Avatar

After a re-release in China the 2009 James Cameron movie Avatar has once again become the top grossing movie of all time after it was knocked down to second place by Avengers: Endgame in 2019.

The 3D spectacular became the top grossing movie of all time on its initial release, replacing another James Cameron directed movie Titanic, which had been there for 10 years.

Avatar was also at the top for 10 years before being replaced by Avengers: Endgame which narrowly grossed more than the $2.78 Billion Avatar took with a $2.79 Billion global gross.

It was clear that all it was going to take was a successful re-release of the Avatar movie to reclaim the top, and in a period of time when studios are being cautious about releasing new movies why not release a film which has already made its money?

The real big winner here is Disney, they of course own the Marvel Universe movies for which Avengers: Endgame is one and since the 20th Century Fox acquisition in 2019/2020 they also own the Avatar franchise, so are Disney now going to re-release the Avengers movie?

James Cameron is currently working on 4 more Avatar movies and judging from this re-release the fan base is still there and hence the future for the franchise looks promising, maybe we'll get the first $3 Billion movie once the pandemic is out of the way?

A brief history of the Terminator films

The original Terminator film came out of no-where, it was the second film by the young fledgeling director James Cameron and it was fresh and exciting and had a story that was clever and captivated audiences.

The follow up came 6 years later and with the hype and incredible (for the time) special effects the film was going to be a hit, Arnold Schwarzenegger was at the height of his fame.

Terminator 2: Judgement Day was a massive box office hit, which had a good story, despite some plot holes, with over the top exciting action and it went on to gross over $500 Million globally which adjusted for inflation would be about $1.2 Billion today.

After that the rights to the franchise moved all over the place, then in 2003 we suddenly got Terminator 3: Rise Of THe Machine, and despite the film having fairly good reviews, starring Schwarzenegger and grossing over $400 Million globally it felt more like a stand alone movie than part of the series.

Then the big trouble started and we got Terminator Salvation in 2009, directed by McG and starring Christian Bale the film reportedly had a very troubled shoot and with Schwarzenegger on California Governor duties he didn't star just appearing as a computer generated Terminator towards the end for a brief second or 2.

Despite this negativity of both the film and the plot it still grossed nearly $400 Million, but the series was stagnating and each film was grossing less and less as each film went on.

The series needed a reboot and in 2015 Schwarzenegger came back and director Alan Taylor tried to get a feeling of the origin film in a reboot that mixed the story from The Terminator changing the time line and creating a new path for the series, but things were too confusing and the film flopped and talk of a followup ended.

So why did Terminator: Dark Fate fail?

It must have seemed like the ideal situation, bring back Schwarzenegger, bring back Linda Hamilton as the original Sarah Connor, and to top it off bring back the original creator James Cameron to write the story and produce the movie, he's too busy directing Avatar 2 so passed that duty off to Deadpool director Tim Miller.

What we have here then is series fatigue, after the 2015 reboot promise the paying public and fans have simply lost hope in trying to get a film which brings back the memory of the first 2 films, Dark Fate does not do this.

Then we have the talent, Arnold Schwarzenegger is no where near the star he was in 1991, arguably the biggest, and he is no longer the mean looking muscle machine he once was, then Linda Hamilton who rarely appears in films these days so do audiences know who she is or connect with her? Then James Cameron, after Avatar, which granted was the biggest film ever until this year, is hardly a household name anymore, these elements don't make for a must see movie.

The original 1984 story has now been told again and again in the Terminator movies, how many time can the story of a robot sent from the future to kill someone who is in turn protected by another person/machine sent from the same future, despite how much you mix things up, audiences are clearly bored of this rehashing in each reboot.

Special effects today have to have the WOW factor to sell a movie, Terminator 2 had it, but its harder to do in a day and age when almost anything is possible and sadly Dark Fate simply fails to have it.

The film reportedly had a troubled post production with director Miller and writer/producer Cameron disagreeing over the edit, and it shows, it leaves you feeling like you have just watched a disjointed movie when you leave the cinema.

Finally, and maybe this is a personal thing, the title, Dark Fate is a bit cheesy and doesn't come close to Judgment Day or even Salvation, Rise of the Machines was even a good sub title. A title shouldn't matter but it has got to sell the film, Genisys was not good and Dark Fate is even worse.

End of the franchise?

The movie will struggle to make $300 Million at the global box office, this in a day and age when tentpole movie are expected to take over a Billion is not good enough, the series future is looking bleak and it could be this is the last nail in the coffin.

There is one last hope that might bring the series back! If James Cameron can find a story somewhere within that is different but keeps within the Terminator universe, and if he decides to direct the movie himself we may just get a 7th movie, its a big ask with his involvement in the Avatar films, but this might mean we get a good few year before another movie, no bad thing.

Like many other long running series, Alien for example, the series won't just lie back and enjoy the success it's had, we most likely will see another movie in the series but it will be for another generation, and once we have forgotten the bad box office run of Terminator: Dark Fate.

Being held in Anaheim California August 23rd - 25th the Ultimate Disney Fan Event is held by the company on a bi-annual basis and gives the fans news on the latest movies, TV shows and theme parks.

What can we expect for this years event? With a new Star Wars movie around the corner, the end of the phase 3 Marvel Cinematic Universe, a new Frozen movie on the horizons and an area of the Disney theme parks dedicated to Star Wars!

