James Cameron silences critics at Box Office

Avatar: The Way of Water will cross the $2bn mark in the next few days. That would give James Cameron three of the six $2bn films at the top of the Box Office, which is incredible.

Cameron’s fans continue to argue that his Avatar movies are more impressive than Marvel’s $2bn movies, because Avatar was an original story.

On the other hand, Avengers: Infinity War and Avengers: Endgame were the culmination of a 20+ series of movies. Marvel had to build up to the two $2 bn MCU films on their record. Well, who cares? Why does it matter that Wakanda Forever made more money in the first three weeks than Black Adam did in its entire run?

Why do we care that WB’s Joker made a billion dollars on a tiny budget?

Arguments over the Box Office have become as passionate as debates about movie reviews and ratings. People are quick to dismiss the Box Office when a movie they love crashes and burns. They act like a film’s earnings don’t matter, ignoring the fact that a movie’s financial performance influences a studio’s decision to make sequels.

It bothers fans to see a colourful, CGI-heavy film succeed at the box office, while a smaller, indie project they prefer goes unnoticed. They hate that Michael Bay’s Transformers films made billions while Shane Black’s The Nice Guys lost money.

Why do they care? Because human beings are weird. It is not enough for us to love our favourite movies and shows; we want other people to love them as well. Notice how the people who loudly proclaim that critic reviews don’t matter always respond with anger when critics trash projects they like?

The Box Office is the same. The people who won’t hesitate to tell you why the Box Office is irrelevant die a little inside whenever their favourite movies underperform.

Moviegoers vote with their money. The tickets they buy when they visit the cinema reveal what they like. A strong Box Office performance is the public’s way of saying, ‘we love this movie.’

People don’t want to enjoy their favourite things in a vacuum; they want to share that enjoyment with others. And when a movie you love does well at the Box Office, it feels like you are celebrating with a million other people around the world. You are collectively geeking out over this thing you adore.

Look at Avatar: The Way Of Water. Every time it passes a new financial milestone, people who loved it can’t help but share the news. But what about those who thought Avatar: The Way Of Water would fail at the Box Office?  They feel bad, because the world just said, ‘We disagree with you. You hate this franchise, but we think you’re wrong.’

This crowd was so vocal before Avatar2 came out. They could not stop predicting the movie’s downfall. But then the movie kicked all kinds of ass on opening weekend, and they all fell silent. It hurts them to know that the movie-going public does not share their view on James Cameron’s supposed masterpiece.

These same people lament whenever a comic book film comes out and blows up the Box Office because it further cements their belief that they stand alone in terms of their opinion on movies. That attitude sounds bizarre, but human beings are weird. They don’t always make sense.

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