I think Disney knew they faced a formidable foe this weekend with James Cameron’s Avatar. But I don’t think they realized how deep into the Disney demographic it would reach. Although Avatar was PG-13 I saw families bringing much younger children in to see the movie most are calling the ‘Star Wars’ of this generation. And I agree, Avatar is a total game changer. A ‘return’ to 2D animation just can’t hold a candle to the sort of world creation Cameron has accomplished.
That’s not to say The Princess and The Frog wasn’t a great film. It was and it still managed to pull in $12 million in second place, but that’s a pretty big drop for a movie that was supposed to make it through the Holiday as the family film. Avatar has moved into that category with $73 million. Princess Tiana’s total take is only $45 million so far.
As much as I liked PATF, Avatar blew it out of the water. It’s not fair to compare the two, but in terms of my enjoyment at the theater, Avatar won that match.
The Frog Princess is dethroned by Blue Aliens – http://is.gd/5vBDN – it wasn't even close. Can Tiana Take Back the Box Office?
See, for me, Avatar was all flash and no substance. It LOOKED great, but the story fell horribly flat.
I think its interesting to see how many people apparently go to the movies just to look at moving images and don’t care if a movie has a decent story or not. Without a 3-D IMAX theater near me showing the movie, I don’t really see a point in boring myself with its been there done that storyline.
I think we need to give PATF some time. The holiday movie season tends to be longer than just a week or two. Families/children are just now getting off of school. They are too busy to pack up the mini-van or SUV and head to the theater.
Also, in this economy, people are being more picky about how to spend the $75-100 dollars it takes to take a whole family to the movies these days.
I suspect that the movie will continue to see modest to good takes over the next few weekends, and may even do substantially better over the holiday break. I wouldn’t be surprised if it did almost as well as it’s opening weekend over the holidays.
Video sales will, of course, be through the roof. PATF will not be a blockbuster on the scale of AVATAR, but I predict it will do just fine.
Avatar didn’t have a decent story? You must not have seen the same movie I did, one with a wonderful story about a man who starts out as a warrior and ends up living in the world he was sent to destroy. Every film is derivative; there’s no way around it. But here’s a story with characters who are deep and rich and complex, ones I cared about. I’m not sure I could say the same for the characters in “Princess and the Frog,” who are either purely good or purely evil or purely comic relief. I thought “Princess and the Frog” was lovely; I thought “Avatar” was truly remarkable.
Because the storyline of the Princess and the Frog is so terribly original, right?
Get off your high horses, people. Avatar and PATF are both beautiful movies with heartwarming love stories and great underlying life lessons.
The Princess and the Frog, hands down. New Orleans over Pandora. Fairy tale magic over man-made science. Voodoo over guns. I’m so tired of guns and war. So tired. Someone make it stop.
“…one with a wonderful story about a man who starts out as a warrior and ends up living in the world he was sent to destroy.” Sounds like you just described Dances with Wolves. Avatar was visually stunning while the story and characters were just feh.
So far I’ve heard that Avatar caters to the Furry community who are all ga-ga over loincloth wearing blue critters. I’ve heard that Avatar is a white supremacist themed romp where the white man must once again save the stupid savages who can’t survive without their white brother’s help. I’ve heard that Avatar is some sort of eco-warrior treatise about how our current consumerism is eeeevil (ironic given how expensive the movie was to make and that it has tie-ins with things like McDs). I’ve heard that it is the future of all sci-fi genre. I’ve heard that it is the end of good moviemaking with its emphasis on effects over plot.
I had never heard of the movie until about a week ago when I saw the trailer, and the trailer didn’t impress me. It looked like the same ol’ rehashed plot with too much smurf paint. That being said, I think that everyone who goes and sees it will find what they’re looking for in it, from the best movie of all time to $10 and 3 hours of your life you can’t get back.
Part of the reason TP&tF slipped last week was the east coast weather. I had planned to go see it last weekend, but this area was under 2 feet of snow. (And I’m the kind who tries to avoid most Disney movies opening weekend because I’m not big on hordes of kids.) I think you’ll see numbers come up over this weekend with families en masse headed to the theaters…and I may wait another week to go see it if that’s the case. Over time, I think TP&tF will end up as a classic movie, at least in the Disneyverse, but I don’t think that Avatar has any more sticking power than something like Transformers. There may be spawned sequels, and hopefully for the movie’s sake it can recoup the huge funds it cost, but that’s about it for “legacy”.
Comparing Avatar to PATF is like comparing a high speed roller coaster to Pirates of the Caribbean – it just makes no sense. If you like roller coasters, fine, I don´t have a problem with that – but stop telling me that Pirates “can´t hold a candle” to roller coasters, because it´s just two competely different things. (Besides, Avatar is a sad excuse for a movie – there are a few spectacular images, but that´s about it. But even in that respect, 2D is superior – as far as I´m concerned, the Mona Lisa (very 2D…)is more than able to “hold a candle” to CGI – any CGI…
Yes, JulFromMD, but you have seen neither film, so you have no valid opinion.
Sure I have a valid opinion… from watching the two trailers, one is worth my box office money and one isn’t, in my opinion. YMMV.
It isn’t a matter of being on a high-horse. I just don’t think that Avatar lived up to it’s 1/2 billion dollar hype. Not by a LONG shot.
It LOOKS really nice, but that leaves them (to quote another film) “Almost there.”
You guys are pretty funny.
As most people have said, you can’t compare the two movies.
Avatar has stunning effects and has set the bar for a whole new breed of computer technology, but at the end of the day, 10 years down the line, people aren’t really going to remember about those blue people in that decent movie.
The Princess and The Frog however, that movie has characters that will stay in peoples hearts, just like the Disney characters before them have. Snow White, Dumbo, Ariel, Simba, those characters are internal. One thing Disney knows and knows how to do well, is create memorable movies that are a big part of our youth, characters that move, inspire and influence us. Its wonderful to know that a new generation will have that now.
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