I Was Wrong About Avatar

By Stephen Tramontana on January 28th, 2010

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Hi there. It’s me again. The author of this prescient work.

Sooo…giant fail on my part, huh? That’s a whole lot of crow to eat, but I stand by my original piece. Why? Because that’s the point of writing that kind of article. To change it or take it down would diminish the gamble of writing it. I worked through Avatar’s box office slowdown in the last week of December, and honestly didn’t think those numbers would hold up. If anything, it really does demonstrate the power of higher ticket prices and the return value of 3D. Cameron has stated in numerous interviews that he wanted Avatar to be an experience that demanded repeat viewings in the theater. Mission accomplished.

By the way, I also thought Denzel Washington would derail it. Way to come through, Denzel. Where’s that audience loyalty when you need it?

I mean, say what you want about Dark Knight, but it was the right comparison movie. The weeks following that film’s release were also drenched in stories about the possibility of it overtaking Titanic.

FINE. I was wrong. In hindsight, yeah, it was dumb to come out against Avatar. And it was really stupid to think Legion could take it out. I just saw another preview for it the other day, and I have no idea what I was thinking on that.

But the real missed opportunity here was that I didn’t turn it into a contest.

Things like this should be fun. I mean, we’re talking about movies, not curing cancer. Many of those early commenters, like Gloria and Derek, had the faith. And they should have gotten something for that. Maybe we can still get them something, I’ll check into it. So if anything, this public shaming comes out with a positive — I won’t do this again unless we can reward the first commenter who was right. That way it’s a win-win.

And speaking of win-win, Avatar is the new champion, and being wrong never felt so good. (Sorry Gloria, only tears of joy this time.)