A2 WEEKEND THREAD | 134.1M DOM OW | Thurs 17m / Fri 36m / Sat 45m / Sun 36m

[The Wild Eric]

THIS FAMILY

IS OUR

FORTRESS

 

Looking back, 2009 was one of the most incredible, iconic, life-defining years. A year that, at least within pop culture, you just never forget. In 2009, Barack Obama was sworn in as America’s first Black President, representing a bright new America that sadly never came to be. In 2009, Michael Jackson passed on, shocking many, as the whole world grieved his loss. In 2009, Grindr was launched, with gay-centric programs like Rupaul’s Drag Race, Glee and Modern Family also hitting television, representing a new, less homophobic future that also sadly never came to be. In 2009, Minecraft launched for the first time, redefining video games forever. There was also some bad stuff of course, with the H1N1 virus, the devastating earthquakes in Italy and Indonesia, and the atrocity that was “Boom Boom Pow”. But 2009 really was a sensational year for pop culture junkies that has little else you can compare it with.

 

Movies were of course also a huge part of 2009’s iconicness. Up, Inglorious Basterds, Aliens in the Attic. But out of all the movies that came out in 2009, the most exciting one of them all was at the very, very end of the year. The movie Avatar may not seem like much to you younger BOT folks, but for those of us who have lived that year, Avatar was a big, big deal.

 

A sci-fi action epic 15 years in the making, Avatar was James Cameron’s epic return to cinemas after making oodles of money off of Titanic, and was a film unlike any other. Tackling the evils of imperialism, the importance of conservation, and pushing anti-American rhetoric via surreal, colorful visuals and offbeat alien creatures, Avatar was simply mesmerizing in 2009. The world of Pandora was so vibrant and dense that it felt like a real culture unfolding before our eyes, with so many surprises and nuances that made it feel as if we really were stepping into a culture that has been around for centuries. By all accounts, for young 2009 viewers, this was the equivalent of seeing Star Wars for the very first time. 

 

 

Outside of that, the film boasted technological breakthroughs in motion capture, computer animation, and digital 3D technology, giving the film a unique sense of realism that was never possible even just a few years ago, testing the limits of visual effects and computer wizardry. Again, this was just like Star Wars way back in 1977. Taking everything that the director loved as a kid and compiling it with groundbreaking designs and special effects that audiences frankly never saw before. This was a game changer, and you had to be in the conversation. And...boy did people want to be in the conversation.

 

Avatar didn’t just merely become the biggest movie of all time. Rather, it blew Cameron’s last movie Titanic out of the water. In just 2009 alone, the movie earned nearly $3 billion, even excluding the many re-releases. And unlike every other movie near it, which relied on a popular brand or nostalgia or a previous movie to get where it was, Avatar did it solely on being what the movies are all about. An incredible, immersive experience, where you are transported to a world that allows your imagination to go wild. And with innovative 3D technology and a passionately human story, despite all the aliens, Avatar is a film that the public adored and didn’t even know that they wanted in the first place. Again...just like Star Wars.

 

The future was bright for Daddy Cameron, as he wanted to do so much more with the world of Pandora. I mean, with a universe and characters so rich and engrossing as this, it was impossible not to make more and play around with this world. So in 2010, Daddy Cameron stated two sequels were on the way, just like Star Wars, and the world was on the edge of their seat waiting...and waiting...and waiting.

 

A lot has changed from 2009 to 2022. And the movies were no exception. Between then, this generation’s Star Wars turned out to be the Marvel Cinematic Universe, an expanding franchise that has become so massive it has moved from the movie screen to your TV screen. Meanwhile, Star Wars itself returned to the big screen to mixed success, Jurassic Park was rebranded into a whole world, DC Comics created its own shared universe like three times, and the Minions have dominated the realm of children’s entertainment. Netflix killed the midbudget movie, Harvey Weinstein is gone, A24 birthed Film Twitter, a whole pandemic killed movie theaters for a while, and most shocking of all, an entire movie studio, the one that specifically made Avatar, was swallowed up by The Walt Disney Company.

 

 

But in that 13-year period, the craziest thing of all was how conspicuously absent the biggest movie of all time was. Avatar never went away of course, but those two sequels were strangely absent through the entirety of the 2010s. Daddy Cameron kept hyping these sequels up, even moving from two all the way to four, and we would later get an entire section of Walt Disney World dedicated to Avatar. But for years these films lingered in development hell with no word on when they would ever come out. The Avatar sequels got delayed again and again, Daddy Cameron vanished from the world, and Avatar went from the biggest, most incredible thing ever to a total joke amongst filmbros and Internet funnymen.

