Pandora: The World of Avatar Announcement, Construction, & Preview Discussion

[Jymmymack]

The more I think about it this area has a lot of potential. I could easily picture a FJ like ride with us in the Halo Hornet look alike ships or even a Pandora's Box like ride for it too. The only thing I see is that after looking at the patent and the picture it kind of reminded me of Pteranadon Flyers and Jurassic Park. The more I think about it I think there is a chance this could come out looking very Jurassic Park ish and Disney is going to have to work hard to avoid that. On another note I'm fairly surprised that Disney has chosen Avatar as it has some very adult overtones with the whole dominance of the animals before riding them and the ponytails and what not. However I am still very excited to watch this unfold over the next 4 to 5 years.

The more I look at the patent, the more certain I am that it is NOT for a ride system. It would be way to unstable to try to wisk that thing around a building or even outside. It's based on ultralight design, that's not something you put on a track and have people climb on and off. It's a show element.

 

[Vyrus]

Or its possible that CMs will be flying it around in the air above the area to immerse you even more and make you feel like those things I flying around above you? :shrug:

 

[Scarletwebslingr]

I see your point but I have to disagree with your film choices haha Potter films generally went dreadful and redeemed themselves with the final two. But I just don't see Avatar as big franchises as Star Wars, IJ, Pirates and even Transformers yet. I suppose how the films will be received. But I look forward to the attraction nonetheless but as I said previously it seems risky to me as I don't think it will have the same impact as say Potter.

You don't think sequels to the all time highest-grossing, award grabbing, serial-suicide inducing, critically fresh film, Avatar, will match the success of Pirates, Indy, or Transformers? Evidence seems more than favorable.

 

[KRAKENvsMANTA]

Maybe I'm in the minority here, but I liked Avatar. Heck, I'd even go a step further and say that Avatar is better than all the Potter movies combined! I could careless about some teenage magicians, but the world of Pandora? Awesome. With that said, I still think WWOHP is easily the greastest themed area ever! I hate the movies, but like the land. I have to imagine a similar thing happening at AK. Many people may be critical of Avatar as a movie, but when all is said and done, Pandora at AK will look amazing.

I know it's far away, but I CAN'T WAIT TO SEE SOME CONCEPT ART!!!

 

[rhino4evr]

I don't think anyone is doubting that Avatar 2 and 3 will make lots and lots of loot. The question really is, is this a property that has legs? Is this a property that will draw crowds for years to come?

Im sure when Avatar land opens it will be huge, but what happens in 5,10, or 15 years? Unlike Potter, the franchise is not as well proven, and does not (currently) have the same kind of fan base. So yes. it IS a big risk to do a "whole land" based on this movie series that isn't even complete.

i will give you a perfect example of why this could be bad...how many rides have Universal replaced because they no longer hold current generation's interest? Most movie/TV properties are NOT timeless. Ghostbusters, Back to the Future, Hanna Barbara, Jimmy Neutron etc have all been replaced by more modern popular entertainment properties.

The Matrix comparisons are sound, if they announced a Matrix land what would your over all feeling be?
Pirates is not a great comparison as the ride existed and was already a classic before the movies. Same goes for Star Wars.

Doesn't the great movie ride even seem dated?

 

[Scarletwebslingr]

I don't think anyone is doubting that Avatar 2 and 3 will make lots and lots of loot. The question really is, is this a property that has legs? Is this a property that will draw crowds for years to come?

Im sure when Avatar land opens it will be huge, but what happens in 5,10, or 15 years? Unlike Potter, the franchise is not as well proven, and does not (currently) have the same kind of fan base. So yes. it IS a big risk to do a "whole land" based on this movie series that isn't even complete.

i will give you a perfect example of why this could be bad...how many rides have Universal replaced because they no longer hold current generation's interest? Most movie/TV properties are NOT timeless. Ghostbusters, Back to the Future, Hanna Barbara, Jimmy Neutron etc have all been replaced by more modern popular entertainment properties.

The Matrix comparisons are sound, if they announced a Matrix land what would your over all feeling be?
Pirates is not a great comparison as the ride existed and was already a classic before the movies. Same goes for Star Wars.

Doesn't the great movie ride even seem dated?

If a Matrixland was created having a state-of-the-art ride system and mind-blowing themeing, I think the longevity would sit with that over the films themselves. Twilight Zone is a very dated franchise that has been reduced at this point to only being aired for the occasional holiday marathons with an embarrassingly unsuccessful revamp yet ToT still stands strong because it's themeing elements and ride mechanics. I can't say how well the films will go, but if the land is done right, that's what will dictate its lasting impression.

