Avatar -- December 18, 2022

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Avatar

Updates

December 19, 2022: at the end of the day (the weekend in this case), Avatar actually did quite well. Link here.

December 18, 2022: fails. 

Box Office Pro analyst Shawn Robbins had predicted earlier this month the movie would bring in somewhere between $167 million and $192 million after positive hype.

It still makes 'Avatar' sequel the seventh-highest-grossing December opening weekend in history, but marks a lower take than "Black Panther: Wakanda Forever," which took in $181 million earlier this year. 

The film reportedly cost $350 million to make. Director James Cameron has declined to state a number publicly but reportedly suggested it would need to take in more than $2 billion to break even, according to Variety. 

Disney took control of the rights to "Avatar" with its $71 billion acquisition of Fox in 2019.

December 18, 2022: Disney cuts Avatar 2 forecast. 

 Original Post

Saw opening night Avatar with Sophia tonight.

We both agreed that it is not suitable for third graders; too much violence. No PDA (personal displays of affection); not one bit of bad language -- Sophia said there was a little -- okay, four words, the worst being "damn," used once.

More on this movie later. 

After reading Quentin Tarantino's book (2022); watching a lot of TCM; reading voraciously -- I've become a very hard critic of movies. I will watch to see others review this movie before I add anything else, but it's going to break all attendance records and revenue records for first weekend.

It can only be enjoyed on the big screen; watch it on the biggest screen you can find.

Cast: Sigourney Weaver -- a cameo appearance;

From Rotten Tomatoes:

• Rating: PG-13
• Partial Nudity: disagree; I see more at our apartment complex swimming pool than I saw in this movie; and, I saw more at Ringling Bros circus in Williston when I was eight years old (back in the late 1950s);
  
• Intense Action: agree completely; ninety minutes or more of nothing but violence (and none of it suspenseful)
• Sequences of Strong Violence: agree completely; see above;
• Some Strong Language: disagree completely; four separate words, each used worse, the worse was "damn"; 

Forbes review: link here. The review hit the bull's eye.

The New Yorker: another great review. Pans the movie.

The Washington Post: pans the movie.

Deadline: $130 - $150 million opening -- much less than expected.

Lego - Avatar: brilliant.