There is a reason why the great Fantasy & Sci-Fi movies have so many hardcore fans. They provide their viewers with an escape. An escape from every day life, an escape from their problems and a place where they can be anything they want to be. People use their own imagination to do this but a movie can make those images 'real'. People cope with their problems by getting lost in a fantasy world. For two hours they don't need to worry about their important presentation or the amount of schoolwork they still have to do. And the viewers won't be reminded of things like work or school, because those things simply don't exist in a fantasy world.
People using movies as a way to escape is quite common. But Fantasy & Sci-Fi movies take this to a whole other level. They create a new and different world where anything could happen. And it's all a feast for the eyes, so incredibly stunning. 'The Hobbit' is a great example of this. A vast landscape full with different races like elves. While watching one of the most beautiful woman on the planet, Cate Blanchett, you don't even have time to think about anything else but the movie. Sometimes people have problems realizing it's all just an imaginary world though. Like the fans of the big Sci-Fi blockbuster movie Avatar. After watching 'Avatar' people got depressed (they got the Avatar blues). They felt it was so real that they had a hard time separating reality from fantasy. The special effects and 3D made it all look incredibly realistic. So when it ended, it was like their whole world fell apart. Real life suddenly seemed awfully boring (and let's be honest it is, compared to Avatar). Some of them even made real life Na'vi tribes. Just to feel like they lived in Pandora, the alien planet from the movie.But most people don't have this issue and can just enjoy the movie while forgetting about everything else. So next time you watch Lord of the Rings, Avatar or Stardust just make sure you realize it's just a movie.
