Avatar: The Way of Water | 16 DEC 2022 | Don't worry guys, critics like it

[Deuce66]

Looks like Sydney AU had a premiere yesterday. Cameron is still hard at work finishing WoW, the final cut is not locked in yet. 

 

 

Tonowari and Jake Sully actors Cliff Curtis and Sam Worthington with the backdrop of the famous Bondi Beach Iceberg Pool (taken over by ATWOW) arrive in Sydney to promote the movie and attend a special 3D screening event for VIP Guests!

 

 

[IronJimbo]

Quote

He will recount, in great detail, the conversation he had with Peter Chernin, then the head of Fox, when the studio initially passed on the film (Avatar 2009). Chernin, in Cameron’s recollection, read the script and liked it. But, he asked: “ ‘Is there any way you can get the kind of tree-hugging hippie bullshit out of it?’ Quote, unquote. I said, ‘So Peter, I’m at a point now in my career and in my life where I can pretty much make any movie I want. And I chose to make this story because of the tree-hugging hippie bullshit.’ ” But Chernin, in Cameron’s telling, held firm in the end, and passed. “And I said, ‘Now you know before your taillights are out of sight, I will be on the phone with Dick Cook at Disney who wants this, and we’ll make a deal, and that’ll be that, and then whatever happens, happens. And you might look like a big dick if it makes a lot of money.’ And you can see him kind of like, recoil, because that’s the moment that all studio executives absolutely are terrified by. That you pass on something. Like Casey Silver passed on Titanic at Universal, right? He looked like a dick later. Just for that one thing. Casey’s a good guy. There was that flinch. But he said, ‘Nope, we’re passing.’ ” (Chernin—again, as sometimes happens with Cameron—recalls it slightly differently: “I don’t remember the ‘tree-hugging hippie bullshit.’ I may have said that. But that’s not it at all.” The issue, he said, was around the budget of the film. “And I’m not even sure we passed on it. We passed on the price, and then we went back and forth.”)

 

such a good one

[Eric is Anxious]

Moderation

 

@marveldcfox has been threadbanned for 4 days for antagonizing another user.

 

As an aside @IronJimbo if you see somebody being a problem and breaking a rule in the Avatar thread, please use the forum's Report functionalities. Click the three dots in the top right, click "Report", and then send it over to us. We can't be here at every single moment somebody is acting like a fool. So it's good to have somebody give a report, explain the issue, and let us know there's a problem. Even if we don't consider it a big deal and don't give out points, a report means that somebody will look at things and try and fix a problem. It's a lot better than moping and complaining about the mods not doing anything when you don't tell us about a problem.

[adaros]

49 minutes ago, IronJimbo said:

IN OTHER NEWS
https://www.gq.com/story/james-cameron-profile-men-of-the-year-2022?utm_medium=social&utm_brand=gq&utm_source=twitter&mbid=social_twitter&utm_social-type=owned

biiiiiiiiiiiiiig Jim article

 

Based and Robust

[FilmFincher]

A lot of great things in that Cameron GQ article.

 

So it looks like even him and the studio are looking at this thing to do $2B+ to be a success. 

 

I was a little bit worried that Cameron's older age and self-described 'mellowing out' would make him less of a perfectionist but I think this article puts that to rest. 

[adaros]

38 minutes ago, porginchina said:

I remember the days when Cameron's mission for the Avatar sequels was to make them cheaper and quicker than the original. Seems like that… didn't happen.

No budget too steep, no sea too deep... 

