Thirteeen years since the original film took the box office by storm, James Cameron is once again looking to capture movie magic with the long-awaited sequel Avatar: The Way of Water. The world of Pandora is supposed to see four more sequels after The Way of Water, but in a recent interview with Total Film magazine, Cameron placed some question marks on the future.
According to the director, the box office success of The Way of Water and the untitled Avatar 3 will determine if the fourth and fifth movies get made.
"The market could be telling us we’re done in three months, or we might be semi-done, meaning: ‘OK, let’s complete the story within movie three, and not go on endlessly,’ if it’s just not profitable,” Cameron told Total Film.
Since its release in 2009, the first Avatar film is well-known as the biggest film to ever hit the box office. A recent theatrical re-release in fall earned over $15 million in the U.S. and more than $40 million worldwide, increasing the total box office grosses for the film to over $2.9 billion worldwide.
“We’re in a different world now than we were when I wrote this stuff, even,” Cameron explained. “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 shit now?”
Cameron has been notably vague on the future of Avatar past the third film. As of right now, Avatar: The Way of Water is set to hit theaters on December 16, and a third film is currently eyeing a 2024 release. Cameron shot the third flm back-to-back with The Way of Water and is still set to direct the film.
"There are a couple of things that I took out [of The Way Of Water] that I want to shoehorn into movie three, hopefully," Cameron said. "These are hideously expensive movies. It was a sketchy business case before the pandemic to make a movie that cost this much. At this point, we just have to play it out to see what happens. But what I know right now is: we’re delivering three hours of a pretty much insane experience."
Once the third film is released, though, it's anyone's guess as to where the franchise will stand, with or without Cameron at the helm.
Carson Burton is a freelance news writer for IGN. You can follow him on Twitter at @carsonsburton.
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