather book might have been popular, but there is no way it was at the same level as Harry Potter. It was the movie that brought it up to where it is now. When people talk about The Godfather they talk about the movie, they reference the diner scene from the movie, the horse head scene from the movie, and when people mention specific names they are Francis Ford Coppola or Marlon Brando, not Mario Puzo. Hell, I didn't even know it was a book first until fairly recently.
On the other hand with Harry Potter, there's almost an equally good chance that they are talking about the books as there is they are talking about the movies. People talk about the big character death in the sixth book, just as much as they do that scene in the movie, if not more. JK Rowling is probably even more closely related to the franchise than David Yates or Daniel Radcliffe.
People went to bookstores are midnight and lined up around the block outside of them for the new Harry Potter books, and I doubt that happened when The Godfather came out. Harry Potter started a lot of kids reading, and even a lot of adults who never read read the HP books. I doubt very much that the Godfather book had that kind of impact, if it did I probably would have known it existed before just a few years ago.
Love it or hate it, The Matrix is probably the most influential film (stylistically) of the last 30 years.
