Avatar may be the highest-grossing movie ever with nearly $2.8B, but it's been seven years and few would say its looked upon fondly. While you could maybe make the case for one sequel, is there any justification for James Cameron to be giving us four more Avatar movies? Not really, other than that it will make tons of cash for 20th Century Fox and Disney, who are building entire theme parks surrounding the world of Pandora.
But what about a solid creative reason for so many? Cameron now says it's because he and his writers just wrote too much, and rather than doing some editing they just ran with it. He tells Variety...
“The ‘Avatar’ story arc was originally meant to be a trilogy, but I overwrite, and my writers overwrote as well. But basically, the first of the sequels cloned itself and became two films, so now it’s four films. And the studio’s very happy with it. They have an opportunity to make more money, but it’s also an opportunity to spend a lot more money, too, so there’s a clench factor.”
Ugh. So basically Fox was okay to keep the green flowing and pay for all the extra stuff, so Cameron kept it in. I get it; why look a gift horse in the mouth? But there's part of me that already thinks these are going to be as bloated as the first one was. That said, Fox IS doing some risk-taking here, and if Avatar 2 bombs like so many sequels have lately, it could be a disaster with far-reaching consequences.
We'll find out when Avatar 2 arrives in 2018.
