James Cameron Hopes for “Avengers” Fatigue

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While the legendary director of “Terminator” and “Aliens” admits that he enjoys the occasional comic book movie, part of him hopes that they come to an end soon, as they are dominating the sci-fi genre but all tell a similar story with comparable set pieces and themes. James Cameron hopes to diversify things with his Avatar sequels, which he describes as family dramas akin to “The Godfather.”

“I’m hoping we’ll start getting ‘Avenger’ fatigue here pretty soon,” Cameron said. “Not that I don’t love the movies. It’s just, come on guys, there are other stories to tell besides hyper-gonadal males without families doing death-defying things for two hours and wrecking cities in the process. It’s like, oy!”
 
"Cameron hopes to diversify things with his Avatar sequels"

The irony of this coming from the man who made Titanic and especially Avatar is most hilarious. Yes, the superhero cape-flick genre is getting stale and overworn but apparently what the world needs is more blue alien dances with wolves-esque sequels.
 
I totally agree with Cameron on this...I'm already fatigued from the MCU...didn't Thor: Ragnorak and Black Panther just come out???...there's way too many and they're all the same with different heroes and villains...and the worst part is none of the good guys ever get killed off...hopefully Infinity War kills off multiple major heroes (and a few secondary ones as well)...meaning they need to kill off 2-3 of the original Avengers (Iron Man, Captain America) and a few of the useless secondary ones (Ant Man, Vision, Hawkeye, War Machine etc)...the only ones I care about are Hulk, Thor, Spider Man and Black Panther (and the future X-Men)

Disney should focus all of their resources on making good Star Wars movies and relax with the Marvel super-hero movies
 
they've built up and hyped Thanos as the baddest mofo in the history of comic book movies...how many MCU movies has this buildup of Thanos been going on for?...12?...all these infinity stones etc...he needs to kick some major ass and not end up as another typical MCU villain who gets dispatched with relative ease...I can already see how this is going to end with Thanos- all the heroes gather together and each one of them uses their particular super-power sctick to get their shot on him and combined together they take him down- Spidey shoots his web at him, Thor throws his hammer, Cap throws his shield, Hawkeye hits him with an arrow, Black Panther scratches him with his claws etc...and bada bing their combined strength kills him...
 
I agree. These comic book movies are getting out of hand.
But so are rehashes and endless sequels. There are tons of SciFi Books that have never been tapped for their great stories and characters. Ringworld, A Mote in Gods Eye, Rendezvous with Rama...and a bazillion more. Also after Game of Thrones I could see the possibility of doing some mini series like Anne McCaffrey's Dragon Riders of Pern books.
 
Really, the superhero bending rules of physics and the evil military industrial invader thing is old. We need more pure science as the conflict. Man against science as the antagonist. Particularly space as the difficulty of managing effects of a weightless vacuum are our major hurdles. Good primer for the next generation. Stuff like "Gravity" or the show "The Expanse".
 
Marvel appears to have a solid story arch going- and considering Logan, which was dark and ended with the protagonist's death, and Deadpool that took live-action comic book movies to a place they've never been, I think that Marvel is working hard to 'diversify' while maintaining high production values all around. Aside from the X-Men travesties (themselves aside from Logan), everything they've done in cinema has punched above average. I honestly hope that they keep up the good work; they could release a movie a month if they could keep the quality up.

They're doing a far sight better than DC's middling recent attempts, and DC has far more recognizable properties.
 
I mean, its not like there isn't room for movies beyond comic book ones. They're the biggest money makers right now, but its not like every single other movie released fails. I'll take comic book movies over the decade+ we had of summer movies being Michael Bay schlock or movies "inspired" by his "style. Movies like Jumanji can make a killing even with all the superhero movies surrounding it. There might be a few too many superhero movies coming out in the next few years, but I don't see the MCU going anywhere for a very long time. Everything else will probably fall by the wayside though. WB has no fucking clue what it's doing and there is no chance Valient's movies are going to pull in MCU numbers, though maybe they'll find an audience depending on how they're marketed.

