Do We Want to Bet Against James Cameron’s Avatar Sequels? 

In 2009 James Cameron’s Avatar became a sensation at the box office, becoming the highest-grossest movie in the world, at the time. Audiences left the theater amazed at the visual accomplishments and use of 3D technology. While the movie didn’t have any memorable lines or character moments, Avatar had made its impact, with future movies a sure thing. 

Fast forward over ten years and we’re getting closer to the first sequel scheduled to hit December 18, 2021. While it’s easy to dismiss the movie, saying it’s been too long and pointing out that audiences won’t be interested in returning to Pandora, can we really count out Cameron?  

The first concept art, revealed by Cameron at CES, shows off some new views of Pandora, looking…screensaver worthy. 
Avatar’s future is set since Cameron has announced three sequels and wants to push technology with shot performance capture underwater.

Details are still slim but the sequel takes place years after the first movie, and introduces the next generation of characters: a human child born at the Hell’s Gate military complex, Jake Sully (Sam Worthington) and Neytiri’s (Zoe Saldana) children, and the children of a new Na’vi clan.

In addition to Worthington and Saldana, Sigourney Weaver and Stephen Lang return to the film. Joining are Kate Winslet and Cliff Curtis as members of the new Na’vi clan.  

A couple of years ago the BBC reported that the titles for the Avatar sequels would be: The Way of Water, Avatar: The Seed Bearer, Avatar: The Tulkun Rider, and Avatar: The Quest for Eywa.

Take a moment to let those roll off the tongue. 

While those may seem like fan fiction titles, back when Cameron was doing press for Alita: Battle Angel and was interviewed by Entertainment Tonight he spoke about using them. 

“I can neither confirm nor deny,” Cameron said, “All right, here’s what I’ll tell ya. Those titles are among titles that are in consideration. And no final decisions have been made yet.”

Avatar became the first movie to gross more than $2 billion and the best-selling film of 2010 in the United States. Avatar was nominated for nine Academy Awards, including Best Picture and Best Director, and won three, for Best Art Direction, Best Cinematography and Best Visual Effects.

When talking about it, we always come back to how it has aged. 

Thanks to Disney+ we can find out. Surprisingly, not well for me but very well for my kids. 

While nothing really stands out as memorable or quotable from the movie, kids are sucked in by the crisp visuals. Sure, from plot to action, the movie feels familiar and relies heavily on special effects as its hook but they don’t care about that at this age. It’s brand new to them and don’t think Cameron doesn’t know this. While I admire its success, I didn’t leave the theater wishing for more but that doesn’t hold true for everyone. 

Like it was mentioned above, the Avatar franchise is already set but is the audience still out there or has Cameron overestimated its appeal? Will this inspire a new audience to carry the movie to new heights?