How was this movie successful?

[Osiris-Rex]

I can't fathom how movies as bad as the Transformers movies keep making money. The first one had the novelty factor, but aside from that was crap, and the rest of the trilogy had no redeeming qualities. At least Armageddon had Bruce Willis and a cool climax.

The last one did bomb at the domestic box office. Only China saved it and even in China it made less money.

Didn't see Avatar in theaters, but when I did see it I was unimpressed. The world of Pandora is gorgeous and mesmerizing. But everything else is bland and cliche at best. I think it's easily Cameron's worst movie.

Avatar is the movie equivalent of a 4th of July fireworks celebration. Not much of a story but beautiful to look at. Full of colors and a lot of noise. Though with a good DJ sometimes the fireworks tell a better story.

I am constantly surprised by the success of Melissa McCarthy's movies, those where she is the lead.
I have watched one or two, those comedy films are best described as "funny not found".

Mike and Molly was a very popular TV series and Melissa developed a very loyal fanbase from that. So it's her fans that turn out to see her movies. It sort of like with Adam Sandler or Jim Carrey. I don't find them funny either
but they have a big fanbase that began with their stints on SNL and In Living Color.

[ChrisIII]

I think that might be because Jurassic Park also used a heavy deal of practical effects as well.

Avatar makes sense because it was really the first next gen 3d movie. Years after the fact (especially without 3d) and there's little appeal. At the time though it was amazing, visually speaking.

A lot of Jurassic Park's CG was also used in dark settings as well (The T-rex attack, a good chunk of the Raptor scenes) which hid some of the faults as well. Although the Brachiosaurus and Gallimimus scenes do still look pretty good, even when compared to the sequels.