Aggie_Journalist said:

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This is down to 78% on rotten tomatoes, but with a 93% audience score.

What does Texags think? For those of us who haven't watched it yet, how strongly would you recommend it?

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I felt the same about it as I did the first one

Aggie_Journalist said:

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This is down to 78% on rotten tomatoes, but with a 93% audience score.

What does Texags think? For those of us who haven't watched it yet, how strongly would you recommend it?

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I thought it was good. My fiancee loved it. Both of us agreed that it dragged a little in the middle third.

Better than part 1 for sure

Aggie_Journalist said:

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This is down to 78% on rotten tomatoes, but with a 93% audience score.

What does Texags think? For those of us who haven't watched it yet, how strongly would you recommend it?

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I mean I know my opinion would be dismissed as the resident fanboy, but I highly recommend it and to be watched in IMAX 3D if at all possible. If you had even a casual enjoyment of the first, I think you'll really enjoy this one.

canadiaggie said:

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Aggie_Journalist said:

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This is down to 78% on rotten tomatoes, but with a 93% audience score.

What does Texags think? For those of us who haven't watched it yet, how strongly would you recommend it?

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I thought it was good. My fiancee loved it. Both of us agreed that it dragged a little in the middle third.

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This.

I need to see it again, but we came out of it both sort of underwhelmed. Not because it's not a good movie at all, very enjoyable. Just maybe too much buildup in our minds thinking it would just blow us away and it didn't.

AggieArcher17 said:

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canadiaggie said:

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Aggie_Journalist said:

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This is down to 78% on rotten tomatoes, but with a 93% audience score.

What does Texags think? For those of us who haven't watched it yet, how strongly would you recommend it?

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I thought it was good. My fiancee loved it. Both of us agreed that it dragged a little in the middle third.

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This.

I need to see it again, but we came out of it both sort of underwhelmed. Not because it's not a good movie at all, very enjoyable. Just maybe too much buildup in our minds thinking it would just blow us away and it didn't.

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This is good for me, given that I consider the original to be a poor imitation of Dances With Wolves with awesome visuals, so there is no real buildup going on for me when I go with a group from my office to see the sequel next week. I might even come out of that theater next week having enjoyed this one more than the original.

Saw it tonight; do not drink anything before or during.

Story was typical Blockbuster storyline; visuals were outstanding. The whale things are amazing; could just watch those.

Fun movie all around.

End took too long.

Swim down to escape burning water.
Choking someone underwater when they are already holding their breath seemed odd.
When in the battle; why did all the participants just stop and go away?
Na'vi died; why just a funeral for one? Seemed simplistic

Quote:

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When in the battle; why did all the participants just stop and go away?

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Watched the movie thrice now and this is really the only thing that still bugs me. I think there was probably a poor editing choice made and an important scene got cut. Hopefully the deleted scenes get released on the 4k or on Disney+.

Speaking of which, I recently watched all the deleted scenes from the original Avatar (with various degrees of finished effects), and man, it's almost a whole other movie. There was an entire romantic subplot between Norm and Trudy that got cut, as well as most of Norm's character arc. (He was initially incredibly jealous and unhappy with Jake getting to do basically everything he trained for.) And more backstory on Grace's school and why it was closed.

If you have an hour or so and are curious, I suggest checking them out. They're all posted on this YouTube playlist, already in order. (My personal favorite is scene 15, the dance festival. They really should've left this one in since you rarely see all the Na'vi when they're partying and living their regular lives.)

https://youtube.com/playlist?list=PLuszGLkzYlKm2zg8jUZB06D_EKQrAXg9E

Was it ever answered why the Tree Navis anti human defense systems didn't ever go off when Spider was around?

I mean he practically lived with the Sully's, and was well known by the Omatikaya since he was a baby, so I figure he's not seen as a threat.

Brian Earl Spilner said:

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I mean he practically lived with the Sully's, and was well known by the Omatikaya since he was a baby, so I figure he's not seen as a threat.

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But it triggers based on the detection of human DNA. They didn't rewrite the kids genetic code

I think you're taking one line of dialogue too literally. I don't think there was an "automatic" detection system in Eywa for all human DNA, but more so when humans were noticed by the animals and Na'vi of the forest. And all those animals would recognize Spider.

