James Cameron’s movies are known for their epic scale and cutting-edge technology, and both of those have been on display for the Avatar franchise (which is streaming with a Disney+ subscription). And while the threequel Fire and Ash won at the box office, it failed to make the same insane money as its predecessors. Fans have been wondering if the Titanic filmmaker will actually direct the final two chapters in the five-movie story, and his latest comments aren’t filling me with hope.
The first Avatar movie is the highest grossing movie of all time, and fans have been able to travel to Pandora at Disney parks. Still, Fire and Ash is the lowest-earning chapter in the franchise, and the blockbusters are so expensive that it cast doubt as to whether or not we’ll see two more movies. In a recent interview at the GGPAA, Cameron spoke about the possibility of working on more Avatar movies, offering:
See that, that’s exactly the question of the hour for me because there’s been a lot of momentum in the Avatar universe for me across 21 years at this point because we started in 2005. I took a little time off to build a submersible and dive to the deepest spot on the planet, as you do, but I came back to Avatar after that. And it’s been kind of an unbroken continuum.
That’s a long time to be working on one franchise, but James Cameron created a truly magic world with Pandora and the Na’vi. And while the Avatar movies have been criticized for being too long, I would be so bummed if we didn’t get to close the loop with the final two movies. Although the director’s comments are making me even more nervous.
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In the same interview, James Cameron went on to put more doubt in the future of the Avatar films. Namely because he might want to tell some stories set outside of the fictional world of Pandora. In his words:
So this is the point where I’m looking around the landscape and saying, ‘What are the other stories I want to tell? How many of them do I need to direct myself versus writing and/or producing [and] working with other filmmakers? The criterion — I’ve literally mapped this out for myself over the last few weeks — I started with, ‘What will do the most good?’ I put that in block letters at the top. And I started looking at all the projects that I’m fond of, asking, ‘How’s this going to improve our condition? How’s that going to make the world better for our kids?’ And it’s that fine line because you don’t want to be too didactic or shrill about things, and you’ve got to engage with great stories and great stories are about interesting characters, right?
For his part, the Avatar franchise does have some very specific messaging to audiences. Namely about the dangers of pollution and climate change, and mankind’s penchant for destroying the environment. The Na’vi have spent 3 movies defending their planet and fighting the RDA, and James Cameron may have helped young people see the dangers of climate change and pollution as a result.
But is the acclaimed director actually going to move forward with the final two movies? After all, some footage from Avatar 4 is already in the can. Looks like the jury is still out, as Cameron said:
I haven’t made those decisions yet. I’m still in this liminal state of mapping out, you know, kind of. the last act, if you will. And I don’t know if that last act will last a year or 20 years.
Personally I’m hoping that we get to see the conclusion of Avatar‘s epic story. I’m invested in the Sully family and their journey, and things really heated up in Fire and Ash (pun intended). There are plenty of narrative threads to pull from, and it would be a bummer if that never happened.
If Cameron bails, this wouldn’t be the first time that a planned five-movie franchise has been cut short. The Fantastic Beasts franchise was also scrapped after its threequel The Secrets of Dumbledore failed both critically and financially. And fans have no idea what would have come in the last two movies.
All three Avatar movies are streaming now on Disney+, including Fire and Ash. Fingers crossed that James Cameron and the studio end up committing to completing the story sometime down the line.