The Los Angeles Westside may not be getting a new suburb, after all.
James Cameron's sci-fi spectacle Avatar seems to be doing quite well at the box office, after grossing $3.5 million at midnight screenings on Friday. According to Nikki Finke's Deadline Hollywood, Avatar was earning on a par with Star Trek earlier in the day, but later pulled ahead. It's now expected to gross more than $20 million on Friday, plus another $60 million or whereabouts on Saturday and Sunday for a grand total of $80-85 million — at least partly thanks to higher ticket prices for the 3D film.
Predicted snowstorms along the US East Coast and central states, however, may put a damper on the numbers. (No such worries in the Southwest; winter may be only three days away, but Los Angeles is about as dry and nearly as hot as the Kalahari.)
Now, for comparison's sake: thanks to the Robert Pattinson-Kristen Stewart effect, Chris Weitz's The Twilight Saga: New Moon's opening weekend generated $142.8 million in ticket sales. And in 2D.
And just as importantly: Will those blue aliens have legs?
Well, that's hard to tell. But even if their legs aren't as long as their ears, Fox won't have to sell what's left of its backlot. (Thanks to Fox's Cleopatra debacle back in the early 1960s, Century City was born.) As per Finke's piece, Avatar is doing remarkably well overseas, including Australia, South Korea, and Germany. Even if "remarkably well" doesn't exactly mean "record-breaking."
Photo: Courtesy of Twentieth Century Fox
This is not a racist movie. It is about selling tickets at the box office and relating to the majority of the viewers. I guarantee you the majority of the movie viewers will be white, so why not pick a white leading roll who becomes the hero. Why didn't they pick a White person to play the leading roll in Precious? Should we call that Racist? this is a new era and people like you only hold everyone back. I don't see race, I only see people.
I'm not going to come off with some racial thing about this movie, but I will tell you this is the best movie I had ever seen.
The Movie was a thrill ride all the way through and I will buy it and probably see it again in the theatre … Can't we just be entertained in America without everything being about race?
Steve, I can't say I thought the movie was racist, but I can say you make a lot of sense in many things you've said and have caused me to think. I do not choose to see the movie as racist, however I did pick up on the theme of humans (being the "civilized" in this scenario) profaning that which we don't understand. In real life, this is just like English settlers and the Indians, et cetera. I thought the movie was beautiful and covered more than just race, but also what it sacred and important to us, and why. We need to delve into this deply to come to terms with one another and ourselves. Many live by what culture tells them, and don't ask these questions, so never really live and make positive steps forward for the human race. Movies like this make me happy because it unnerves people, and if they have any critical thinking skills, they will walk away wondering why, and do something about it. That is my hope at least. Be blessed.
Avatar is a classic scenario you've seen in Hollywood epics from Dances With Wolves, Dune, District 9 and The Last Samurai, where a white guy manages to get himself accepted into a closed society of people of color and eventually becomes its most awesome member.
If we think of Avatar and its ilk as white fantasies about race, what kinds of patterns do we see emerging in these fantasies?
A white man who was one of the oppressors switches sides at the last minute, assimilating into the alien culture and becoming its savior.
These are movies about white guilt. Our main white characters realize that they are complicit in a system which is destroying aliens, AKA people of color – their cultures, their habitats, and their populations.
The whites realize this when they begin to assimilate into the "alien" cultures and see things from a new perspective. To purge their overwhelming sense of guilt, they switch sides, become "race traitors," and fight against their old comrades. But then they go beyond assimilation and become leaders of the people they once oppressed.
This is the essence of the white guilt fantasy, laid bare. It's not just a wish to be absolved of the crimes whites have committed against people of color; it's not just a wish to join the side of moral justice in battle. It's a wish to lead people of color from the inside rather than from the (oppressive, white) outside.
I wouldn't call it racist at all, but there was a lot of political commentary about imperalism, holy land, and invasion and lack of understanding of other cultures. We filmed an INSTANT movie review the moment we walked out of the theater: http://bit.ly/6prras
I saw Avatar yesterday and I can't help to notice the rascists aspects to the movie, especially in the language and music. It reminded me of the Heart of Darkness were the "White man" brings civilization to the "Black Africans" and you can hear this in Africaner style in the music and lanquage. It's a rascist movie no doubt about it, but I liked it anyways. The "White man" reigned superior to the "Black man" in the end. Check it out and tell me if I'm wrong…
December 19, 09 7:27AM
This movie is just a dream! "WOW"
There is a part on "AVATAR" where the Colonel (BAD DUDE) is firing rounds from his gunship at an specific target. Boy, with my 3D glasses I felt he was firing at me. I could see the rounds coming my direction. It was like I was inside the movie at times!
Cant wait to see "AVATAR 2 "
There should be an Oscar Category called "DREAM"
for "AVATAR"
ADVICE: AVATAR 3D version IMAX or Digital 3D
TK