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Did Avatar Really Cost Half a Billion Dollars?
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MrInBetween
11/10/09

In reply to Did Avatar Really Cost Half a Billion Dollars?
How much coin did that last paragraph cost to produce? #avatar
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heywhat
11/09/09

In reply to Did Avatar Really Cost Half a Billion Dollars?
Like every other teenage girl that year, I saw Titanic twice in the theater. Looking back, I am really ashamed of this. Watching that movie now, I think it is so cheesy and insipid. And the ending doesn't make much sense. Before Rose starts telling her love story why didn't anyone stop her and say "Hey, that's great and all but where is the diamond at?". I watched "LA Confidential" again recently and I still think it is brilliant. It should have won Best Picture.

It seems like Cameron is trying to make a message movie and comment on current political events. Eh, who knows if it will work? I don't particularly care to see animated aliens and humans do battle but maybe someone will. $380 million is still a hell of a lot of money for a film. Especially in today's market when a film has to generate really good buzz from either critics or moviegoers just to stay in theaters for more than 2 months. Back in 1997, a film could probably be guaranteed a 2 month run even if it was just mediocre. Times have changed. #avatar
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BaldwinPeriphetes
11/09/09

In reply to Did Avatar Really Cost Half a Billion Dollars?
We'll see. When Titanic came out, me and my cool friends went around making "hey, spoiler, THE SHIP SINKS" jokes and thinking this was going to be lamer than anything, and it made squillions of dollars. Why? Because Cameron managed to tell a great story. He probably didn't actually need to spend so much on special effects, because that's not why people saw Titanic over and over again.

It's impossible to know how well Avatar will play until we see it. The one strike against it from the outset is that the visuals may turn off the audience who will be most interested in a message movie.

And there's a pretty major difference between $380m and $500m. It's called the difference between breaking even and losing a hundred million dollars+ and torpedoing a company.
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PaisleyPajamas promoted this comment BaldwinPeriphetes was starred

PaisleyPajamas
11/09/09

@BaldwinPeriphetes: I never understood the acclaim for "Titanic," and thought it should have been under the Best Animated Film category (oodles upon oodles of CGI) rather than robbing "LA Confidential" of the Best Film Oscar that year. I'm so bitter about this slight that even though I typed out the word above, I still refer to it in conversation as, "That Boat Movie That Starts With A 'T.'"

Blech. Not a Cameron fan. #avatar
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mexiback
11/09/09

In reply to Did Avatar Really Cost Half a Billion Dollars?
Can I get just a one little million of those missing 120? Just one... #avatar
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badasscat
11/09/09

In reply to Did Avatar Really Cost Half a Billion Dollars?
I'm not sure whether it makes any difference whether it's $380 million or $400 million or $500 million.

These are all equally insane numbers.

It's kind of like arguing about whether a murder victim was stabbed 38 times or 40 times or 50 times. #avatar
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skahammer
11/10/09

@badasscat: Well, consider the possibility that the targeted person was wearing a protective vest that was guaranteed to stand up to 38 or 40 stabs, but not 50. Then the exact number could matter a lot. I mean, in theory.
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Edited by skahammer at 11/10/09 7:22 AM skahammer was starred skahammer was unstarred

m4ximusprim3
11/10/09

@skahammer: Or, theoretically, if the knife released 1/49th of a lethal dose of cobra scorpion viper poison on each stab.

Hypothetically.
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Edited by m4ximusprim3 at 11/10/09 12:43 PM m4ximusprim3 was starred m4ximusprim3 was unstarred

Bedheadjc
11/10/09

@m4ximusprim3: 1/49? #avatar
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m4ximusprim3 promoted this comment Bedheadjc was starred Bedheadjc was unstarred

m4ximusprim3
11/10/09

@Bedheadjc: yeah. Then the difference between 48 and 49 stabs would matter a lot. #avatar
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FaceMelter
11/09/09

