Essay The Box Office Myth - 2010

In 2010 I read an interview with writer-director M. Night Shyamalan. In the interview, the master of the twist attempted to twist logic. In response to questions about the quality of his then recent film, The Last Airbender, Shyamalan pointed to the box office returns for the film symbolic of how good the movie was. Essentially, because people bought tickets, they automatically liked the movie. I wrote this in response... 

It's time to correct a growing myth in the world of the movie box office. The myth is thus: success at the box office means the movie is good. The latest to pass off this ludicrous myth is a terrific film critic and reporter Steven Rea who recently interviewed director M. Night Shyamalan.

Shyamalan may in fact be the true progenitor of this particular myth. His films have repeatedly been 

trashed by critics and yet, as the article states, only his “Lady in the Water” can be considered a true box office failure. This propels Mr. Rea and Mr. Shyamalan toward the myth of box office equals quality film.

They are talking about Shyamalan's “The Last Airbender” which through this weekend has taken in more than 125 million dollars. Mr. Shyamalan uses this fact as a bludgeon against critics who have left his movie with an 8% positive rating on the review aggregator website Rottentomatoes (the relevance of Rotten Tomatoes is another debate for another time).

You see, by Mr. Shyamalan's logic, parroted by Mr. Rea, the relative box office success of “The Last Airbender” and each of Mr. Shyamalan's reviled epics “The Village” and the more modest financially successful “The Happening,” state clearly that critics are wrong about the quality of his films. The Audience loves them is what they extrapolate from the box office numbers.

Shyamalan and his defenders take the myth a step further stating that the reason critics don't like 

Shyamalan is somehow personal. They resent his success and especially his ability to draw an audience over their repeated objections to his films. The fans keep coming back so clearly the movies are good.

This notion repeated often enough I am sure offers some comfort to Mr. Shyamalan but let's take the air out of this once and for all. Seeing a movie does not automatically mean liking a movie. Millions of Americans are headed to the theaters this weekend and millions will walk out having paid to see a movie that they did not enjoy.

In the age of the front loaded box office this myth can hide ever so easily behind massive opening weekend box office before word of mouth gets out and ruins everything. That is what happened with “The Last Airbender” which has already dropped out of the box office top 10. After raking in nearly 60 million dollars in its first 4 days ‘Airbender’ has limped to 125 million dollars thru this weekend.

By comparison, “Despicable Me,” a film that has received mostly positive reviews from critics, made 56 million dollars on its opening weekend and has done so in less time in theaters than “The Last Airbender.” “Despicable Me” has already gone over the 200 million dollar mark at the box office and will likely pass 250 to 260 million dollars before it's done.

Box office doesn't translate to film quality. Just seeing a movie doesn't mean people liked it. Many have seen “The Last Airbender” and many of them walked out disappointed. They told their friends who told their friends and many of those people decided not to see it.

Mr. Shyamalan says it’s personal between the critics and him. Critics have it out for him. Why? He’s too successful and he succeeds despite the critics. Success can be defined any number of ways Mr. Shyamalan. Studios I’m sure will agree that your films are successful. The return on investment is the bottom line.

But box office is box office and film quality is film quality. “The Last Airbender” is a terrible film in my opinion and in the opinions of many other critics and even among many of the people who turned it into a successful business enterprise. Crow if you like about the film’s box office success Mr. Shyamalan but you disappointed many who saw your film, not just the critics.

Many Americans paid hard earned dollars to take their kids to see “The Last Airbender” and many walked out feeling cheated that they had spent so much to see a movie they didn’t enjoy. Shyamalan points to their dollars and calls himself successful. That’s a fail on this end Mr. Shyamalan, no matter what the balance sheets say.

Movie Review The Last Airbender

The Last Airbender (2010) 

Directed by M. Night Shyamalan 

Written by M. Night Shyamalan 

Starring Noah Ringer, Dev Patel, Nicola Peltz, Jackson Rathbone, Shaun Toub 

Release Date July 1st, 2010 

Published June 30th, 2010 

“The Last Airbender” tells the story of a young boy named Aang (Noah Ringer) who is the reincarnation of the Avatar, the master of all the elements. The elements are Earth, Fire, Water and Air, and The Avatar is the person who brings balance to the world dominated by tribes of those who can master, or rather "Bend," only one of the elements. Unfortunately for all involved, Aang is a petulant deity reincarnated and he runs off for more than a hundred years.

