I'm too tired to deal with the bulk of Bob's retardation tonight, so I'll just drop one comment:
As I mentioned before, it's funny how much Bob insists that Harry Potter is completely over as a brand just because he hates J.K. Rowling, but I think it's also his Disney fanboyism coming into play as well since the movies are a WB property. Anything that isn't managed by his beloved Rat overlords must be maligned, while anything that is must be praised.
Case in point: his insistence that the laughably-delayed Avatar 2 will be as much of a hit as the original. Don't get me wrong, I'm sure it will do well, and maybe it will do absolutely ridiculous numbers. And if we're going by theme parks as a sign of popularity, the Avatar section of Animal Kingdom has been about as popular as the Harry Potter parks over at Universal Studios, which is pretty impressive for a franchise that currently consists of a single movie released over a decade ago and nothing else.
However, I feel that time has really not been so great for Avatar. When it came out back in 2009, it was hyped to hell and back as the return of the 3D movie, a major spectacle that had to be seen to be believed. I remember constant articles about the technology that James Cameron developed to bring the world of Pandora to life, and regardless of my opinions on the movie, I'll give him credit for that. Hell, I even went out to see it in IMAX 3D myself, and it was definitely an impressive sight.
But strip away the majestic 3D, and what are you left with? Dances with Wolves in space, except ridiculously one-dimensional. The Na'vi are perfect wholesome
fuckable aliens that dindu nuffin, while the humans that aren't good guys are all comically villainous military/corporate types. Without the 3D sucking you in, there's nothing to distract you from the story, and when you pay attention to the story, it's pretty boring on the whole.
And that's the other issue: although movies continue to be released in 3D today, it's nowhere near as many as there were at the height of the 3D boom that Avatar was supposed to have ushered in, and it's because audiences quickly tired of it. Most movies released in 3D aren't actually shot in 3D, it's all done in post-production, and the results are always less than stellar. Why spend more on a lower-quality version of the movie? It's no wonder that 3D ticket sales
have pretty consistently fallen year-over-year since Avatar, and it makes me wonder if that will affect people's decision to view Avatar 2 in 3D. It might be the original "you
have to see it in 3D!" movie, but will nostalgia be enough to overcome the return of the perception that 3D is for schlock and not serious movies? I dunno, this is all just speculation. (And damn, I said 3D a lot in this post.)
Like I said, I'm sure it'll do well, but it's clear that Bob is only cheering it on because Fox got bought out by Disney. Remember how much he made fun of the X-Men movies pre-buyout, but as soon as the deal was done he couldn't wait to see the X-Men being shoved into the MCU (and being wrong every time he predicted it was coming)? It's entirely fanboyism and nothing more for Bobbo: if you're part of the Disney conglomerate, you're the Good Guys and will definitely succeed.
Finally, this post gives me an excuse to add this video: