Avatar 3: James Cameron Prepared to End Franchise With Trilogy if Avatar 2 Underperforms
If Avatar: The Way of Water doesn’t do well, Avatar creator James Cameron is ready to wrap up the series with Avatar 3. The renowned director highlighted his worries about the franchise’s success in an interview with Total Film, citing the COVID-19 pandemic and streaming services as obstacles to its box office success. Five Avatar movies are currently in the works by director James Cameron, but their future relies on how well Avatar 2 does in theatres. The original 2009 movie, which made $2.923 billion (about Rs. 24,016 crores) at international box offices, is the all-time highest-grossing movie.
Of course, it is unrealistic to anticipate that the sequel would achieve a comparable feat before its December 16 release. But with Avatar: The Way of Water, director James Cameron hopes to get just as many viewers back into theatres.
“The market could be telling us we’re done in three months, or we might be semi-done, meaning: ‘Okay, let’s complete the story within movie three, and not go on endlessly if it’s just not profitable…” he told. “We’re in a different world now than we were when I wrote this stuff, even. It’s the one-two punch — the pandemic and streaming. Or, conversely, maybe we’ll remind people what going to the theatre is all about. This film definitely does that. The question is: how many people give a s–t now?”
Cameron is open about the prospect that Avatar: The Way of Water won’t be as successful as its predecessor. Avatar finally surpassed his own 1997 picture Titanic to become the most successful movie of all time, grossing $242 million (about Rs. 1,987 crores) globally on its first weekend despite being the biggest movie of all time. For comparison, the movie starring Leonardo DiCaprio and Kate Winslet made $2.195 billion (about Rs. 18,032 crores) at the international box office.
With celebrated works like Terminator 2: Judgement Day and Aliens under his belt, Cameron’s status as an auteur at 20th Century Fox was solidified with the box office triumph of 2009’s Avatar. Disney’s 2019 acquisition of the studio gives the director greater financial support, while it anticipates a significant return on its investment. Before the fifth and final movie is released, the franchise may end with Trilogy and Avatar 3 as the last movie if Avatar 2 doesn’t fare well. In 2019, the director praised Avengers: Endgame’s box office success as evidence that audiences are still eager to see movies in theatres. The COVID-19 pandemic lockdowns, however, changed the game by advising viewers to stay in and catch up on their favourite media via streaming services.
In November 2018, the primary cast of Avatar: The Way of Water and Avatar 3—reportedly titled Avatar: The Seed Bearer—completed filming. Winslet was then added to the cast. Producer Jon Landau reportedly disclosed that the opening act of the fourth movie has already been shot.
At the Busan International Film Festival, which took place at the beginning of last month, he said, “We’ve finished most of the first act of Avatar 4 and there were practical reasons why we needed to do that. For Avatar 4, the majority of the film has been planned, but only the first act has been filmed. The producer also disclosed that each follow-up would maintain “the cultures that we’ve encountered” while introducing new biomes and cultures situated within the Pandoran terrain.
Avatar: The Way of Water’s trailer, released by 20th Century Studios last week, gave some indications of the movie’s plot, which centres on the idea of “connection.” The movie, which takes place more than ten years after the first one and is expected to run for three hours and ten minutes, stars Sam Worthington and Zoe Saldana again.
On December 16, Avatar: The Way of Water opens in theatres all throughout the world. The movie also receives dubs in Hindi, Kannada, Malayalam, Tamil, and Telugu in India.
