James Cameron’s Avatar sequels are coming whether you want them or not. FOX and Cameron recently announced a new set of release dates for the perpetually bumped project that puts four sequels on the calendar for 2020, 2021, 2024, and 2025. The franchise has its detractors and even fans are frustrated, but if you’re smart you’ll learn to love Avatar all over again and get hyped for the sequels.
Haters gonna hate, and Avatar is no exception.
Avatar has a score of 83% on the review aggregator website Rotten Tomatoes. That means — duh — it’s generally perceived a good movie. But the film’s remarkable box office success — $2.8 billion worldwide — set it up for mass scrutiny that’s not entirely undue.
While Avatar was a sensational visual feast, it ultimately proved to be a semi-disposable movie in the minds of many. As wonderfully imaginative as the film was it never attained the pop culture significance of fan-favorite franchises like Star Wars, Jurassic Park, or even Transformers. That’s raised the stakes for the Avatar sequels. They’ll need to justify their existence.
It certainly doesn’t help that Cameron is such a tease. He’s been promising a sequel to Avatar for EIGHT years. Each time he’s dangled a new release date in front of fans, he’s snatched it away and pushed the sequel farther out. And he’s just done it again. Prior to the recent announcement that the Avatar sequels were starting production, we’d heard the next would come in 2018. Now, it’s 2020.
“Great to be working with the best team in the business! Avatar takes flight as we begin concurrent production on four sequels,” Cameron posted on Facebook. That’s exciting news, but you really can’t blame long-suffering Avatar fans for being frustrated with the parade of missed release dates.
Learn to love Avatar again and get hyped.
Remember, James Cameron is a mad genius. If that beautiful mind needs time to tweak the Avatar sequels, we should be willing to wait patiently for the result. This is the guy who repeatedly traveled to the bottom of the actual North Atlantic Ocean to make a movie. Cameron painstakingly surveyed the wreckage of the Titanic to ensure his movie about the nautical disaster was as authentic as it could possibly be. Now, he’s in his mind palace expanding the world of Pandora. Let’s wait and see what kind of brilliance he comes up with.
Pandora is a beautiful world ripe for cinematic exploration. With breathtaking landscapes featuring floating mountains, bioluminescent fauna, and amazing creatures like the banshee, Pandora is a paradise unlike any world ever brought to life on screen. “It’s kinda the Garden of Eden with teeth and claws,” Cameron says. While the first Avatar gave us an impressive tour of the Na’vi home planet, you’d be a fool not to want to see more. And even if you’re not impressed by the visuals, there’s more to keep in mind.
The Avatar franchise is too big to fail. Still skeptical? The studio knows what you’re thinking. And Fox also remembers that they made an ungodly amount of money with the first movie. Guess what? It’s the movie business — they want more. And they’re going to make sure Cameron delivers an amazing series of films that keep money flowing into their pockets. The Avatar franchise is so huge that even Disney wanted a piece of the action. Set to open May 27 in Disney’s Animal Kingdom, Pandora: The World of Avatar is the latest addition to Florida’s Walt Disney World theme park. Disney’s no doubt paying a significant annual licensing fee to Fox for the exclusive rights. And that’s all the more reason for Fox to work overtime to ensure they’re delivering fans an amazing series of Avatar sequels.
Whether you’re a jilted fan or someone who can’t even really remember what happened in the first movie, it’s time to stop hating on Avatar. The sequels are on the horizon, and they’re probably going to be amazing. Let’s just hope James Cameron doesn’t move the release date again.