Exactly. They even underline this when the animals spot/approach Quaritch & co's Avatars, but then don't attack them when they see that they're Na'vi. The female Avatar says something to the effect of, "Would you look at that," indicating she's amazed they don't attack.

In other words, the "defense system" is based at least partly on who the animals do/don't recognize.

Btw, I just realized this isn't the spoiler thread. We should keep these convos over there.

Black Panther: Wakanda Forever seeing Avatar: The Way of Water enter the Oscars for Best Visual effectspic.twitter.com/M9b5OW8GJ1

— BLURAYANGEL 🦇 (@blurayangel) December 30, 2022

With all those misinformed articles saying that the movie STILL hasn't hit break-even, here's at least one with a counter to that. (The movie does NOT need to hit $2B to break even. That would literally mean the movie cost $1B to make, when it was less than half of that.)

It's amazing to me so many sites are just running with that narrative without an ounce of research based on a single offhanded comment made by Cameron that made no mention of specific numbers.

https://screenrant.com/avatar-way-water-box-office-profit-sequel-status/

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According to Matthew Belloni of Puck News, Avatar: The Way of Water's continued success at the box office has guaranteed the theatrical future of the franchise. The film has reportedly surpassed the $1.4 billion box-office earnings threshold required for it to be considered successful by the Walt Disney Company.

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Avatar 4-5 are probably greenlit (or soon to be) at this point. My guess is they make those back-to-back just like they did with 2-3.

Side note: When the sequels were first written, it was actually three movies. The first script got split in half, the first of which was Way of Water. The second half will be Avatar 3. So expect that to sort of complete the story that started in Way of Water.

There's supposed to be a significant time jump in 4, so that movie will kind of be its own thing. I'm betting we may even jump to Jake's son as the new Na'vi leader / Toruk Makto.

Don't know anything about 5 but wouldn't be surprised if that has an even bigger time jump to following the Sully grandkids.

Didn't Cameron himself give some crazy revenue amount required to be profitable? Found it hard to believe then even though he said it. Movie is doing really well, but hard to imagine there won't be some BO decline with Avatar 3. Hard to fathom them needing to consistently be top 5-6 all time to make any profit.

The quote was him saying "it needs to be the second or third highest grossing movie to break even". Admittedly I can see where that would cause confusion since he didn't even specify domestic or global.

I think he was just trying to make a point that their break even is incredibly high compared to other movies.

And if he was looking just at domestic, that quote does make sense, since it would need to hit $800M+ to break even, making it one of the top 3 domestic movies ever.

It's also possible he was considering the cost of 2-3 combined, basically everything they've done up to now. All the shooting, R&D, etc. (Including part of 4, actually.)

But bottom line, all reports of the budget for Way of Water only go up to $460M. There is absolutely no chance the movie cost $1B to make.

James Cameron says ‘AVATAR: THE WAY OF WATER’ has now become profitable & the 3 sequels will be made.

“It looks like I can’t wiggle out of this, I’m gonna have to do these other sequels.”

(via: https://t.co/eYYwVBrgL2) pic.twitter.com/7zUm91zf97

— DiscussingFilm (@DiscussingFilm) January 6, 2023

The Porkchop Express said:

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Zoe Saldana at the box office (highlights)/ She's the only actor/actress to be in 3 movies that have crossed $2 billion total box office.

2003:
Pirates of the Caribbean: The Curse of the Black Pearl = $305m domestic, $654m ww

2009:
Star Trek = $257m domestic, $386m ww
Avatar = $760m domestic, $2.8bn ww

2013
Star Trek Into Darkness = $228m domestic, $467m ww

2014
Guardians of the Galaxy = $333m domestic, $770m ww

2016
Star Trek Beyond = $158m domestic, $335m ww

2017
Guardians of the Galaxy Vol 2 = $389m domestic, $869m ww

2018
Avengers: Infinity War = $678m domestic, $2.04bn ww

2019
Avengers: Endgame = $858m domestic, $2.8bn ww

2022
Avatar: The Way of Water

2023
Guardians of the Galaxy Vol. 3
Stark Trek 4

2024
Avatar 3

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That's about to become 4 possibly as soon as a week from now. An absolutely ridiculous stat that will never be surpassed. (And has every chance to become 5 in 2024.)

