Avatar 2 is one of the rare movie I heard people mentioning it at the workplace, along with top gun 2. Not even meme phenomenon like Barbie generate that kind of buzz at the workplace.
It may be just 75% fresh but the average rating is freaking at 8.8/10 and 9/10 for top critics. So clearly it is gonna be divisive movie, when it worked for someone, it really works like a masterpiece. The SXSW reactions make sense.
Unfortunately it is uncommon to see Best Animated Feature expanded after their Oscar win so the data for reference is limited. The last time winner in this category got an expansion was the first Spideverse and it added 5m after that. So I won't expect Heron to pass 50m.
If it followed batman from here, it's gonna finish 248m. That is why I said "Break the trend", like how Dune 2 start leaving Logan's run well behind since last mid-week.
It is so awful Toho got virtually zero plan to release the movie in other country in Asia. Fearing being blame for not releasing the the movie, local cinema chain can only blame "Toho" for their irresponsive. That sentiment just got worse in Asia after Oscar win, and start accusing Toho or Japan as a whole, committing "Datsu-A Ron".
Dune 2 still pretty much holding up like Batman 2022, not much better to break a trend. The movie needs a better hold to make 250m domestic or 700m worldwide an easy pass.
If they are tired of Marty, they would just ignore his work like silence or the colour of money. But they continue to recognise his work through nomination, which many tends to forget just how freaking hard to get a directing and picture nomination. Many renowned director like Nolan, fincher , PTA, Wes Anderson , ang Lee, have failed to even get to five, let alone 10 like Marty.
It was mentioned GKIDS will re-release the movie (technically it is still in theater) later this month. I was hoping they can quickly reexpand this coming weekend to capitalize on Spring break and immediate Oscar buzz but looked like they are busying doing Evangelion release this weekend.
Also, Nicole Kidman and Anthony Hopkins was in the movie that under 2 hours but Lily was in a 3 hours half hour long movie, which naturally give her "more" screentime absolute term. So Lily "absence" was more felt in KOTFM.