Avatar has become something of a punchline. And while it's not the best film ever made it's - spoiler alert - not that bad. At the very least, it's gorgeous to look at. Those gangly Na'vi sure were nice to look at. They were weird and they boned via ponytails but they were definitely nice to look at.
James Cameron has been hard at work on not just one Avatar sequel but four of them. Does that seem like a bit of overkill? Yes it does but I didn't think the first Avatar or Titanic would be as big as they were so what do I know? Let Cameron make his sequels, the man has consistently over-performed when his back was against the wall.
But he knows that the pressure's on. The director was recently talking to Vanity Fair and let it slip that he's not 100% if all the Avatar sequels will happen. Here's his take on the future of the franchise:
“Let’s face it, if Avatar 2 and 3 don’t make enough money, there’s not going to be a 4 and 5. They’re fully encapsulated stories in and of themselves. It builds across the five films to a greater kind of meta narrative, but they’re fully formed films in their own right, unlike, say, The Lord of the Rings trilogy, where you really just had to sort of go, “Oh, shit, all right, well I guess I better come back next year.” Even though that all worked and everybody did.”
I can't really tell if he's putting down Lord of the Rings so I'm going to let that comment slide. The point stands that James Cameron himself isn't completely sure what will happen after Avatar 2 and 3. He's not a dumb man, he knows that it's been a long time since the first film that that it's possible people have lost interest. Indeed, much has changed in the film landscape since the first trip to Pandora back in 2009. While I said that Cameron has over-performed and surprised naysayers many times before, maybe Avatar is just too disconnected from the cultural zeitgeist.
We also live in a world where movies starring Batman and Superman can underperform. Nothing is a sure thing. He's playing the expectations game, being realistic and also giving Avatar fans a little nudge to remind them to keep their head in the game. If they don't come out in droves then there won't be many journeys back to Pandora.