*** Official THE LAST AIRBENDER Discussion Thread (1 Viewer)

[Neil Middlemiss]

I have never understood the hate for Lady in the Water - I find that movie to be delightful - surely I am not the only one?

 

[TravisR]

Originally Posted by Neil Middlemiss

I have never understood the hate for Lady in the Water - I find that movie to be delightful - surely I am not the only one?

I hated Lady In The Water but I know I've seen people here at HTF that really liked it. I do think that most of the performances in the movie were very good though.

 

[Michael Elliott]

Someone else beat me to it but so far he's only had one movie that didn't make its money back. The rest have been major hits in terms of what they bring in compared to how much it cost to make them.

I'm also not sure if we have a different opinion on what alienating fans means but taking in as much money as this thing did, I find it hard to believe that fans stayed away. The movie might have opened at $100 million had it been a film that Shyamalan fans wanted to see. His name will bring people into the theater when it's horror/thriller/suspense so the only people that stayed away from this movie are the director's own fans.


I read that the budget on all three movies would be set at $250 million so, worldwide, this film will probably pay for the making of all three. Hardly a bust.

Originally Posted by Edwin-S




The difference is that Bay's shitty movies make back the cost of production plus more. Notwithstanding the 16 million dollar opening, I doubt Shyamalan's film is going to make back its production costs, let alone make a profit. Shyamalan has alienated the one demographic he needed most in order to make this film a success: the fans of the original series. They would have formed the core of repeat viewers; however, even the fans hate what Shyamalan has done. Furthermore, Bay may be a lousy storyteller, but he has an eye for putting action sequences together. With a Bay movie, you can watch Bay artistically blow shit up left, right and centre, even if the story is a steaming pile of dung. In this movie, it sounds like Shyamalan couldn't even provide that simple pleasure in a competent manner.

 

[Edwin-S]

Originally Posted by Michael Elliott
I read that the budget on all three movies would be set at $250 million so, worldwide, this film will probably pay for the making of all three. Hardly a bust.

So if the reputed cost of this film was 150,000,000, they are saying the next two are going to be able to be made for 50,000,000 a piece. I find that hard to believe. I guess it all comes down to what the true cost of the first one was.Plus, regardless of worldwide take, the decision to proceed with a sequel is still mostly based on domestic take. It took in 70.5 million, so it is possible that it will recoup its costs domestically, thus ensuring a sequel. It all depends on how well it holds its audience. I still think the film is going to show a large and rapid drop. Also I never said the fans stayed away. Of course they didn't. I said that many of them will not be repeat viewers due to his mishandling of the source material. Repeat views become important after the initial burst of opening night activity.

 

[Aaron Silverman]

This is probably the first I've heard of anyone liking Lady in the Water. It felt like he stayed up one night with a notepad and a big bag of weed and just wrote down whatever came to mind.


FWIW, I thought The Village was pretty decent. Not great, but better than most people said it was.

 

[Steve_Tk]

Originally Posted by Steve_Tk

Maybe so, he's earned it. Lady in the water and the happening were dreadful.

By the way, when I said this I wasn't saying he shouldn't be able to make movies. I was responding to "So is this the end of Shyamalan as a big name in Hollywood?"


My answer is yes, the Written/Directed/Produced by M. Night Shyamalan means nothing to me anymore, however, it used to mean a gauranteed ticket sale for ME. He has no pull until he delivers agains IMHO, regardless if his movies "break even".

 

[Brisby]

While I didn't hate this movie, I was disappointed at how badly it adapts the source material.


Still, the cries of "worst movie EVER!!!" are somewhat overblown. Hell, Iron Man 2 was probably worse than this.