The other answers are better but I will put in my two cents. I think Sci Fi films ran their course as they came up against the technical barrier. What I mean by that is that we as audiences became inured to the false flame coming out of Buck Rogers ship all those years ago. It was near comedy when it reached it's end whatever that was. But with the advent of such amazing innovation as we are seeing now they, the new movies, are becoming more and more beyond what we could expect when our expectations are very high. Avatar is simply a beginning. I think we have just begun to see what is coming and will be past Total Recall before we even know it was here. I think this iteration of 3D is just the tip.
I know I'm adding fuel to your brother's argument, but people don't queue around the block the way they did for 1980's SF movie blockbusters like Star Wars and ET. Then again, it was the phenomenal success of movies like these that made (IMHO) SF attractive to people who wouldn't necessarily call themselves SF fans. : - )
-EdwinaAre Science Fiction Films less popular now?
Sci-Fi films are always considered to be one of the commercially popular genre and with the recent box office results of the one's you just mentioned (and Avatar being the top grossing film in history) I think, that alone is an indication that Sci-Fi films are always bound to become commercially viable = popular in short, in terms of audience / market.Are Science Fiction Films less popular now?
If anything I would say science fiction films are much more popular now than ever before. Never before have we had such an abundance of high budget sci-fi movies, Avatar, Transformers, the Day the Earth Stood Still remake, Cloverfield, 2012, District 9... and these just being over the past couple years. In previous decades the majority of sci-fi films were still considered B-movies and very limited budget.
I love sci-fi movies can't get enough of them. I even watch those Cheesey one on the sci-fi channel sometimes
I think they are less popular. 20 years ago, they were popular because they were something very new, with the discovery of special effects and a certain developed technology. Nowadays, SF movies appel less to the audience in general. It's either remakes of old SF movies (and it is always hard to compete with the original ) or new movies that can not compete with what was before. I haven't heard lately of a great SF movie: Avatar is not a great SF movie, I loved the special effects but the rest of it(like the science part from SF), not so great; Transformers great? Not so much, Megan Fox was in it and that's why more than half of the male audience went see that movie. Matrix was good, but it has been forgotten already, not to mention that no one even remembers what those Star Wars movies were about.
It's probably harder to make a good movie when everybody knows to what extent the technology has developed. Today's SF movies concentrate on the special effects and not the story lines, but first and foremost a movie is all about the story. I would prefer a movie with less fancy backround and no 3D option than a movie that will make an impression on you just because of a painted blue man.
Just because a movie made millions, it doesn't mean that the whole genre is that popular.
I don't really think so. Avatar was running in Australia for the first four months this year as well and it's become the highest selling film in the history of this country.
For me, I care more about the plot and the story lines rather than special effects. A good movie is based on original and creativity. Having dazzling special effects might sell it initially but ultimately it's the heart and soul of the movie that people will either remember or want to forget it by.
Whilst I liked Avatar, the storyline is not that original as it's based on other stories like Pocahontas, Dances With Wolves and Once We Were Warriors. But the acting is still quite good and the special effects are awesome. Whether the sequels will be just as well received remains to be seen.
I wonder if science-fiction films will be just as popular 50 to 100 years from now? By then, technology will have most likely evolved to the stage of what it's like in most films that are out now that people will see them as rather quaint and probably want to watch the vintage ones that came out in the 50's and 60's for something REALLY different in their lives.
I'm not sure how to answer whether they're less popular "now compared to now", but I do agree with most people here who've argued that science fiction is more popular than ever. I also think that there will always be a place in storytelling for science fiction. Just because real technology advances doesn't mean that we will somehow catch up with fiction. The point of science fiction is to be one step (or hundreds) ahead of real science and technology so as to explore the ethical repercussions of the choices of humanity.
Science fiction also usually includes some elements of fantasy; we don't actually believe that one day people will be able to download information directly into their brains Matrix-style, although that is probably more feasible than a rainforest planet with floating mountains and a supernatural planetwide Internet powered by a spirit. We can therefore examine the role of science fiction in much the same way we examine fantasy, the oldest genre in storytelling (eg. Odyssey and Beowulf).
Fantasy and science fiction not only provide escapism and entertainment; they ask fundamental questions about the nature of our existence, our individual and collective purpose and destiny, human rights, the ethics of playing God with science, our obligation to the planet and more. They also delve into just about every subject that was ever an issue to somebody somewhere, including everything from violence in the media to questioning the political fabric most of us live and breathe in. OK so novels have done this to a far more complex and useful degree than movies, but my point remains clear. Science fiction films are at least as popular now as they ever have been.
Sci-fi and fantasy will continue to be popular because the core issues and subjects they deal with are the big questions in life that we will forever be seeking answers to.
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