On a related note, Zoe Saldana is not the only actor to appear in both Avatar and Endgame. Fun fact, the kid that Scott Lang sees on the bicycle in Endgame after he emerges from the quantum realm is none other than Spider from The Way of Water.

Brian Earl Spilner said:

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The quote was him saying "it needs to be the second or third highest grossing movie to break even". Admittedly I can see where that would cause confusion since he didn't even specify domestic or global.

I think he was just trying to make a point that their break even is incredibly high compared to other movies.

And if he was looking just at domestic, that quote does make sense, since it would need to hit $800M+ to break even, making it one of the top 3 domestic movies ever.

It's also possible he was considering the cost of 2-3 combined, basically everything they've done up to now. All the shooting, R&D, etc. (Including part of 4, actually.)

But bottom line, all reports of the budget for Way of Water only go up to $460M. There is absolutely no chance the movie cost $1B to make.

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It's the amalgamation:

https://www.forbes.com/sites/siladityaray/2023/01/08/weekend-box-office-avatar-sequel-now-7th-highest-grossing-film-ever-with-17-billion-in-worldwide-earnings/?sh=fa8da968cede

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. . .
After a slower-than-expected opening last month, Avatar: The Way Of Water has managed to maintain strong momentum at the box office, with strong performances during its second, third and now fourth weeks. In an interview on Friday, Cameron said he expected the film to reach $2 billion in global box office earnings "in the next few days" and cross its "breakeven" point. The Avatar sequel is one of the most expensive films ever made, with a budget estimated at $350 million or more, and Cameron had said it would need to become one of the highest-grossing films of all time to simply break even. The Way Of Water's steep budget, however, also includes the cost of filming a third Avatar movie and developing the scripts for a fourth and fifth film which could make the latter films in the series more profitable.
. . .

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https://www.forbes.com/sites/marisadellatto/2023/01/06/avatar-sequel-will-break-2-billion-in-next-few-days-cameron-says---likely-becoming-one-of-highest-grossing-films-of-all-time/?sh=4fc17cba2539

Quote:

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Director James Cameron said Avatar: The Way Of Water will pass its break-even point, $2 billion, "in the next few days," after he said the film needed to become one of the highest-grossing ever in order for it to be profitable.
. . .
Cameron said Avatar 3 has already been "captured and photographed," Avatar 4 and 5 are both written, and "we even have some of four in the can."
. . .

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James Cameron’s “Avatar: The Way of Water” swept the 21st annual VES Awards Wednesday night in an unprecedented wave of dominance in every category, ...

More in bio.
Source:indiewire#jamescameron #vesawards #avatarthewayofwater #avatarfilm #avatar2 #visualeffects pic.twitter.com/xnlvLvAxwk

— Universal Cinema (@universalcinem3) February 16, 2023

Finally got around to seeing this tonight. Would grade it 6/10. It was visually spectacular with great creature and mech design, and I liked how they brought the villain from Avatar 1 back, but I wasn't a fan of how the story was an endless cycle of the kids getting captured and someone having to rescue themor how the movie totally forgot the sea people existed in the middle of the climactic battle. One second everyone is fighting together, and then the sea Navi are just *gone,* even as the chief's daughter was still in peril. Where did they go? Why did they leave? What the heck?

There were also a few inexplicable decisions characters made solely to move the plot forward, which is shamefully lazy writing.

But lots of stuff blew up and the action was good. So, overall, it was a fun movie

Pretty awesome Q&A done by Cameron and Landau, with fans of the movie. I like that they were specifically looking for critiques and constructive criticism to improve the next movie even more. I don't know how common this practice is in Hollywood but I imagine not very.

Also I thought that was a cool story that woman told about going to a whale watching thing after the movie and discovering everyone else was there for the same reason.

RUMOR: Remember that 9-hour cut of AVATAR 3 that I told you James Cameron was insisting on having finished VFX for? I hear it could hit Disney+ as a limited series AFTER the theatrical cut of the film... https://t.co/pJGBZ4Q0Yf

— Jeff Sneider (@TheInSneider) March 16, 2023

I don't buy that at all, as it would be insanely expensive, but if true, I'm watching every minute of that thing.

Available digitally today.



Personally I'm holding out for the physical release myself.

Brian Earl Spilner said:

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Personally I'm holding out for the physical release myself.

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