Avatar was a weird flash in the pan. Not actually sure why it was such a big deal, I guess it was the 3D novelty? I don't know that anyone really cares about the franchise in any passionate way, at least compared to the other things we're discussing.

Yeah and the problem was the 3D takes away from the color a bit, and that movie was damn colorful. Def a big deal made at the time of the "all new 3D system," which didn;t seem much diff'rent to me.

That is definitely the PF on that banner. Weird to use the white woods on them.

That's what happens when you order the banners too quick

Cuz it was a big huge 3D sci-fi action alien romance movie from the guy who made Titanic, Aliens, and Terminator 1/2.

James Cameron gets butts in seats.

Still doesn't change the fact that it was a live action Ferngully. I think it blew up, because it was a story that translates easily across all cultures along with the 3D coming along at the right time with the promise of a new film going experience. The fact that it was the first feature film in over a decade from the guy who made Titanic was icing on the cake.

Sometimes movies just come along at the right time. Look at Jurassic World this past weekend. Projections were that it would make around $100 million. Instead it broke the opening weekend box office record with over $200 million.

People may finally be getting tired of a bunch of superheroes running around with a bunch of barely recognizable shit blowing up for the final half hour of every movie. Even if JW was a sequel to an existing property, it was something we hadn't seen on the big screen in a long time.

Nostalgic thirty-somethings who now have kids of their own plus a reason to see something on the big screen (Dinosaurs!) equals mad money apparently.

Hey man, I saw JP in the theatre last year! But yeah kids love dinosaurs, that's will get you cash everytime.

The movie just hits every possible demographic.

Avatar:
-Has action for the dudes
-Romance for the ladies
-Mix of sci-fi, fantasy, politics and mysticism
-Not too dark/gory for the kids
-A story people (all over the globe) connect with (empathy & cultural understanding, standing up to "bullies" to protect friends/family)

As for the "Fern Gully" comments...it's cliche to trot it out at this point, as audiences clearly didn't care. You can look at almost any movie/story and say "Hey, that's pretty much like some other thing."

There are those who are very vocally negative about it - expected when something is popular....if the sequels do just as well, can we just accept that people really like Avatar?

I admit to being curious about how the sequels are received whenever they get through their various issues and finally get made. Avatar was a take it or leave it film for me. Not terrible and not great, just merely average. Obviously a lot of people enjoyed it though, which is fine. Would be boring if everybody liked the same things!

The thing that I have always found odd about Avatar is that seemingly everybody saw it, but nobody ever talks about it. I never hear anybody reflect on the film or say "Can't wait for the sequel(s)!" like I do with all kinds of other movie franchises. It has always been a strange phenomenon in that respect.

Right, that's what I meant by flash in the pan. I mean, sure, James Cameron, big effects, 3D, I get why people went to see it.

But it was HUGE. Sold a shit ton of tickets. And then was pretty much forgotten about.

Avatar didn't have the theme or star power to give it legs. I like it as a movie, but Sam Worthington is kind of boring. Giant blue people doesn't keep the kids coming back like dinosaurs.

Still a really good movie, but not one for the ages.

$4900 seems like a mod loaded fully and properly led'd price. Maybe yours is this, but thats just my take on the prices for those lately

Ok...So SM is first of the next VE pairs? - not too shabby

But I gotta know what the next one is - if anyone knows spill it please...

No, its not.

please continue

I want that Iron Man banner!!!! Jared please PM me a price and I'll gladly pay it for my Iron Man room.

Love my Spidey.....no desire to change to a VE for me.....happy for the pinheads who have been waiting for this, however ......( had no idea the originals were hard to find, or cost prohibitive..but have no " pulse" on that sort of stuff)

And then Disney licensed it as a knee-jerk reaction to Harry Potter's success... lets see if that helps anything in 2016/2017 when the park opens and maybe the sequels finally get made.

Avatar was pretty, advertised and sold as a visual phenomenon, was family friendly, and was a James Cameron flick. That explains its success. The story was a retread, and didn't contribute to the box office take. It was Pocahontas retold. Look it up.

I thought it was "Dances with Wolves" in space.

This thread sure bailed on the topic. LOL.

I really don't know what the next VE will be. I've long speculated SM made sense and would be super easy to license. As would Tron.

I'm more interested in hearing more about the thought that there may be two VE titles released this year as I've never heard that before...I heard only one this year.

Oh please be spidey with classic cartoon art package VE

Same. I know we can't assume that one of them is SM - but lets assume it is.

I think an earlier poster said that another would be released that will make alot of pinsiders happy (or something to that effect). So it seems to me that the VE ideas that have been the most requested are LOTR and TRON. It would be interesting if they did LOTR VE the same year as JJP's The Hobbit - very interesting. And with the TRON 3 movie being cancelled a TRON VE would be interesting 5 years after the movie release. I have a funny feeling it will be neither LOTR or TRON.

Now we're talking about Marvel? I was talking about Sony, who would license the film assets. Marvel would only being licensing the underlying property, if they are even involved. Depends on the deal Sony has concerning licensing.

Link to Gary saying this at a conference?