 

[rhino4evr]

I think an Avatar ride is a much better investment then an Avatar land. Twilight Zone is definitely a good example of an old property working well, although I still love those New Years Day marathons on Sci-fi. It's still just one ride though.

I also wonder what will happen to Aerosmith the ride once Steven Tyler dies or Joe Perry dies. That will be an interesting transition.

 

[Tbad556]

I think an Avatar ride is a much better investment then an Avatar land. Twilight Zone is definitely a good example of an old property working well, although I still love those New Years Day marathons on Sci-fi. It's still just one ride though.

I also wonder what will happen to Aerosmith the ride once Steven Tyler dies or Joe Perry dies. That will be an interesting transition.

I may be crazy, but I don't see Rock n' Roller Coaster sticking around that long without some kind of change.

As for whether Avatar has the popularity to back it up, I'd say yes, even ignoring the movie's gross.

To begin, Avatar has 22 million likes on Facebook. Harry Potter has 34 million. Considering that is one movie compared to a franchise of 7 books and 8 films, I'd say that's pretty good for its popularity. As it was stated before, the announcement was also trending on Twitter almost immediately. To add on to that, the announcement has already been "liked" over 12k times on Facebook.

DVD and Blu-Ray sales for the movie also performed extremely well. It was "the fastest-selling home video release in history, with sales totaling $130 million." If most people didn't enjoy the film in the theaters, the DVD/Blu-Ray sales wouldn't have performed as well as they did. On top of that, 92% of audience ratings out of 622,949 on Rotten Tomatoes were positive for the film. Another reason to believe that the movie was enjoyed, and popular. Not only did the films make a good chunk of cash, but merchandise sales also performed well. The merchandise sales for the film came in at $153 million back in the Summer of 2010.

While a good portion of people also disliked the film, I don't see how anyone can knock the franchise's popularity. :shrug:

 

[JungleSkip]

No offense Tbad, but using Facebook to gauge the popularity of something is pretty bollocks.

 

[Tbad556]

No offense Tbad, but using Facebook to gauge the popularity of something is pretty bollocks.

None taken. I enjoy a good debate every now and then. There still is the point of DVD, and merch sales, the positiveness of most reviews, etc. That was just something I found interesting, so I included it.

 

[Scarletwebslingr]

No offense Tbad, but using Facebook to gauge the popularity of something is pretty bollocks.

Not necessarily. It gives a numerical value within a certain demographic of people which is more than can be said for someone claiming "most people I know didn't like it."

 

[Don Pacho]

Maybe I'm in the minority here, but I liked Avatar. Heck, I'd even go a step further and say that Avatar is better than all the Potter movies combined! I could careless about some teenage magicians, but the world of Pandora? Awesome. With that said, I still think WWOHP is easily the greastest themed area ever! I hate the movies, but like the land. I have to imagine a similar thing happening at AK. Many people may be critical of Avatar as a movie, but when all is said and done, Pandora at AK will look amazing.

I know it's far away, but I CAN'T WAIT TO SEE SOME CONCEPT ART!!!

+1


I could not agree more!!

 

[Tbad556]

Not necessarily. It gives a numerical value within a certain demographic of people which is more than can be said for someone claiming "most people I know didn't like it."

I only included it, because I found it interesting that it had that many fans, while the highest grossing films of last year are: Toy Story as a series has 24 mill, Alice in Wonderland has 7 mill.

 

[Brian G.]

Agreed, I didn't think it was a worthy enough of an attraction to replace T2, this is more worthy of the Avatar property for sure, but to replace T2 like the rumor was..nope

Well, my beef wasn't that it would be replacing T2, but that it wouldn't make sense there. I always thought Avatar would be better as a land, and even then I had trepidations due to Pandora being primitive. Not to mention, we need masks because the air in Pandora is toxic to us... I'm sure they obviously have a storyline worked out for the land, but it needs to make sense within the context of the movie.

i will give you a perfect example of why this could be bad...how many rides have Universal replaced because they no longer hold current generation's interest? Most movie/TV properties are NOT timeless. Ghostbusters, Back to the Future, Hanna Barbara, Jimmy Neutron etc have all been replaced by more modern popular entertainment properties.

Ghostbusters, Back to the Future, and Hanna Barbara are all timeless. Universal just chose to ignore it to plug in the latest "hip" thing. Although, I still think replacing Simpsons, which is about the same age as BttF, was ridiculous.

The Matrix comparisons are sound, if they announced a Matrix land what would your over all feeling be?
Pirates is not a great comparison as the ride existed and was already a classic before the movies. Same goes for Star Wars.

