No matter which way you boil it down, 111 days is a long time.
But that's precisely how long Avatar was in theaters here in Bend. You can still see it at the Regal Old Mill 16 today and tomorrow, but come Friday, James Cameron's big, blue human-hating, alien-loving, billions-of-dollar-raking, eye-ball-dazzling behemoth of a film will disappear from the big screen.
Since it opened on December 18, Avatar remained here in Bend either in 3-D or in normal, lame, old-school 2-D this entire time, bringing in thousands of Bendites who love fantastical, other-worldly science-fiction films and thousands of others who just felt like they'd rather see it than continue to be left out of office discussions all winter.
If you haven't seen it by now, James Cameron is probably going to come to your house and perform it for you by way of a one-man show...then ask you to pay him 50 bucks. He's a renegade like that.
In some ways, this is somewhat bittersweet. It's great to have room for other movies (namely Hot Tub Time Machine) but on the other hand, Avatar became the Coca-Cola of the film world -- no, you don't particularly want to buy it again, because its sweetness was merely a guilty pleasure that you loved at the time yet don't really need to enjoy again, but knowing that it's around is somewhat comforting. Marketing has a way of doing that to us.
But if you can't make it, don't worry. There's always DVD or Blu-Ray (I think your neighbor has one of those things). Also, it will probably be on TBS every Sunday afternoon in 2013, the keep you company on couch-bound hungover days. But, I guess you'll be missing out on the 3-D element...unless you're really hungover.
