Originally published at: Forgotten for 13 years, folks are upset by Disney+ pulling "Avatar" from its catalog | Boing Boing
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I know the zeitgeist is very much that no-one remembers this film, but I have no trouble recalling it, and friends seem to remember it just fine.
I suspect the internet brain is implying that it lacks the rabid fanbase that it’s companions in the all-time movie charts have - The Star wars films, the Marvel films.
That seems the cultural norm in the billion dollar move clubhouse. If you haven’t several hundred thousand fans wearing your t-shirts on a daily basis, your a forgotten nobody.
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I think I remember that. Is that the one with the Airbender?
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Not only do I remember it, I thoroughly enjoyed it at the time, thought it to be plenty of fun and a great universe to build stories in, and am excited to see it finally continue.
What’s more amazing to me is how many people involved in fandom are hellbent on people NOT enjoying things. Whether Mac vs PC, DC vs Marvel, old vs new Star Wars or Star Trek, many people put a LOT of effort into convincing people that they should not like or enjoy the things they like or enjoy.
It’s not a zero-sum game. If you’re not into it. Ignore it, go find something you love and enjoy that instead, hopefully without people telling you how wrong you are for doing so.
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Ha… I got the DVD from my local Blockbuster’s “out” bin before the store went under… 
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At the risk of sounding like Columbo, my wife really liked this movie.
Fortunately for me I have it on DVD.
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But…it’s just Papyrus and they got away with it
(I’ve posted the video enough by now 
)
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People are surprised a corporation is doing something primarily for profits? The shock, the outage.
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You’ve got to admit that people generally have a harder time remembering the names of the characters though. For comparison, it’s hard to find one person who doesn’t know the name of a single Star Wars or Marvel character, regardless of whether or not they like those franchises.
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Ferngully is still available in Amazon Prime.
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It’s available in plenty of places online, just not any that are owned by Disney.
I didn’t realise James Cameron made this movie back in 2009, whenever I heard people talking about Avatar I always thought they talked about M. Night Shyamalan’s The Last Airbender which came out around the same time.
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what is being branded a money-oriented decision designed to get more people to buy tickets to see the film on the big screen. The move has been branded both “stupid” and “concerning” by Twitter users.
I’d brand it "predictable ".
I’m sure “Dances with Wolves” is also available on a number of platforms.
As is the case with a lot of Cameron’s films, the real stars are the SFX and technical innovations, with plot and dialogue and characters and actors being borderline afterthoughts. At the time the picture was released, a lot of people were enthralled to the point where they were dreaming about the beautiful planet or expressing a real longing to live there. That didn’t make it memorable or a classic in the long run, though.
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I remember we did a team building exercise watching this movie, and I commented afterwards that it wasn’t likely to get a sequel anytime soon – it was amazing cinamatography, but who’d pony up another $400 million for fern gully in space 2: electric boogaloo? I seemed to be alone in my appraisal, but given that it’s been well over a decade I believe I won that particular no-prize.
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Disney hasn’t removed Pocahontas yet, just watch that and you’ll be up to speed for the sequel.
Truth be told though, I think this is not a bad idea because the theatre experience was what made this movie. The quality of the creatures and 3D world they created, the quality of the 3D effects in the theatre all combined to make a magical moment.
And when it was seen again on a regular screen - meh, Ferngully.
So I suspect that they’re trying to remind everyone that these movies are not best viewed as movies on a flat screen, but something to be experienced.
So, maybe not just a financial decision?
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It’s a false premise though.
Off the top of my head, I really enjoyed Edge of tomorrow in the cinema. Can I remember any character names? Nope.
Children of men was a fantastic film… So was Gravity… drawing a blank on names.
Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind… no recollection.
And yet I could summarize the plot of all of them. I enjoyed them greatly.
Anyway, despite not being an Avatar fan, I can totally remember the lead character is called Jake Suuuhhhllleeeeee… Mainly because of an anecdote someone told me of their kid accidentally getting a t-shirt of the avatar hero, instead of the big blue Pixar monster.
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I haven’t seen it in the theater since the original release, but I have seen parts of it on TV since, and it suffers visually. I remember being blown away by the realism of the CGI on the big screen in 3D. On TV it could pass for some newer, higher end video game. I may go see it in re-release just to see if it holds up to my memory.
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Now I want to get it and play it on a 1.4" screen to see which movie it turns into.
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I only remember this movie because of Unobtanium, which was already a well-worn word in the world of repairing old stuff. Any part that is no longer made but is always broken in an old gizmo, hence not available to make the gizmo work again, is called Unobtanium.
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The only real part of the plot I remeber is when the commander decides to fly the giant death raining platform ship over to the giant tree village… He did that for maximum dick wagging, because he could have just leveled the village from where he was. My suspension of reality broken, roll credits, no sequel.
