For the moment, Avatar is a footnote in cinematic history. I've seen the film once in IMAX 3D, once on 2D blu-ray, and I caught the third act on an airplane last year, and I can speak with some authority that the film still holds up. A great blockbuster movie can just be a great blockbuster movie without capturing the lunchbox market. And considering how often James Cameron actually lives up to his own hype, I am incredibly excited to see what he has in store for our next trip s to Pandora.
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Only the combined might of the MCU in 's Avengers: Endgame was able to topple James Cameron's blue blockbusters, and even then Avatar was at a disadvantage due to inflation. Avatar 's lucrative haul was certainly boosted by the higher ticket prices theaters set for 3D and IMAX viewers. James Cameron designed Pandora to be viewed through a ridiculous pair of novelty glasses on the biggest screen feasible, and this meant viewers were paying a premium for a single ticket, but even taking this factor into consideration, Avatar was a phenomenal smash hit.
It's far from a coincidence that the final film Avatar passed on its long climb to the top of the all-time box office ranking was James Cameron 's own Titanic. The icy waters of the Atlantic may be worlds away from the alien jungles of Pandora, but both films marry together unrivaled spectacle with universal themes, ensuring the widest possible appeal, even by Hollywood blockbuster standards.
Avatar and Titanic both dabble in the same emotions and follow a similar underdog storyline where man's hubris towards nature becomes its undoing. Having found a winning formula with Titanic , Cameron conjured up another forbidden romance story, sprinkled in some sci-fi and watched the cash roll in once again.
Financial success is one thing, but often overlooked is how strong Avatar 's critical and fan reaction was upon release in Almost every major outlet gave Avatar glowing 4 or 5 star reviews, and big name fellow filmmakers queued up to express their amazement at this landmark release.
Fan consensus was also overwhelmingly positive, with sci-fi aficionados and casual movie fans alike rushing to heap praise upon James Cameron's latest offering. There was certainly a smattering a criticism among early reactions to Avatar , but nothing that could come close to being labelled divisive. And yet in , Avatar is almost considered a guilty pleasure, with some reluctant to even admit in public that they still get a kick out of visiting Pandora. Part of this drastic fall from grace comes from Avatar 's runaway success.
Whether it be film, literature, music or video games, popularity breeds contempt, and Avatar was about as popular as they come - it was only natural that the tide would eventually turn. But Avatar 's slowly souring reception isn't simply down to social habits; Cameron's most successful film has not aged particularly well since , and this can be partly attributed to the theatrical release's heavy focus on 3D technology.
Gabe, as a casual Avatar viewer, are you? I understand that as one of the highest-grossing movies in the world, you have to make a sequel or two. As a series, it feels like Avatar is a completely transparent look inside the modern-day Hollywood franchising machine. With that being said, though, I am fascinated by how this next movie could potentially be received. So there is a spot that Avatar could potentially fit into, but it seems like such a tricky task to pull off.
Can this be the mega-blockbuster money machine that fills the void while Disney figures out its strategy, having dropped its final for now Star Wars and Avengers event movies? Tom: In conclusion, Pandora is a land of contrasts. But none of that is what truly set Avatar apart, according to Cameron. A yearning to be there experiencing that thing. And whether that was flying—that sense of freedom, that sense of exhilaration, accomplishment—whether it was being in the forest where you could practically smell the Earth, it was a sensory thing that communicated on such a deep level.
Which, to me, was the true spirituality of the film. Cameron and his team then made sure everything they were doing for the sequels had that quality too.
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