Well, Matrix doesn't really transpire into a great theme park land due to the setting. As a ride, maybe; but definitely not a whole land. The entire movie is either in the slums of the underground, or in an urban setting. Doesn't translate into a great area. Avatar has a great setting, and amazing visuals, and there is a potential of exploring more of the origins of Pandora.

And Star Wars was a movie first, ride after....

Doesn't the great movie ride even seem dated?

Not because of the show scenes, it's the ride system and some of the scenes that need some updating. A significant refurb would do wonders.

 

[Frogki]

WOW... I stop posting on the board for a few months and THIS happens!

I've been reading the thread all day on and off and it makes me so excited! I know there isn't much to go on yet but speculating, this could be absolutely amazing...

 

[zbob1992]

The more I look at the patent, the more certain I am that it is NOT for a ride system. It would be way to unstable to try to wisk that thing around a building or even outside. It's based on ultralight design, that's not something you put on a track and have people climb on and off. It's a show element.

That was not my main point at all. I don't think there will be guests on those things. Maybe actors painted blue but most likely AAs.

 

[Jymmymack]

Not necessarily. It gives a numerical value within a certain demographic of people which is more than can be said for someone claiming "most people I know didn't like it."

That's true, but one major caveat about Avatar's Facebook. I'm a "fan" on fb, and the reason is in order to see the trailer or get access to something exclusive before the film came out, I had to like their page. Avatar is HUGE, but fb and Twitter are inconclusive gauges.

And why are bringing up whether or not Avatar was better than all of the Potter movies? We should be talking about whether or not it's better than Pocohontas.(snap).

That being said, popularity won't factor in here. If it is well-designed and fun, it will create it's own source of popularity. Do you think anybody (besides me) sits around wondering why the f Disney based their uberexpensive flume ride on Song of the South, a movie so controversial that they won't even let it out of the vault? Nope everybody just laughs and sings along and points at Brear Rabbit trapped in honey and smiles while I think about how originally he was stuck in tar, in the form of a racial epithet.

 

[tiredoldspook]

Universal fanboys are going to hate it and say it won't match Potter. It doesn't have to it has to boost numbers at a park that still does bigger numbers then IOA. 2nd Avatar wasn't a great movie as far as story went but it brought an amazing world to life. The 3d was to me what the film was more about. So if you consider how much more advanced technology becomes everyday this attraction could be amazing. As far as it not bringing 1000's of people on opening day that i doubt. It will draw huge and Disney will handle the situation better then Universal did. The numbers may not be potter like but they will be massive AVATAR has a huge following and with sequels planned it is still going to be more current then Potter.

 

[Jimpossible87]

I think its really exciting dont get me wrong...I HATED Avatar but a new land at AK sounds like big news to me...My main entertaniment value out of all this announcing is all the people on the Disney boards going crazy over Avatarland when they spent years saying how dumb Universal was for making a Harry poter land. I remeber it all ..."HP isnt a timeless classic...ppl wont care about it in 20 years" ble bleh bleh and now They are all arguing with me because i said I didnt like Avatar lol HILARIOUS. but anyway...I do think it fits in well with AK and its whole conservation theme for sure. Im sure the motion simulator will be spectacular lol and there will be tons of new stilt walker jobs. I think what Disney will be able to do at AK will most likely be amazing. I am kind of glad Universal isnt getting it because I still am sitting and waiting and hoping for King Kong or at least transformers over there. Plus I have never in my life seen an attraction that equals forbidden journey so Im sure Disney will be going gung ho on this. Competition is always great for the fans we just get bigger and more!

 

[UNIrd]

I think its really exciting dont get me wrong...I HATED Avatar but a new land at AK sounds like big news to me...My main entertaniment value out of all this announcing is all the people on the Disney boards going crazy over Avatarland when they spent years saying how dumb Universal was for making a Harry poter land. I remeber it all ..."HP isnt a timeless classic...ppl wont care about it in 20 years" ble bleh bleh and now They are all arguing with me because i said I didnt like Avatar lol HILARIOUS. but anyway...I do think it fits in well with AK and its whole conservation theme for sure. Im sure the motion simulator will be spectacular lol and there will be tons of new stilt walker jobs. I think what Disney will be able to do at AK will most likely be amazing. I am kind of glad Universal isnt getting it because I still am sitting and waiting and hoping for King Kong or at least transformers over there. Plus I have never in my life seen an attraction that equals forbidden journey so Im sure Disney will be going gung ho on this. Competition is always great for the fans we just get bigger and more!

LMAO. That's so true! But honestly, I've checked out the Disney forums and there's a lot of naysayers about Avatarland too. I'm just not sure if they're the same ones or not.