VE's will be used for production efficiency. With a larger plant, you cannot have the line down. There is no set date for any releases, just know they are being vetted out so that if they need to get one going, they will. What would be a reason for Stern to run a production on a VE.......poor demand for a game, delays with the development of a current game, release date of a license is pushed out.......or a combination of all. The larger you get the more you have to protect your overhead. Think of the VE's and manufacturing games for PPS as an ace in their pocket to keep their business running smoothly. Stern did the rerun of IM to test the waters for future plans.........It was a huge success. We are going to have a very exciting foreseeable future in pinball!!

Just pure speculation on my part; but it seems to me that since they are now using the Spike system a VE game now would be a Spike game. Not sure if they have a bunch of SAM boards or if they could re-engineer a SAM game to work on the Spike system. Just seems like a lot of engineering time to revamp a SAM game that could go into designing a new game. That would also tie up a bunch of programmers that really should be completing game code for the last 5 games.

Spiderman= been there, done that, got the T-shirt.

Gary said recently that all VEs will use the original board set (so SAM games wouldn't be ported to Spike).

He did say that, but in this case if the game really is getting entirely new dots and call outs it will likely be on the Spike system. This isn't exactly a remake per say, if the rumors are correct.

If the code isn't directly compatible between SAM and SPIKE, they aren't going to want to re-write all the logic for the game. Replacing assets is easy. REALLY easy compared to re-writing the whole game.

south-park-season-13-13-dances-with-smurfs.jpg

You aren't a very trusting person are you?

Wow, a jarjar and a nimble pin sighting in the same thread. Is it 2011?

exactly

no, it is all about that yellow muppet looking dude on the left middle of the pic

If true, just shows what a more flexible and open-minded company like WB/DC is, for allowing flexibility in the licensing of their entire library of iterations.

An interestingly, Avatar's success came from overwhelming positive word of mouth. It's opening weekend wasn't even close to the box office record; about half, actually. Avatar 2nd weekend was where is started getting interesting, down only 1.8%. Unheard of for a 70+ million opening film. Down 9.4 percent on the third weekend. On and on....

The film played like a sleeper hit, only with blockbuster-sized numbers.

Avatar had plenty of "legs".

The Sony thing is complicated, because they have license rights to their movies and properties, but not the characters overall. My understanding of the Sony/Marvel licensing issue is that Sony only has the rights to Spider-man for movie purposes. I don't think they could enter into a new license for products on old properties, without Marvel also being involved. I believe that the royalties would be going to Marvel on products like pinball machines, and Sony would have no reason to allow their properties to be exploited. Add to that fact that there are 2 newer Sony movies with an updated Spider-man and a new franchise entirely, and they are now moving on to a third iteration, they really don't have any incentive to allow that license to profit Marvel.

Stern and Disney obviously have a great licensing relationship. Disney owns Marvel, who in turn owns all rights to anything Spider-man related that isn't tied directly to a movie version of Spider-man. Draw new art, cut new lines, lose the screen shots from the movie, and voila. New Spider-man license without Sony having a say.

You may be right in that WB/DC could be more open with their licensing, the info I heard about requiring, or at least highly suggesting the use of current assets was for Marvel specifically, and likely applies just as well to Sony.

If Stern remakes SM based on comics the new license would move from Sony to Marvel, which is why it would require all new artwork, DMD animations, and voices. I do think it's a good idea for Stern's VEs to add something new to a VE to bump sales, even to entice current owners... but I'd still rather see them focus on creating new titles.

Let's say it is SM for the next VE. Unlike AC DC and IM which was a pro and sterns striped playfield stage , SM VE would be more like a premium with a price point that goes along with it

My best quests would be real world price of 5800 to 6300

Just gonna make my HUO original worth more

why would it make a pro worth more? You'd be in the realm of the VE then? I think it would stay same ish area as the current pro price aka $5k ish. Which is what it is now, right?

My point being Spider-Man with its features is more like a premium and build cost would be much higher.

So dumping your SM below market value based on speculation of a VE would not seem like a great idea until you see price point if it's made

Not really... Spiderman was still built in a period of semi-lean games. It's not toy laden... the biggest thing is # of ramps and VUKs. It has a moving bank, and a bunch of VUKs and not much else.

Time will tell

IM has 3 mechanical playfield features, SM has 5 if you include the VUKs. Not much different.

You have one magnet, controlled gate, controlled post stop, 2 VUKs, a coil to shake goblin, 2 figures that move up and down. There is a decent amount there IMO.

I think Met Pro has more features as SM does. Metal ramps, Sparky, inline drops, magnets, captive ball, 2 scoops, etc.

Real price on Spidey VE delivered will be <$5K. Original Spidey will still have the slide rails and lollipop playfield rails that the VE will surely lack.

Don't forget . Third flipper ( IM ) , metal apron , real lockdown , work rails not pegs, screened art , and board set just to name a few other things

lots of preemptive hand wringing going on here. Wow.

Why would they make a VE of something they presumably don't have the license for while telling us no Metallica premiums? A game they do have the license for...It doesn't seem like they have problems filling the assembly line, since Jared said they are busy for the rest of the year.