Chapter 743: Miracle

"It leaves you wanting more and never bored for a second. James Cameron uses hyper-realistic 3D visual effects to transport us to another world. Avatar makes you believe technological innovation truly can change the movie-watching experience. Beyond its innovative vision, Avatar also reflects on politics, culture, environmentalism, race, religion, and more. Director Cameron's ambition is just as powerful as his imagination!"

"This is no simple movie; it's like a gold mine, worth digging deep into!"

"Avatar is the most beautiful film I've seen in recent years!"

"Whether you choose 3D or standard format, the shock and awe Avatar delivers makes it a must-see."

"It's a film like those we've seen before, yet like nothing we've ever witnessed. It is the Star Wars of our generation!"

"James Cameron has proven that he is indeed the king of the world. As the supreme commander of an army of visual effects, an army of creature design, an army of Motion Capture, an army of stunt doubles, an army of dancers, an army of actors, and an army of music and sound, he has brought sci-fi into the 21st century in jaw-dropping fashion. This is Avatar!"

Unlike its midnight screening box office, Avatar instantly ignited explosive audience buzz. This acclaim rapidly spread across the globe through word of mouth and the internet.

Compared to blockbuster sequels or adaptations, Avatar's midnight screening box office was slightly lower. However, this was entirely within Duke's expectations; after all, it was an original work.

As far as the film industry had developed, no original movie—neither an adaptation nor a sequel—had ever broken the $100 million mark in its opening weekend. Even the few that had surpassed $70 million were basically all Duke's own works.

Another point that couldn't be ignored was that James Cameron had been away from mainstream cinema for over a decade and was forgotten by many moviegoers.

Furthermore, environmental factors also played a role. Starting early Thursday morning, heavy snow swept across the eastern United States. The harsh weather and low temperatures inevitably affected theater attendance.

All of these factors contributed to the lackluster performance of Avatar's midnight screenings.

Moreover, this was the fiercely competitive environment of Hollywood. For a film like Avatar, even with the joint protection of Warner Brothers and Twentieth Century Fox, it was impossible to prevent rivals from making moves.

For example, media outlets under Disney couldn't wait to switch to mockery mode the moment Avatar's midnight box office figures were released.

"The most expensive movie in history = the biggest box office disaster in history!"

That headline alone was shocking enough. At first glance, it made people feel Avatar must be terrible and completely unpopular with audiences.

"After watching Avatar and enduring a prolonged bombardment of 3D visuals, those so-called brilliant ideas fade into a blank void the moment the images disappear. Aside from some sensory stimulation, the story, themes, characters, and even the visually pleasing scenes all feel familiar. A massive investment of hundreds of millions of dollars is nothing but a mashup of various successful commercial blockbusters. There is no new content worth reflecting on, and the so-called revolution is just a delusion of wishful thinking."

"The creative process of Avatar takes place in this current era where commercial blockbusters constantly compete over budgets and scale. Its ubiquitous borrowings are apparent everywhere. You see traces of everyone else, but never itself."

"In terms of imagination, the romance is the most brainless part of Avatar. The plot's progression fuses typical elements like heroes and beauties, bows and cannons. From the chance encounter, misunderstandings, family opposition, to resolving those misunderstandings, it follows the tired old formula of a handsome guy rebelling because of a beautiful woman's love. Justice triumphs over evil, the bad guys die ugly deaths, the good guys have the last laugh, and love lasts forever... It doesn't miss a single one of Hollywood's vulgar tropes."

"Then there are the special effects. The only thing the film can be mildly praised for is its effects, but even these spectacular scenes shouldn't be confused with something groundbreakingly revolutionary. Predecessors like Jurassic Park, Star Wars, The Matrix, The Lord of the Rings, and King Kong all came before it and were not inferior in the slightest."

"This time, Cameron merely integrated them and applied 3D technology."

However, their opinions were clearly not the mainstream view. They completely failed to stop fans from walking into theaters. Furthermore, as time went on, numerous Hollywood insiders also saw Avatar and were full of praise.

"The movie industry has new rules of the game. Avatar is the future!" — Michael Bay

"Cinema history can now be divided into 'Pre-Avatar' and 'Post-Avatar'." — Steven Soderbergh

"This is a 'perceptual' kind of movie that makes your film look utterly unique. I should start looking into 3D cinema too." — Ridley Scott

"The first audiences of sound films were shocked by the sound, and the first audiences of color films were shocked by the color. Avatar has achieved that exact same thing." — George Lucas

"A renaissance in the history of cinema." — Luc Besson

The genuine praise from industry professionals, coupled with the word-of-mouth acclaim among moviegoers, drove the Avatar craze.

