How Avatar’s Box Office Records Negatively Affected Cameron’s Sequels


James Cameron opens up about how Avatar’s box office records negatively affected his sci-fi sequels and how he worked around it to continue.


Avatar director James Cameron says the box office success of the first movie wasn’t the reason he created the sequels. The first sequel to the 2009 hit, Avatar: The Way of Water, was finally released earlier this month and has already garnered over $1 billion in the box office. Coming over a decade after the first film, expectations were high for the ambitious sci-fi film, especially because it is tasked with setting up the three other sequels that will follow it. Because Avatar is the highest-grossing movie of all time, some have speculated that Cameron’s sequel plan is designed to capitalize on the massive success of the first film in the franchise.

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During a conversation with The Wrap, Cameron made it clear that’s not the case, describing Avatar‘s record-breaking box office as “almost a disincentive” to return to the franchise. Long before Avatar was even released, Cameron stated in 2006 that he hoped to create multiple sequels to the film depending on its popularity, officially announcing a plan for two sequels a year after Avatar‘s release in 2010, though delays led to over a decade in between Avatar movies. Though Avatar‘s “extraordinary financial success” created the opportunity for several sequel movies, Cameron says he was motivated to return to the franchise because of the “great team of artists and this great cast of actors” attached to the franchise, not the possibility of creating another historic hit. Check out what the director had to say below:

The reason to come back wasn’t the extraordinary financial success of the first film. In fact, that’s almost a disincentive. The incentive to do it is that we had this great team of artists and this great cast of actors, and everybody trusted everybody.​​​

Related: Full Breakdown Of James Cameron’s Box Office Data (& How It Applies To Avatar 2)


Why The Avatar Sequels Are Relevant Now

zoe saldana as neytiri in an avatar 2 action scene

Although Avatar‘s incredible financial success and widespread popularity is the reason Cameron can now build on the franchise, the pressure of living up to the first film’s box office with the sequels is high. In addition, the expectations that have been built up for the sequel over the past decade are a challenge to meet, with both of those factors distracting from the actual film itself, something Cameron clearly hoped to avoid. Despite Avatar: The Way of Water coming so long after the first movie and shouldering the pressure of laying enough groundwork to support three more movies, 2022 was the perfect time for the sequel.

The themes of environmentalism and conservation present in Avatar are more relevant than ever in 2022, as is the story set up in the sequel about Earth-dwellers looking to call a new planet home due to the depletion of Earth’s natural resources and its more hostile environment. In terms of demand, Avatar: The Way of Water comes just after the massive impact of the pandemic on movie theaters, driving up attendance during the holiday season slump and providing much-needed revenue to the industry. After so many films were put on hold or are still facing delays to release thanks to the pandemic, Avatar: The Way of Water provided an awe-inspiring and immersive film experience to viewers craving an escape.

It would have been a daunting feat to try building out the Avatar franchise in 2009 when Marvel Studios was creating the Marvel Cinematic Universe, which dominated the film landscape shortly after 2009 and would have created competition for Cameron’s sci-fi franchise. Though the MCU is still going strong, Marvel fatigue is setting in for some audiences, which could lead fans of that franchise to hold more appreciation for the slower paced but still action-oriented Avatar sequels. Franchise storytelling has also become extremely prevalent in recent years, allowing the Avatar sequels to come out precisely at a time in which viewers are craving a return to familiar worlds.

More: What Avatar: The Way Of Water Reveals About The Leaked Sequel TitlesSource: The Wrap

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