Losing himself in a block of ice, Aang is rescued as our story begins by a Waterbender named Katara (Nicola Peltz) and her warrior brother Sokka (Jackson Rathbone). Together the trio journey's across the world leading a rebellion against the evil Firebenders who, in the Avatar's absence, began a hostile takeover of the world, taking harsh control over the Water and Earth Tribes and wiping out the Airbenders, Aang's original tribe before he found that he controlled all elements. 

The Firebenders are led by Fire Lord Ozai and his evil minion, Commander Zhao (Aasif Mondvi). Also on the side of the Firebenders are Ozai's son, Prince Zuko (Dev Patel) and his faithful uncle General Iroh (Shaun Taub) who have been cast out of the Firebender Kingdom after Zuko defied his father's leadership and lost a head to head fight with his even more evil sister, Princess Yue. If, however, Zuko can capture the Avatar he can reclaim his rightful place at his father's side.

If this sounds at all intriguing then you have likely enjoyed the cartoon series “Avatar: The Last Airbender” which had a healthy run on Nickelodeon and in worldwide television syndication. If you haven't seen the series you are more than likely scratching your head over all of the portentous goofiness that this plot entails. Things grow only goofier under the direction of M. Night Shyamalan whose fall from golden boy status in just the last 6 years is one of the more remarkable failures in film history. Shyamalan was once considered alongside Steven Speilberg and George Lucas for his seemingly unfailing talent for wowing audiences.

Then Mr. Shyamalan made “The Village” and the drying of the fount of Shyamalan's genius for twisting, knotting plots began. “Lady in the Water” and “The Happening” followed and seemed to come from a different director altogether as not only was Shyamalan's talent for twisty narrative gone, so was his skill with a camera and even the basic smarts for telling a coherent story. The Happening was a true nadir, an utterly bonkers environmental fable about trees causing people to kill themselves. 

”The Last Airbender” is, at the very least, somewhat more coherent and intelligible than “Lady in the Water” and “The Happening.” Then again, that's not saying much. What The Last Airbender shares with those blisteringly awful films is a taste for inexplicably absurd visual flourish and wildly bizarre inversions of tone and logic. Sure, you can divine a plot in “The Last Airbender” but it is quite a committed fight.

Now, if you are a fan of the cartoon you begin with an advantage that lifts the burden the rest of the audience must carry throughout. In fact, if you are a fan you may actually find a way to enjoy the goofball nuttiness of Shyamalan's insane kiddie landscapes. It helps to have a taste and tolerance for this level of cockamamy mumbo jumbo. The Last Airbender is far up its own you know what in terms of being an obtuse bit of fan service, impenetrable to those not already part of the fandon. 

Without the prior introduction and slavish devotion to this characters and this property, one can only observe “The Last Airbender” with jaws agape and mind slightly melted. “The Last Airbender” is so violently ludicrous in storytelling, dialogue, effects and just about every other aspect of filmmaking that one almost appreciates the opportunity to experience it as it is unlikely you will see something this brazenly insular ever again on a movie screen.

M. Night Shyamalan is the single most daring bad director in the business. When M Night  Shyamalan fails he does so with epic intentions. No filmmaker has the courage to fail as spectacularly as Mr. Shyamalan has in his most recent films. “The Village” was a minor failure, a seeming blip after his wildly successful run of “Sixth Sense,” “Unbreakable” and “Signs.” ”Lady in the Water” however was such a bold and ballsy disaster that one cannot help but appreciate the nutzo spirit that went into creating it. 

“The Happening” ranks up there next to “Plan 9 From Outer Space” and Tommy Wiseau's “The Room,” in my estimation, for the sheer outlandish unintended awfulness. Few films have committed such professional effort to such a misguided endeavor as “The Happening.” Now comes “The Last Airbender” a far more benign failure; one with the possibility of entertaining more than a few people. Those people however, are a fan cult devoted to the material in ways only Twi-Hards and Star Wars fans can truly appreciate. “The Last Airbender” fan cult is vast and devoted and without seeing an inch of film many of them have been defending the film from people such as myself who find the movie “The Last Airbender” an impenetrable and ungodly mess of a feature film.