But so are rehashes and endless sequels. There are tons of SciFi Books that have never been tapped for their great stories and characters. Ringworld, A Mote in Gods Eye, Rendezvous with Rama...and a bazillion more. Also after Game of Thrones I could see the possibility of doing some mini series like Anne McCaffrey's Dragon Riders of Pern books.

Sony has been working away at doing something with Wheel of Time for a couple years. I think that universe, in the right hands, could be highly successful as a big budget series. Either that or it will become the next Sword of Truth and Shanara. Jim Butcher's Codex Alera series would make a good series of movies I think. They're not too terribly long and they're just dense enough to require some work, but not overly dense that studios would have to sacrifice a lot of the story to make it work. Heck, his Dresden books would make a good TV series as long as they don't royally fuck it up like the last time someone tried.
 
In other news, a director is butthurt at the idea of another overblown movie franchise being more popular than his overblown movie franchise he hasn't done anything with in damn near 10 years and no one cared about a month after it was out of theaters.

Now I'm in California, I recall avatards ending up on the evening news complaining that Avatar leaving theaters was a travesty as they considered it a documentary of their people. I wish I were joking. Yeah sure fine his movie made an assload of money, but that doesn't mean it'll be the long lasting IP he hopes it'll be.
 
Marvel appears to have a solid story arch going- and considering Logan, which was dark and ended with the protagonist's death, and Deadpool that took live-action comic book movies to a place they've never been, I think that Marvel is working hard to 'diversify' while maintaining high production values all around. Aside from the X-Men travesties (themselves aside from Logan), everything they've done in cinema has punched above average. I honestly hope that they keep up the good work; they could release a movie a month if they could keep the quality up.

They're doing a far sight better than DC's middling recent attempts, and DC has far more recognizable properties.

Thing is, both Logan and Deadpool are movies based on Marvel's X-Men IP that were made despite of Marvel/Disney, not because of.

Fox has the X-Men license, which gave them Deadpool and Wolverine, and the terms of the license means that Marvel/Disney really have very little say over what happens in them, other than making sure they don't use other Marvel properties they didn't pay for. That gave them a lot of freedom, used to good effect in the two movies you cited (and not so much in the others, agreed).

Of course that all goes tits-up, now that Fox has sold to Disney.

Personally, I think it's going to be a pretty terrible cinematic world when Disney controls about 50% of the world-wide box-office. That's the cinematic universe I'm worried about.
 
IMDB writing credits
2015 Avatar 5
(characters) (pre-production)
2024Avatar 4 (characters) (pre-production)
2021Avatar 3 (characters) / (written by) (filming)
2020Avatar 2 (characters) / (screenplay) (filming)

oh boy.

tenor.gif
 
Ok ok ok, so take away ever single Marvel movie made and think about what we would have left. HAHAHHAHAHHAaaaaaaaaaa
 
These old farts are just lazy jealous old fucks at this point. Cameron's a guy who has no degree and he fought and stole his way to the top. Now all he can do is whine whine whine, much like the other old farts like Spielberg. Instead of beating the comic book movies with his Avaterd sequels...
 
James Cameron is a Egotistical putz with delusions of grandeur... he's just pissed because despite all the hubbub of his initial release for Avatar being lauded as something fantastic, 20/20 hindsight saw it for the unimaginative garbage it is.. and can't compare to capes and villains...
 
"there are other stories to tell besides hyper-gonadal males without families doing death-defying things for two hours and wrecking cities in the process."
So whats wrong with this?
 
"there are other stories to tell besides hyper-gonadal males without families doing death-defying things for two hours and wrecking cities in the process."
So whats wrong with this?

Yup. This quote in addition to mentioning Avatar sequels pretty much says everything.
 
See, the problem with most of these comic book characters is that there's no logic behind who wins and who loses. Its all "wizard fights", and at the end of the movie you find out who was the strongest wizard. Its boring, because there's no reason for it to be that way that I can discern, other than they're the good guy and so they dig deep within themselves and overcome bad wizards who weren't quite as powerful as they thought all long, because the writer said so.
 