Lucasfilm (Star Wars)

There may not be a new trailer coming out of the D23 expo for Star Wars: The Rise Of Skywalker but we can expect a behind the scenes reel, as we did with the last 2 films, with new footage and most likely, and just maybe we'll get an official movie poster.

There may also be some news on the new trilogy of films that are set for release every other year from December 2023.

There has been a feeling that we have had too much Star Wars in recent years so after this years movie expect the whole franchise to go quiet until the promotion starts for he 2023 movie.

Disney are releasing their own streaming service this year, Disney+, and the Star Wars Universe ig going to feed into this a lot over the years between The Rise Of Skywalker and the next cinematic adventure including the much anticipated The Mandalorian for which there will likely be a trailer.

Lets not also forget that other Lucasfilms franchise, Indianan Jones. The next movie has already been delayed but is going ahead with Harrison Ford, little is known but with a whole area dedicated to the film studio there could well be some mention of the original tomb raider.

Marvel Cinematic Universe

The MCU phase 3 went out with a massive bang and Avengers: Engame became the top grossing movie of all time and Spider-Man: Far from home grossed over a Billion at the box office, so the phase 4 has a lot to live up to.

The first spanner in the works is the breakdown of the Disney and Sony (who own Spider-Man) partnership so don't expect to hear anything from the Spidey franchise, but with the acquisition of Fox by Disney every other Marvel character can now be used by Disney so expect to see the likes of X-Men and Fantastic 4 cropping up, not that we'll hear anything at D23.

There should be more news on the confirmed project like Shang-Chi, Black Widow and Thor: Love And Thunder, maybe there will even be a trailer for the Scarlett Johansson starring movie which is the first of these movie out the door next March.

Again the Disney+ streaming service, due for launch this year, will be a major part of the MCU going forward with the prospect of TV series adding to the Universe as well as movies.

Avatar

One of the properties that Disney aquired when it bought Fox was James Camerons former highest grossing movie Avatar and all planed sequels.

They have been a long time coming but with the opening of the Pandora area (the planet in the movie) in Animal Kingdom in Orlando Disney are keen to get the sequels made and have announced they will be released bi-yearly fron 2022.

There will be an Avatar area as the expo and the possibility of more information of the sequels which are being made back to back.

Walt Disney Animation Studios And Pixar

Lets not forget the animated Disney Movies! On the horizon is Frozen II, which is kind of a big deal, the original film is still the true highest grossing animated movie of all time (not counting the new The Lion King movie) and became a cultural phenomenon back in 2013.

The trailers have promised much and we could see more footage from the film which is set for release at the end of 2019.

It has been announced that there will be a Moana area coming to Epcot in the revamp of the Walt Disney World park, this could be a sign that there is a sequel to the 2016 animated movie.

Pixar will also be showing off its future movies Onwards and Soul at a presentation during the weekend.

Little has beed seen from these movies from the digital animated arm of the company except for a trailer for Onwards, so fans are excited to see more and this is the perfect platform.

There is of course much more that will come out of the Expo so come back regularly to get all the latest news.

The live action version of The Lion King moves to the top of the global box office on its second weekend of release as the film hits cinemas across the globe.

The Lion King

The film hit the global box office last week at number 3 with its Chinese release but this week with a global release the film easily hits the top of the box office.

Released in 53 countries the Jon Favreau directed film takes $454 Million to climb to number one which gives the film a $531 Million total gross.

Spider-Man: Far From Home

Falling to number 2 on its 4th weekend of release the Spidey movie takes $58.2 Million from 68 countries.

This pushes the film total global gross to $970.7 Million which means the film could well pass the Billion dollar mark by next weekend.

Toy Story 4

The Animated movie falls to 3 this week with a weekend gross of $40.4 Million from 45 countries which pushes the film total gross to $859.4 Million.

Looking Up

This Chinese film is released in just 2 countries but this week makes it global box office debut at number 4 with $37.6 Million.

This gives the film a new total global gross of $61.1 Million.

The White Storm 2: Drug Lords

Falling to number 5 on its 3rd weekend of release the Chinese film takes $15.6 Million from 8 countries for a global total of $174.5 Million.

Avengers: Endgame

Outside the chart the Marvel Studios mega hit takes over the crown from Avatar as the highest grossing movie of all time.

The films global gross this weekend went to $2.790 Billion which beats Avatars $2.789 Billion by a slim margin but its an all important slim margin, it has taken 12 weeks to get to this amazing milestone.

It has taken Avengers: Endgame 13 weeks, and in that time it has broken almost every box office record, but this weekend it gets the biggest prize of all and beats Avatar to become the highest grossing movie of all time.

Avatar released in 2009 has held the honor for the last 10 years with a total gross of $2.789 Billion from its initial release and all subsequent releases but Avengers: Endgame hits a gross of $2.790 Billion this Saturday.

There was a time when it was thought the gross would never be beaten and despite the former top grossing movie Titanic getting a re-release and pushing its gross over $2 Billion and Star Wars: The Force Awakens having a good go back in 2015 neither were good enough.

There is every possibility that the total global gross will continue to grow and although it seems unlikely now who knows it could be the first film to get to $3 Billion.

Although the gross of the film has beaten Avatar the ticket sales, or adjusted for inflation as its often known as, is still a way from Avatar which would have grossed $3.273 Billion were it released today, although Gone With The Wind from 1939 is still on top of that list.

It is only a matter of time before we get the first $3 Billion film, and hence beating Avenger: Endgame but for the time being Disney and Marvel can enjoy this mighty task.