So, I’m not terribly interested in reviewing films, overall. There are plenty of people out there, and y’all can figure out whose opinions you trust, and who will lead you into or out of the theater. I’m not interested in doing that. However, this is about Avatar. And as such, I feel like I first need to give my overall opinion of it.

Meh *shrug*

There we go. Now, with that out of the way, I want to progress into the real reason for this blog, which is that there are a TON of reasons to actually be interested in Avatar as a movie. And as a studio movie. I’m only going to touch on my top two, but there are so many…

Interesting thing #1:
Fox isn’t banking on this as an opening weekend hit. I get “the lowdown” on what is going on in the marketing department there, and they are far more concerned with what the drop-off is going to be between weekends, and what the online chatter is (92% positive after seeing the movie, FYI) They are looking at this as being a longevity hit in the theater, rather than opening and making huge numbers.
Why it’s interesting #1:
In the independent world, this is something that we constantly struggle against with our distributors. How do you build a word of mouth that translates into a return in the box office? Because of what Avatar is, Fox is willing to bank against what we always tell distributors about a film…if people like it, your box office will follow. So, if a big budget justifies that strategy, how do we convince them that on smaller budgets, the same leap of faith is a good bet on small movies.

Interesting thing #2:
Avatar is at 84% on rotten tomatoes. Out of those, most of them talk about the spectacle, and put the story at (as best) pedestrian and previously done.
Why its interesting #2:
The split between independent and studio movies is becoming wider and wider. Studios can absolutely do things that independents can’t. The technology invented to film Avatar is certainly one of them. However, independent film has to find where the holes are in the studio system, and create product to fill those holes. and that should begin with story. Independents need to raise their own bar in regard to telling stories that are new, compelling, driven, and told creatively. We need to become more vigilant in only producing movies which have a script behind them which is flawless, and demand performances that illuminate those ideas. I have heard repeatedly from independent producers “well,the script is better than XXX XXX, which made $YYY YYY” That doesn’t matter! The script has to be better than good. It has to be amazing! We are plugging a hole here. You don’t do it with putty, you do it with cement.

I think with any movie that studios put out, we, as independent producers need to look at it with an eye towards what it says about the business and the audiences. Just enjoying it as a film is not enough.