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Latest Sci-Fi News: James Gunn haters and Zack Snyder stans get a reality check as ‘Avatar 2’ passes a major box office haul

Has James Gunn really pushed his luck too far?

henry cavill superman
via Warner Bros.

Due to his impeccable track record in both the MCU and the DCEU, most comic book enthusiasts were thrilled about James Gunn coming on board to lead the latter into a glorious new age of cinematic acclaim, but what the creative had to inevitably do to achieve that has caused a fraction in the community, and that’s putting it lightly.

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Meanwhile, Avatar: The Way of Water has just passed the $1 billion hallmark at the global box office, rekindling hopes of salvation for the most expensive sequel in history as The Last of Us fans breathe a sigh of relief over a potential movie adaptation getting canceled.

Anti-James Gunn debates quickly fall apart thanks to Zack Snyder

Image via Warner Bros. Pictures

DC fans still seem to think Zack Snyder was the best thing to happen to the franchise, despite the fact that he directed three of the cinematic universe’s most controversial flicks and otherwise muddied the waters for any attempt at a coherent interconnected narrative. Yes, James Gunn may have canned a Man of Steel sequel and stopped the Wonder Woman threequel in its tracks, but if we’re being completely frank, the DCU needs a hard reboot if it is to compete with the MCU at any level.

The company’s track record, especially under Snyder, has neither garnered critical acclaim nor occasioned a box office explosion, so maybe it really is time to let the past die.

The Way of Water is the second-fastest movie outside the MCU to gross $1 billion

Zoe Saldana and Sam Worthington as Neytiri and Jake Sully in 'Avatar: The Way of Water'
Image via 20th Century Studios

After raising legitimate concerns in its first two weeks of theatrical run, The Way of Water is now well on its way to breaking it even for James Cameron and maybe even turning a profit. Apparently, the long-hyped Avatar sequel has almost demolished the MCU competition by becoming the second-fastest film in that lineup to gross $1 billion worldwide. Avengers: Endgame still has the lead, and Avatar 2 is the fifth overall, but that’s not too shabby for a sequel poised to end up a huge disappointment just recently, eh?

Hollywood came pretty close to ruining The Last of Us, but things, fortunately, fell apart

The Last of Us Ellie saving Joel from the Infected
Image via Naughty Dog

Only two weeks separate us from experiencing the Last of Us television adaptation on HBO. The series stars Pedro Pascal and Bella Ramsey as Joel and Ellie, and with Chernobyl‘s Craig Mazin and Naughty Dog’s own Neil Druckmann at the helm, we have no doubt that it’s going to satisfy fans of the most acclaimed video games in history.

Now, the community has another cause for celebration, because apparently, Hollywood tried to make a Last of Us movie in the mid-2010s, pushing to make the story “bigger and sexier” as Hollywood would. Of course, those two are hardly the words we’d use to describe The Last of Us. Blessedly, these differences in creative vision couldn’t be reconciled, and the project was dropped.