In reply to Did Avatar Really Cost Half a Billion Dollars?
For $150 million in marketing, they have done an awful job. All I have seen are some crappy trailers and promos with awkward looking blue creatures jumping on dragons or whatever the fuck they are. Also, Michelle Rodriguez ... WTF? This movie looks like some half-baked animated sci-fi bullshit that will be impossible to relate to unless you are some hoodwinked Cameron fan who actually buys into his bullshit. The idiot Joss Whedon fans among us will probably cream over this film too, as they seem to blindly gravitate toward garbage. #avatar
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SpyMagician
11/09/09

In reply to Did Avatar Really Cost Half a Billion Dollars?
It looks like the most elaborate and fancy video-game cut-scene ever committed to the big screen.

Can’t wait to see all of the Avatar merch dumped in discount stores come Spring 2010. #avatar
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Buttafooco
11/09/09

In reply to Did Avatar Really Cost Half a Billion Dollars?
I wonder if they were using Angelina Jolie's facial structure as a template for the Avatar in that picture... #avatar
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PaisleyPajamas
11/09/09

@Buttafooco: If they were, she should call her lawyer(s). #avatar
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BBooms
11/09/09

In reply to Did Avatar Really Cost Half a Billion Dollars?
For $500 million they ought to have been able to hire someone who could design aliens that didn't look like they were taken straight from the cover of a throwaway sci-fi novel.

Also: Fern Gully 2.0 #avatar
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thisiswhatweknow
11/09/09

In reply to Did Avatar Really Cost Half a Billion Dollars?
This article has several typos, some of which are distracting from the meaning. Spell check won't do everything, y'all. #avatar
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BicycleShed promoted this comment thisiswhatweknow was starred thisiswhatweknow was unstarred

BicycleShed
11/09/09

@thisiswhatweknow: Agreed. I think the last paragraph is missing a few words. #avatar
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PaisleyPajamas
11/09/09

In reply to Did Avatar Really Cost Half a Billion Dollars?
If the ratio of production costs to marketing costs is as close to 1:1 as the article implies (sorta, kinda), then this film must be garbage. They can sugarcoat it all they want referring to "worldwide" marketing, but still the same difference and lack of profit. #avatar
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VioletViolet
11/09/09

@PaisleyPajamas: Agreed. While it's not fair to dismiss a film as garbage without seeing it, this can't be good. Especially when, this close to the release date, the advance news is how much it costs to make and not how good it is. #avatar
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PaisleyPajamas promoted this comment VioletViolet was starred VioletViolet was unstarred

GlasgowRose
11/09/09

In reply to Did Avatar Really Cost Half a Billion Dollars?
"I'm the king of the abacus!" Calling dibs on Ish(ava)tar. #avatar
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PontiusPirate
11/09/09

In reply to Did Avatar Really Cost Half a Billion Dollars?
Dances with Wolves...in space #avatar
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Zira
11/09/09

@PontiusPirate:

Waterworld...without the water....without the world....without Kevin Costner. #avatar
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PaisleyPajamas promoted this comment Zira was starred Zira was unstarred

Cam/ron
11/09/09

@PontiusPirate: Ferngully with machine guns. #avatar
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VioletViolet
11/09/09

@PontiusPirate: Everything's better when you add "...in space" to it. #avatar
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PaisleyPajamas promoted this comment VioletViolet was starred VioletViolet was unstarred

JudgeFudge
01/22/09

In reply to Sarah Palin Ready For Her Very Own Book
Sarah should team up with Ann coulter for an hour-long 10am chat show on Fox News. It could be like fourth hour of The Today Show with Hoda and Kathie Lee, but you know, more hate-fucky.

Welcome to "Wake up on the Right Side with Sarah and Ann!" Today will be joined by Larry the Cable guy, hot purity-jewlry fashion designer Todd Lamountaigne, and as a part of our "Scold into Submission" series, we'll have on a group of pregnant inner-city teenagers.
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Mediahohoho
01/22/09

In reply to Sarah Palin Ready For Her Very Own Book
The Bitch to Nowhere
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