A Pragmatic Observation
I always find it amazing that someone (actors) can verbally hope in an interview to be in a movie, and it makes news. And I want to work LucasFilm and win the lottery! We all have hopes, but anyone whose an actor can have some serious fun with their own hopes and watch it catch on as it weaves throughout the internet!
In April 2010, James Cameron said they’re looking to take the Avatar sequels to the ocean, and then September of 2010, I chronicled how Mr. Cameron started filming for Avatar 2 by taking his own little foray in a rented deep diving rig and heading to the Mariana Trench with his 3D film gear.
So when Michelle Rodriguez pipes up that even though it looked like her character died in the first movie, she’d be interested in returning to the Avatar franchise, I’m not surprised people are running with it. For her to be creating news (OK, re-news) that the sequel is headed to the ocean is just reiterating what was said nearly a year ago, but everyone is just reminding us about it.
End Pragmatic Observation
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When you think most profitable movies ever, I bet the first few films that come to mind might be James Cameron‘s works of Avatar and Titanic. But there are movies that spent a lot less to film and still cranked in the bucks. If you dwell on it, Cameron dropped big bucks to make his movies.
- The Lord of the Rings: The Return of the King: 1008% return.
- The Hangover (2009) Return on investment: 1297%
- Jaws (1975) Return on investment: 1308%
- Star Wars (1977) Return on investment: 1938%
- Slumdog Millionaire (2008) Return on investment: 2520%
- E.T. the Extra-Terrestrial (1982) Return on investment: 3172%
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In case you haven’t noticed, James Cameron’s secondary mega-hit, 1997′s Titanic, starring Leonardo Dicaprio & Kate Winslet has not been released on Blu-ray yet.
In an article about his other super mega-hit, Avatar, it was said they’re waiting for a larger, installed footprint of the Blu-ray disc players in consumer homes before distributing.
Makes sense from their point of view, to wait and make the biggest bang for the buck in the initial offering, but how long are they going to wait? Will the movie lose it’s appeal by that magic time, or are they just waiting until after the new re-release in 201? Then the interest may again be piqued.
Wha? A re-release of Titanic? In case you had not heard, they’re looking at a post-processed 3D version of Titanic to be released in theaters sometime in 2012.
[THR]
James Cameron’s Titanic
The NY Times article that inspired this Cinema Static commentary starts out, “If you can’t make it good, make it 3-D.” I think that pretty much says it all for the slew of 3D movies that have come out and the 60 odd movies that are planned for 3D distribution over the next few years. I am sure there are some flicks that are OK with the 3D, but all I see are movies that jam scenes directly at the viewer, one of the cheesiest 3D stunts in the book.
I didn’t see the Johnny Depp starrer, “Alice in Wonderland,” but the previews for that movie had blatant jump “in your face” scenes. For the upcoming “Resident Evil” movie that won’t have the cheap 3D post-processing applied, but will be filmed properly in 3D using James Cameron‘s tech, it too has almost all sad and gimmicky scenes with things and people coming at the viewer. That’s a shame. I’ve enjoyed the “Resident Evil” franchise to date.
Do I even want to go down the inflated box-office butt stomping that “Avatar” brought to the coffers of Cameron due to the over-priced 3D screenings? Nah, it’s obvious, but suffice it to say that the extra cost for 3D adds approximately 20% to the coffers.
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Yes, you did read right, Titanic II or TITANIC 2. It comes from the brain trust called The Asylum Home Entertainment. That’s the production company that puts together those incredibly awesome (cough!) movies for the Syfy Channel and straight to VHS and DVD movies.
They’ve “produced” such “mega” hits as
- Paranormal Entity
- Mega Piranha
- MegaFault
- Mega Shark vs Giant Octopus
- Max Knight: Ultra Spy
- The Day the Earth Stopped
- 2012 Doomsday
- 2012: Supernova
- AVH: Alien vs. Hunter
- 30,000 Leagues Under the Sea
- Universal Soldiers
- Transmorphers
- Transmorphers: Fall of Man
- Meteor Apocalypse
etc, etc. They have over 200 film titles to their illustrious credits, believe it or not!
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Last year we started hearing about more and more 3D movies coming to the screen. I swear, it seemed like once everyone got a hold of the idea that James Cameron was doing 3D, the entire industry started wagging their tongues and running after the gravy train that passed them by. The problem with the chase of the 3D gravy train is that everyone was making their projects 3D, after the fact. James Cameron shot Avatar in 3D. Shooting in 3D versus post-processing for 3D is MASSIVE difference in the end result and all anyone is going to do to the market with their post-processed crap is hurt the potential for the 3D market.
And because of that difference, I wish studios would quit giving us 3D that’s applied after the fact. Joss Whedon’s project, The Cabin in the Woods, was put off a year so they can apply 3D after the fact. W* T* F*!? (And as we see, that decision has doomed the movie’s release, so far)
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Yep, you read right. AVATAR is kicking but at the box office right now, slowly creeping up on overtaking Titanic for the No. 1 spot in Box Office numbers.
AVATAR:
Total US Gross: $551,741,499
International Gross: $1,288,000,000
Worldwide Gross: $1,839,741,499
TITANIC:
Total US Gross $600,788,188
International Gross $1,242,091,767
Worldwide Gross $1,842,879,955
It also has a few weeks to go to threaten the record of Number of Weeks at No. 1. (ET holds that, with 16 weeks.)
Being No. 1 financially, in this era, is awesome, but it doesn’t belie the fact that ticket prices are very different today than they were when Titanic came out.
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Even though it’s obvious, Avatar is still cranking out box office numbers. That’s if you can consider $1.35 BILLION worldwide! It’s still sitting behind the movie Titanic, but probably not for long. It’s still not apples to apples though with the higher price tag via inflation and much higher price tag on 3D screenings, but still, it is cranking it out.
A friend of mine went last Saturday to watch the movie and had to buy tickets for the following weekend!
So beware – and be ready to still need to be buying your tickets way ahead of time!
(In the above image, they’re trying to clear a path through the movie lines for you!)
Cinema Static’s Theory Extrapolation with James Cameron:
Here’s one that goes right up there with James Earl Jones doing Darth Vader for chump change: James Cameron said that if he could Tweet one message to the past to himself, he would say “Don’t Sell!”
You’re probably asking me, don’t sell what?
It seems that for his chance to direct the first 1984 Terminator with Arnold Schwarzenegger, he sold the rights to the franchise for $1. Nope, not a typo… that was a dollar symbol and a one. $1.
That reminds me of the Stargate episode where SG-1, 10 or 15 years down the road had to get a message back through time to keep the team from going to a certain planet and meeting insidious aliens that was thinning out the human species!
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