I’d be fascinated to know why people are downvoting you here.

Do they not know that the Wheel of Time is set in, what is called by some, the Third Age, approximately 3000 years after the apocalyptic destruction of civilization and literal reshaping of the world, which itself occurred an unknown thousands of years after the end of the First Age (which is believed to be the Age we’re currently living in).

From RJ’s notes:

The First Age ended when fire rained from the heavens. The flesh of men melted, and those who did not melt were charred like coals. Plagues, boils and sores roamed the world and famine, yet to eat or drink often meant death, for waters and fruits that once were wholesome now slew at the eating. Even the air or the dust could slay. The wind could bring death. Rivers filled with dead fish and birds fell from the sky. Invisible vapours from the land that slew. Noxious fumes that corroded men’s flesh.

Or are they downvoting you for saying WoT isn’t science fiction, despite having certain characteristics of science fiction sprinkled throughout (e.g., characters studying the natural laws of their world and, through a combination of inborn abilities and technology, finding ways to advance their understanding and capabilities)?

Or are they downvoting simply because WoT isn’t a movie, and thus deemed irrelevant to the topic at hand?

shrug

Whatever the case, I do agree with the spirit of your rebuttal. Not all post-apocalypse movies are science fiction.

For example, I would never place Left Behind (or any other similar religious post-apocalypse movie) on the science fiction shelf.

I’ve never met a person who I know has seen it but doesn’t like Equilibrium.

…And it’s at a 7.3 on IMDb. That’s a pretty good rating.

Spot on. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_highest-grossing_R-rated_films

That list isn’t adjusted for inflation, unfortunately, so the rankings aren’t entirely fair. Two things stood out to me, though. The early 00’s were a little sparse on R-rated hits (you have to go all the way down to #20 before they start to become more common). And 1991’s Terminator 2, adjusted for inflation, surpassed Passion of the Christ by $100,000,000, despite only being #18 (after PotC’s #10).

A short list further down the page shows only the timeline of highest grossing R-rated movies at their time of release. PotC is obviously absent from that list.

That’s a surprising number. Especially so since I don’t really recall any blatant product placements (well ok, I think there was one scene that stood out a little bit).

I’d say the number of brand partnerships is less a problem than how prominent those brands are displayed. I can’t think of the exact movies off the top of my head, but the most egregious instances I can think of only had one or two brands. Apple and BMW, for example, have had some seriously obnoxious brand placements in movies.