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

[Flamengo81]

4 hours ago, Nero said:

By that logic TFA wasn't an event for people in China or Asia in general. 

Or Latin America

[daftcat]

24 minutes ago, adaros said:

Aren't early reactions always super positive no matter what (I see that with any MCU movie).

Most MCU movies go on to receive good reviews though. I think this notion that social media reactions are "always positive" is overstated. Eternals was mixed. Matrix 4 was mixed. House of Gucci was mixed. Black Adam seemed pretty muted. Amsterdam was negative. Babylon has been pretty divisive. 

In some ways, it's a self-fulfilling prophecy. Studios are keen to let early social media reactions out the door if they're confident in the film, and the results are often predictably positive. Sometimes they miscalculate. Other times, they'll try to control who's seeing the movie to "tailor" the response. In general, if you're getting reactions from a range of critics and not just "fans" and "influencers", it's probably a pretty fair indication of how the film will go on to review. 

Edited December 6, 2022 by daftcat

[IronJimbo]

 

[interiorgatordecorator]

30 minutes ago, adaros said:

Aren't early reactions always super positive no matter what (I see that with any MCU movie).

 

yeah, but its easy to read between the lines to get an idea about what the real reception is like

[interiorgatordecorator]

14 minutes ago, daftcat said:

Most MCU movies go on to receive good reviews though. I think this notion that social media reactions are "always positive" is overstated. Eternals was mixed. Matrix 4 was mixed. House of Gucci was mixed. Black Adam seemed pretty muted. Amsterdam was negative. Babylon has been pretty divisive. 

In some ways, it's a self-fulfilling prophecy. Studios are keen to let early social media reactions out the door if they're confident in the film, and the results are often predictably positive. Sometimes they miscalculate. Other times, they'll try to control who's seeing the movie to "tailor" the response. In general, if you're getting reactions from a range of critics and not just "fans" and "influencers", it's probably a pretty fair indication of how the film will go on to review. 

 

reactions dont really "lie" about something being good or bad, but rather about how good something is, you had to read between the lines to be able realize that BPWF wasnt amazing

Edited December 6, 2022 by interiorgatordecorator

[daftcat]

2 minutes ago, interiorgatordecorator said:

 

reactions dont really "lie" about something being good or bad, but rather about how good something is, you had to read between the lines to be able realize that BPWF wasnt amazing

Great point. It's often a "tone" thing. Good example is Black Widow. Perfectly serviceable movie. Early reactions were technically positive but pretty muted - stuff like "cool action!". 

Contrast with the early reactions to something like Knives Out or Blade Runner 2049 - lavish, effusive, etc.

[AniNate]

The most thoughtful reactions usually come from the pro film critics involved with the trades. If it looks like it could be used as a TV ad pullquote, take it with a grain of salt

[ThomasNicole]

Avatar reactions is a whole different thing. 

 

The reactions everyone is mentioning is normally after premieres, only the ones on the premiere talk about it and they're usually easier critics and movie influencers. 

 

While obviously there will be those people on Avatar 2 reactions especially because of the London premiere, the movie is also screening all day for harder critics and members of associations, awards etc on LA and NY.

 

 

[daftcat]

Just now, ThomasNicole said:

Avatar reactions is a whole different thing. 

 

The reactions everyone is mentioning is normally after premieres, only the ones on the premiere talk about it and they're usually easier critics and movie influencers. 

 

While obviously there will be those people on Avatar 2 reactions especially because of the London premiere, the movie is also screening all day for harder critics and members of associations, awards etc on LA and NY.

 

 

Agreed. I think the reactions will be fairly representative and indicative of the ultimate reception.

The fact that Disney is rolling them out a week+ before release is a good sign. They wouldn't risk poisoning the well unnecessarily (although, like I said, sometimes studios miscalculate). 

[ImNotExcited]

The easiest tell for TWOW will be how much they focus on the visual. Cameron has been all about how character driven this movie is so if it's truly a marked improvement over the first film that should be emphasized in these reactions.

[ThomasNicole]

3 minutes ago, ImNotExcited said:

The easiest tell for TWOW will be how much they focus on the visual. Cameron has been all about how character driven this movie is so if it's truly a marked improvement over the first film that should be emphasized in these reactions.

IMO It doesn't matter how much character driven the movie is, the experience overall should be the highlight on the reactions especially since it's just brief commentaries

[Fanboy]

Yeah there are key words to look for in this one and key critics to look at. I'd be paying attention to critics mentioning the length and whether they are positive or negative about it being so long. Babylon is a good example and you can tell from reactions that reviews are going to be fairly mixed. 

Edit: If I'm not mistaken quite a few people were saying Wakanda Forever was too long too when early reactions were first lifted. 

Edited December 6, 2022 by Fanboy

[daftcat]

Another tell with social reactions specifically for sequels (based on nothing but my own half-baked impressions): if they don't outright say it tops its predecessor, then they probably didn't think it did. Though this may be more true for fan-media types that tread on eggshells to protect their relationships with the studios. 

Edited December 6, 2022 by daftcat

[hw64]

For those unaware, Jim revealed in a talk with Empire yesterday that the marketing is deliberately misleading and/or revealing very little about the plot. Something to the effect of "You shouldn't expect the movie to go the way the marketing has suggested".

Edited December 6, 2022 by hw64

[interiorgatordecorator]

1 minute ago, hw64 said:

For those unaware, Jim revealed in a talk with Empire yesterday that the marketing is deliberately misleading and/or revealing very little about the plot. Something to the effect of "Don't expect the movie to go the way the marketing suggests".

 

pretty obvious when the marketing for a 3 hour movie keeps showing content from the same scenes over and over again

[cannastop]

 

[hw64]

6 minutes ago, cannastop said:

 

 

You should add full context here:

 

 

[daftcat]

25 minutes ago, cannastop said:

 

While it's not great that Weta pays minimum wage (I assume this individual is earlier in their career), working on the second Avatar film will almost certainly unlock an entirely new tier of work for your typical concept artist. Weta knows this and the unfortunate reality is that capitalism is rarely altruistic unless it benefits the bottom line. Unionizing presents an obvious solution, but then many early-career artists fear that they would be gate-kept from participating in higher profile projects. In the meantime, the ugly truth is that for artists just starting out, the NPV of being underpaid on an incredibly high profile project is probably significant down the road. 

Personally, I'd be hesitant to air my grievances this openly for fear of being blacklisted in an already ultra-competitive industry. That's why websites like Glassdoor exist. 

Edited December 6, 2022 by daftcat

[Sheldon Cr]

4 hours ago, SchumacherFTW said:

I have faith in my country in cricket, motorsport, all the ladies sports we partake in and the rugby team now that Eddie is gone, but never the football team. 

Lol ftw

[Sheldon Cr]

2 hours ago, SullyJake said:

Im sure the worldwide gross will take a hit. In the UK alone its likely dropping 50% from saturday

All depends on how the wom is. Folks flocked avatar in 2009 during multiple events going on . Didn't  matter.