[M37]

1 hour ago, porginchina said:

The Way of Water was expensive to make—How expensive? “Very fucking,” according to Cameron, who told me he’d informed the studio that the film represented “the worst business case in movie history.” In order to be profitable, he’d said, “you have to be the third or fourth highest-grossing film in history. That’s your threshold. That’s your break even.” (from the GQ article on Cameron)

Whoo boy. I’m not going to claim Avatwo is going to “flop”/be in the red, as it’s gonna make billions worldwide, but … 

 

Setting the expectations bar that high, with the first in a planned set of sequels, where the usual pattern is diminishing returns as the series progresses, does make me wonder about budget concerns down the road 

[IronJimbo]

Quote

 In order to be profitable, he’d said, “you have to be the third or fourth highest-grossing film in history. That’s your threshold. That’s your break even.” (from the GQ article on Cameron)

 

It is interesting to see that Jim & Fox greenlit the film under the expectation it could become a 2b dollar grosser to break even, you have to conclude they expect it to make more than that. But by how much more? My expecations seem might seem high but honestly I'm kinda just matching Jims.

[hw64]

10 minutes ago, M37 said:

Whoo boy. I’m not going to claim Avatwo is going to “flop”/be in the red, as it’s gonna make billions worldwide, but … 

 

Setting the expectations bar that high, with the first in a planned set of sequels, where the usual pattern is diminishing returns as the series progresses, does make me wonder about budget concerns down the road 

 

The budget costs are frontloaded. The vast majority of the R&D for the sequels have been done already; everything's mapped out in terms of story, the technology is there, etc. etc. And I think when Cameron is referring to a $2b break-even point, he's including the full cost of both Avatar 2 and 3 in that assessment.

 

The latter sequels should be far less expensive on an individual level than Avatar 2, and certainly far less expensive than the combined cost of Avatars 2 and 3, so regardless of whether there are going to be diminishing returns (debatable), I don't think there's any reason at all to be concerned about budget issues.

[JustLurking]

There's a ton of patents for Avatar 2 because of how much technology that didn't exist was created for this film. The next films aren't going to be this expensive because (atleast the vast majority of it since you never know if Cameron will want new shit lol) the technology has already been laid out.

 

I still think the 2 billion mark will be cleared, however, so it'd be fine either way imo. But yeah, the costs for A2 are going to be the biggest ones by far, the next films will break even much more easily.

[M37]

5 minutes ago, hw64 said:

 

The budget costs are frontloaded. The vast majority of the R&D for the sequels have been done already; everything's mapped out in terms of story, the technology is there, etc. etc. And I think when Cameron is referring to a $2b break-even point, he's including the full cost of both Avatar 2 and 3 in that assessment.

 

The latter sequels should be far less expensive on an individual level than Avatar 2, and certainly far less expensive than the combined cost of Avatars 2 and 3, so regardless of whether there are going to be diminishing returns (debatable), I don't think there's any reason at all to be concerned about budget issues.

 

Fair, if there's a fixed cost baked in that will carry over to the others, then it's less of an issue.  But my reaction was more to the tone of quote; he absolutely has the track record to warrant a pretty long leash, but at some point you just fly too close to the sun

[CaptNathanBrittles]

It depends when he told them that. Did he tell them in 2010 when initial talks were had? You'd have to gross $1.1b to be top three or four. Was in in 2013 when started work on it? $1.4b. 2017 when shooting began? $1.7b.

 

I doubt he just told them this year when they finished it.

 

Edited November 21, 2022 by CaptNathanBrittles

[Reddroast]

6 hours ago, Elessar said:

Word is Cameron was responsible for Chapek's ousting.

Im going to need a source on that

[adaros]

8 minutes ago, CaptNathanBrittles said:

I doubt he just told them this year when they finished it.

 

Cameron is known for telling in late production to studio & execs that he need way more $

[ThomasNicole]

Unless this don't release in China, 2B is probably the floor so he's fine

[Ozymandias]

wheres the trailer

[Potiki]

Just now, Ozymandias said:

wheres the trailer

Not for many hours yet, MNF which is during the evening in the US. 

[Eric is Anxious]

2 minutes ago, Ozymandias said:

wheres the trailer

 

[SchumacherFTW]

6am opening day at the BFI IMAX booked 😅

[IronJimbo]

3 minutes ago, SchumacherFTW said:

6am opening day at the BFI IMAX booked 😅

no thursday night previews in uk?? 🙃