| Miguel_Zorro said: The inflation argument is valid, but only to a point. The argument that people have far more "other options" today is also very valid. Even a comparison between Titanic and Avatar involves movies from very different times. I remember when Titanic came out. At that time, most people hadn't used the Internet - at least not in the form that we know it today. With the modem that I had at the time, it would have taken me hours just to download the graphics on this webpage. (I also walked 2 hours to school in the snow, uphill, both there and back). :) NOBODY was downloading movies online. They weren't even available. Even Napster didn't arrive on the scene until 2 years later. Even if people could download them, there was nowhere to put the data, since DVDs came out that year, and the cost them was prohibitive. My hard drive at the time definitely wasn't big enough to store movies. The bottom line? People weren't pirating. Today, the top movies are downloaded millions upon millions of times, and burned into millions of copies. Now, assuming people waiting for the opportunity to buy Titanic to watch at home, they'd be lucky enough to watch on a VHS tape (or, for those doing well, a DVD), and view it on their crappy tube TV, with their crappy sound system. The experience just wasn't anything close to the theatre. Today, 47" flat screens with nice sound systems are the norm. My point is this - when Titanic came out, if you wanted to see it the way it was intended to be seen, you had to go to the movie theatre. Today, you can download a movie the day it hits theatres, and watch it at home on your massive TV with 7.1 surround sound. When Gone With the Wind came out? You had to go to the movie theatre if you wanted to see it *at all*. It also came out during World War 2, when there really wasn't much else to do for fun. For the 2+ years that it was in the theatres, the only competition that it had was a bunch of movies that I doubt many people have ever heard of. |
Estimates of Avatar's sales are around 78% or so are in 3D - i.e. the only way to see it that way is in the cinema. That's the main thrust of 3D from the studios point of view - not necessarily Cameron's - that you have to go to the cinema, sure you can download a 2D weaker version, but why? I therefore doubt the modern availablity of other mediums, etc. harmed it.
As for the new vs old I think it's clear that Avatar isn't going to be seen by the most people, even with a larger world population vs the all time most seen movies. That doesn't detract from it, but in the end worldwide more people saw Star Wars in total and as a percentage of the population, for example, and I'm not sure Avatar can get that far up the adjusted chart, although it might assuming it's theatrical run isn't cut short to push it to BR and try and push 3D TVs - remember that it should be more harshly adjusted for inflation as with most people paying more to see it in 3D it's total revenue is even more inflated than a standard film. I doubt Cameron or the studio cares as it steams towards $2 billion - they get paid on current revenue not vs the value of the dollar when Gone with the Wind was released (in terms of pure worldwide attendace I doubt anything will touch that film, in many countries in ran for 4 years plus in the cinemas!).
As for Avatar, as I've said elsewhere it's a 10 out of 10 visual experience with a 7 out of 10 scipt/acting resulting in an overall film of 8.5 out of 10 for me.
It's presentation demands a cinema viewing, and it's solid as a rock compared to the usual Hollywood rubbish - I mean the writing isn't Shakespeare and it is flawed but it's not awful, and while there are no standout characters of performances they are all competent with a couple of nice scenes here and there.
Popular movies make the most money and attract the most viewers, that's just the way it is. Are they often the 'best' film, when best is based on acting, script, theme, depth, etc? Almost never. Such films, while my personal preference, simply require too much effort or knowledge of film from the average viewer, or put theme and depth over entertainment, which of course limits them in terms of revenue.
At least Avatar has themes and a solid enough Narrative coupled with amazing visuals and 3D to go with its populist entertainment aspects, which these days is quite something when you look at movies like Transformers 2.
Try to be reasonable... its easier than you think...