 

Of course, Daddy Cameron is a perfectionist. And while everybody mocked his silly Avatar sequels that would never ever get made, the man looks to return to the silver screen with a bang. The Way of Water finally unveiled its first footage to millions by playing in front of Doctor Strange 2 and shocked and awed everybody. Pandora looked more stunning than ever. There was more exciting Na’Vi stuff in store. We’re getting a whole new underwater world, a pretty interesting trend within blockbusters lately. It looked like everything that was amazing about 2009’s Avatar, but just a little bit more special.

 

And with the first film’s big return to theaters and plenty of exciting ads and promos in the months since, everybody’s aware about this new film coming out and that it's another banger from the king. But will it become the same phenomenon as before? Are people excited to go back to Pandora? Hard to know for certain, but let’s go on ahead and have fun for the time being.

 

 

But remember that before you have fun, you gotta read the boring rules first. So...

 

1. ABSOLUTELY NO SPOILERS. NOT EVEN SPOILERS POSTED UNDER SPOILER TAGS. 

 

This rule also applies to other movies in theaters and films/shows recently released on streaming. So no Violent Night spoilers, no Wednesday spoilers, no The Santa Clauses spoilers, etc. If you do spoil something here, you will be banned. No exceptions.

 

We do have a spoiler thread for Avatar: The Way of Water right here for you to go nuts in.

 

2. GOOD VIBES!

 

Big weekends like these are supposed to be fun. So don’t be a party pooper and ruin things for everybody. No matter what the film opens to, it's still gonna make bank, the Christmas season can change things on a dime, and we still have plenty of Avatar goodness along the way. No need to predict the end times and so on and so forth. Just relax and have fun.

 

3. THE REPORT AND IGNORE BUTTONS ARE YOUR FRIENDS.

 

4. IS OFF-TOPIC DISCUSSION OKAY?

 

Off-topic discussions are okay in situations where there's downtime and there aren't any numbers, so long as they don’t get heated. But when numbers are coming up and things are getting busy, then keep off-topic things down to the minimum.

 

And lastly...

 

5. DON'T BE A DICK.

 

So with that out of the way, and I never thought I would say this about Daddy Cameron's franchise opus...

 

WITHOUT FURTHER ADO

LET'S DO THIS SHIT

[ThomasNicole]

Great text. 

 

The Pocahontas gif lolllll

[Ethan Hunt]

Movies

[Brainbug]

Blue People Part 2: Revenge of Cameroon.

[The Wild Eric]

I also created a poll at the top for everybody to vote on. Just for curiosity's sake, how old were you when Avatar (2009) first came out?

 

Thank you to the lovely and beautiful @Plain Old Tele for this wonderful suggestion.

[ThomasNicole]

I'm just praying for like 140M at this point, let's see. 

 

Also planning some offerings to see if the cosmos could help to go higher despite all the signs saying otherwise.

[cannastop]

7 minutes ago, Eric The Last Airbender said:

[That One Girl]

GOD JAMES CAMERON

[IronJimbo]

this should be cool

[Brainbug]

Just now, Eric The Last Airbender said:

I also created a poll at the top for everybody to vote on. Just for curiosity's sake, how old were you when Avatar (2009) first came out?

 

Thank you to the lovely and beautiful @Plain Old Tele for this wonderful suggestion.

 

I was 12.

 

Man, im old now.

[SLAM!]

Can’t wait to see some high-quality airbending!

[Nikostar]

Boxoffice pro downgraded thier prediction. Going with 161 opening

[ThomasNicole]

I was 12 too, get out of the theater so happy and full of dreams. 

 

Now i'm 25 and kinda depressed with the world lol, maybe daddy Cameron can make me feel like 12 again

[YM!]

1 minute ago, Brainbug said:

 

I was 12.

 

Man, im old now.

I was 9.

[The Wild Eric]

Place your bets, party people.

[Jason]

4 minutes ago, Eric The Last Airbender said:

I also created a poll at the top for everybody to vote on. Just for curiosity's sake, how old were you when Avatar (2009) first came out?

 

Thank you to the lovely and beautiful @Plain Old Tele for this wonderful suggestion.

21, to be exact.

[IronJimbo]

Just now, Eric The Last Airbender said:

Place your bets, party people.

neytiri is pretty tho ngl

[Flopped]

So excited for this (I mean it genuinely) 

 

[YM!]

1 minute ago, Eric The Last Airbender said:

Place your bets, party people.

Thirsting, Welp seems like a job for me.

 

Neytiri is a baddie.

[CoolioD1]

it's time