On Saturday alone, Avatar raked in $26.75 million in North America. This result wasn't bad, though it certainly wasn't exceptional either.

Warner Brothers and Twentieth Century Fox, still holding massive promotional budgets, weren't anxious in the slightest. They ramped up their marketing push once again. At this critical juncture for driving Avatar's box office, they unleashed every available tactic to build hype for the film. With James Cameron's consent, they even sensationalized all five of the truck driver's marriages, one by one...

By Saturday, the snowstorm in the eastern United States had worsened, making it impossible for pedestrians and vehicles to travel normally. Avatar was affected by this, and its box office saw a certain drop, but the decline was only 4.6 percent, raking in millions of dollars that day.

Adding the $24.74 million earned on Sunday, Avatar grossed $77.02 million in North America over its three-day opening weekend.

Among original films, this result was absolutely top-tier. However, compared to its massive budget and adapted blockbusters like Iron Man and Transformers, Avatar's box office looked remarkably underwhelming.

Naturally, some media outlets stepped up once again to predict its downfall.

"The story format of Avatar is undoubtedly far too cliché. For an annual top-tier blockbuster of this caliber, the plot has offered zero surprises from the trailer's release to the film's premiere. It will ultimately expose the 3D stereoscopic movie scam and shatter the myth of James Cameron!"

"The plot of Avatar inevitably brings to mind the equally hollow and empty Titanic. The story is truly mediocre. It's just visually a bit novel and touches on environmental themes. For anyone who has seen 3D movies before, it falls far short of being awe-inspiring! After finishing it, there is essentially nothing worth endlessly savoring! This is the consequence of placing too much emphasis on technology—it brings nothing but ideological emptiness!"

Some people even hyped up claims that James Cameron's Avatar was plagiarizing a certain Japanese creator's Castle in the Sky...

Moreover, Avatar's score on IMDB wasn't very high either. Three days after its release, it had quietly slipped below an 8.0 rating.

However, facts never bend to the will of certain individuals. Avatar's box office trajectory proved that a film's commercial performance had virtually no correlation with certain ratings.

During the four workdays following its opening weekend, Avatar did not experience the typical massive drop in box office numbers. Its daily earnings operated at a high level, maintaining around $15 million a day. Before the second weekend arrived, it had already grossed nearly $140 million in North America.

Those with a keen sense of the market could already feel it—Avatar's trajectory simply couldn't be measured by normal market rules.

There was another point. Comparatively speaking, IMDB scores did garner more industry attention than Rotten Tomatoes' freshness ratings, but even that was extremely limited. Anyone with a basic understanding of this industry could easily see there was little relationship between IMDB scores and box office revenue.

Actually, regarding IMDB, there was a universally recognized phenomenon: in principle, on average, and all else being equal, people who went to see a movie without much promotional push tended to give it high scores, but there were fewer of them. Conversely, those who normally wouldn't like the film but went because massive marketing campaigns had built up high expectations tended to give it low scores, and they came in large numbers.

This was exactly why independent films almost always scored highly (since the vast majority of voters were dedicated fans), while box office miracles often received relatively lower scores (because marketing had dragged in audiences who wouldn't normally like them).

Therefore, critical acclaim and commercial success—high scores and high box office—did indeed have a fundamental conflict in many cases.

This was demonstrated perfectly in both Titanic and Avatar.

But Avatar was destined to be just like Titanic—a film that wouldn't play by the rules of the market. This was fully reflected in its second-weekend North American box office.

During its second weekend in North American theaters, Avatar charted a godlike trajectory. Its second-weekend box office dropped only 1.8 percent from its opening weekend, raking in $75.61 million over the three days!

For a commercial film, this could absolutely be called a miracle!

Seeing the second-weekend numbers, those who had been overthinking it could completely give up their doubts, while Duke, Warner Brothers, and Twentieth Century Fox could finally breathe easy.

Duke in particular was deeply convinced that this film was bound to surpass Titanic's box office record. The premium ticket prices for the 3D and IMAX versions were a solid guarantee of that.

In the two weekends that followed, Avatar absolutely blew the minds of every forecasting company. Its third-weekend drop was just 9.4 percent, grossing $68.49 million; the fourth weekend saw the drop widen to 26 percent, but it still pulled in $50.30 million; by the fifth weekend, the decline shrank to 14 percent, bringing in $42.78 million...

Avatar never had a single weekend with a completely explosive box office surge, yet its stability was terrifying.

During the sixth weekend, as Duke led the Inception crew to Morocco for location shooting, Avatar even experienced a reverse increase. Though the bump was only 8.1 percent, the resulting $54.40 million pushed the film's cumulative North American box office past the $500 million mark!