> But there was another aspect too and that was Linda Hamilton. This was one of the first mainstream big-budget movies that changed the way women were portrayed in film. Lots of people had posters of her wearing the sunglasses, carrying weapons, etc. It was actually a really big deal.

Yes, a strong female character in big budget movies wasn't a common theme. Aliens 2 also had a strong female protagonist played by Sigourney Weaver. The movie was also directed by James Cameron.

Terminator 2 was a huge cultural phenomenon. I remember going to the movie theater with my Dad to see it. I think it was the first R rated movie I saw in the theater, so it was something that we bonded over. Many of my friends had a similar experience.

My initiation was the first Alien movie on VCR. I watched it maybe in 1990 or 1991, but definitely before I reach 10 years old. It was also the first movie that I watched. The movie scared the shit out of me for months afterwards.

When looking back, all these movies (Alien, Terminator 2, and Jurassic park) were very well done. They never tried to achieve anything that was out of reach back then, and story-wise they were simply very entertaining. They didn't rely on, say, pornography (some movies clearly had too many naked men/women) to appease to their customers. The characters felt like real human-being who can hate and love strongly. They were done so well that it felt like nature. Movies nowadays couldn't do that anymore, somehow.

> how big of a deal Terminator 2 was and how big movie releases can be. Like, nothing in the MCU era or the Star Wars prequels and sequels comes remotely close

I'm in that age range and I lived through T2 and Endgame and I'll have to disagree.

T2 is one of my favorite movies of all time but experiencing the Endgame premiere, as a hardcore fan, with the other hardcore fans, was something else, it had the whole teather howling during the climax.

I also get that T2 is "easier" to enjoy in the sense that you need to watch like 22 movies to really get into Endgame.

This is true, it was a big cultural moment, but the level to which they sold the absolute heck out of that film should not be understated. It was one of the first times I can clearly remember where a film came along at roughly the same time as all the secondary IP like games and merch, and seemingly more and more kept coming. Another film from around that time which had a similar media blitz was Alien 3, released the year after.

I think Jurassic Park was pretty similar craziness. Definitely pushing the CGI aspect, and super super popular.

I saw it in theaters, but was too young to be tuned in to the cultural significance. As someone who has watched it 6-7 times (including on laserdisc and as recently as 3 weeks ago), I can attest that it is a perfect movie. Frame for frame, everything is done with a purpose.

What’s interesting to me is how today, something like Avatar 3 has seemingly no traction or notable impact.

Perhaps it’s generational. It clearly did well in the box office, so somebody went out and saw it. But nobody I know directly, indirectly, or remotely has seen it.

It got zero chatter in any of the places that I frequent, and that includes some SF themed communities.

Big picture. Lots of tech, very expensive, Cameron, the whole kit. But whatever impact it had, clearly I was out of its blast radius.

45yo here, pretty much just testifying that this is exactly what I remember, and I was young at the time.

I still listen to Guns'n Roses "You should be mine" frequently mostly due to that movie.

Also, Robert Patrick is the best terminator.

> I'm not sure that anyone under the age of 45-50 can truly appreciate

Another possibility that fits these facts is that everyone is impressionable at 10-15 years old.

T2 and Robocop.

39 there; T2 was several times in TV reruns in my childhood. Before that, well... the best SFX I could see were in BTTF and the like.

> I'm not sure that anyone under the age of 45-50 can truly appreciate just how big of a deal Terminator 2 was and how big movie releases can be.

100% agreed. Really was a magical time.

For me what "infinite CGI" has done is completely dull the wow factor of literally any movie. Decades ago the effects of T2 and others blew everyone's minds in a way people who weren't around can't comprehend. CGI was brand new and special effects really felt like you were witnessing elaborate magic tricks (since that's what they were).

Now we've seen movies do basically everything and the answer to "how'd they do that???" is just "yeah they used CGI." And CGI still doesn't feel grounded in reality like practical effects do.