See, the problem with most of these comic book characters is that there's no logic behind who wins and who loses. Its all "wizard fights", and at the end of the movie you find out who was the strongest wizard. Its boring, because there's no reason for it to be that way that I can discern, other than they're the good guy and so they dig deep within themselves and overcome bad wizards who weren't quite as powerful as they thought all long, because the writer said so.

I wish they would stop following the fucking comic books. I mean, the characters are well-known and fleshed-out now so just go and do something crazy with them. I fucking hate comic book movies for the most part. The only ones I liked were the Christopher Nolan Batman trilogy. The rest just follow the same fucking formula... the good guys win. Super powerful human fights villain who seems damn near impossible to kill and appears to finally have a full-proof plan, only to be bested by the good guy at the very end after the good guy gets his ass whooped for 90% of the movie.
 
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I'd watch 10 straight hours of fantastic four movies (interspersed with pocahontas) before watching avatar again.

I wish they would stop following the fucking comic books. I mean, the characters are well-known and fleshed-out now so just go and do something crazy with them. I fucking hate comic book movies for the most part. The only ones I liked were the Christopher Nolan Batman trilogy. The rest just follow the same fucking formula... the good guys win. Super powerful human fights villain who seems damn near impossible to kill and appears to finally have a full-proof plan, only to be bested by the good guy at the very end after the good buy gets his ass whooped for 90% of the movie.
Yes, I'd like to see some dead super heros, maybe let the baddie win till the sequel or something?

or Jodorowsky to finish The Incal animated movie :)
Another Heavy Metal would be nice, but more along the lines of the original not 2000.
 
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I don't see Marvel fatigue anywhere. Every movie is a cash cow, because you, your kids, and grandkids, all like to watch this shit.
mindless entertainment is the best.
 
There are amazing movies out there if you want something different. I don't even see many movies.

Off the top of my head over the last yearish:

Get Out
You Where Never Really Here
The Girl with all the Gifts
Small Town Crime
 
Say what you will about Avatar, but Terminator 2 is a godamn masterpiece of film making!

Those special & practical effects are amazing and still look better than most movies put out now days. Of course he had help too, Stan Winston, god rest his soul.



The Making of:
 
Thing is, both Logan and Deadpool are movies based on Marvel's X-Men IP that were made despite of Marvel/Disney, not because of.

Fox has the X-Men license, which gave them Deadpool and Wolverine, and the terms of the license means that Marvel/Disney really have very little say over what happens in them, other than making sure they don't use other Marvel properties they didn't pay for. That gave them a lot of freedom, used to good effect in the two movies you cited (and not so much in the others, agreed).

Of course that all goes tits-up, now that Fox has sold to Disney.

Personally, I think it's going to be a pretty terrible cinematic world when Disney controls about 50% of the world-wide box-office. That's the cinematic universe I'm worried about.

This is my biggest worry, too. Disney is the ultimate money-over-originality machine. I have been totally unimpressed by the vast majority of their recent films (Star Wars definitely included). I like movies and I worry what cinema becomes when most of it is just about money and merchandise (already there...?). We need more studios like Ghibli, more directors like Villeneuve, more thoughtful cinematography (kill the shakycam already), etc. James Cameron is far from the cure...
 
Have you seen the Avengers trailer? That shit looks amazingly good. You want me to have fatigue over comic book movies than make something good. I don't watch them cause I'm fanatic over comic book heros, I'm watching them cause they're good... except DC Movies. Fuck DC Movies, they suck. Quick note, I've never read a comic book. Actually I did buy and read the Ashbringer comic, but not because it was a good comic but because the Ashbringer is freakin cool as shit. BTW Blizzard I'm still waiting for that movie to be made.

 

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This would be an interesting take if it came from anyone else. As it is, Cameron is only hoping for Avengers (MCU) fatigue so that whatever overpriced, overhyped bullshit he directs can get a clean release month. It's the same reason anybody at Warner would hope for MCU fatigue.
 
Sorry it's our generations time to dominate. Comics played a big role in our childhood.
Come back in 10 years for video game movies....that may not suck.
 
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