iSmart News LIVE : హోం మంత్రి పోతున్నడని అంబులెన్స్‌ను ఆపిన నిఖార్సైన పోలీసులు

Hollywood entered the Christmas 2025 season with high expectations, banking heavily on the return of major franchises. However, early box office trends and audience reactions—particularly in India—suggest that brand power alone is no longer enough to guarantee success.

James Cameron’s Avatar: Fire and Ash opened with solid global numbers, but its performance in India has been noticeably underwhelming. Unlike Avatar (2009) and Avatar: The Way of Water (2022), which emerged as massive blockbusters across Indian markets, the latest installment has struggled to generate comparable excitement. Early audience feedback indicates franchise fatigue, with many viewers feeling less emotionally invested in Pandora’s world this time around.

Sharing the holiday release window was Anaconda (2025), another attempt to revive a familiar Hollywood property. The Anaconda franchise began with the 1997 cult classic, which gained immense popularity worldwide. In India, the Telugu-dubbed version became a surprise hit in the then-united Andhra Pradesh, terrifying audiences with its giant snake concept, tight runtime, and intense survival narrative.

Unfortunately, the 2025 reboot fails to honour that legacy. Director Tom Gormican steers the film toward comedy rather than horror, transforming what could have been a tense survival thriller into a self-aware spoof. The forced humour, tonal inconsistency, and lack of genuine suspense have drawn criticism from both audiences and reviewers.The film follows four friends who are die-hard fans of the original Anaconda. Hoping to remake the movie, they travel to the Amazon rainforest with a fake snake, only to encounter real anacondas in the wild. While the premise offers some creative potential, the execution undermines it. Dangerous encounters are treated as punchlines, draining the narrative of urgency and fear.

Despite a runtime of just around 90 minutes, Anaconda (2025) feels stretched due to excessive dialogue and unnecessary comedic detours. Even when the real snakes appear, the film fails to evoke tension or dread. Weak writing, average visual effects, and an unclear genre identity ultimately make the experience forgettable.

Like several earlier sequels, Anaconda (2025) survives largely on nostalgia, but nostalgia alone cannot compensate for the absence of thrills. Taken together, the mixed response to Avatar: Fire and Ash and the disappointment surrounding Anaconda (2025) underline a growing reality: iconic Hollywood franchises are no longer guaranteed crowd-pullers in India. Without strong storytelling and a clear creative vision, even the biggest brands risk turning into holiday-season letdowns.