James Cameron is one of the most successful filmmakers in Hollywood, having made some of the best movies of all time, such as Terminator and Aliens. However, it turns out that when it comes to his highly anticipated sequel to the 2009 film Avatar, even he has some doubts on his ability to make another box-office smash.
In an interview with Empire Magazine (via Slash Film), the acclaimed director opened up about his thoughts regarding Avatar 2’s potential success. Considering how a decade has passed since the first Avatar’s release, Cameron recognised that movie-goers habits and expectations have changed.
“We’ve gotten into a little bit of an outer orbit, and we’ve got to re-establish ourselves,” he explained. Currently, the 2000s movie, Avatar, is scheduled for a September re-release, which the director hopes will serve as a refresher for movie-goers ahead of Avatar: The Way of Water’s upcoming release date of December 16, 2022. Way of Water isn’t the only Avatar sequel that is playing on Cameron’s mind.
The filmmaker has a plan to make a whopping four follow-up films, a decision he labelled to Empire as the “dumbest business case in history”. “Avatar played eight to 80,” Cameron explained. “Does the audience still even exist at that scale?”
“If we did 20% or 30% less because the market simply doesn’t exist anymore, that would be bad,” he continued. While Cameron may have his doubts, Avatar was a massive success when it first hit theatres, becoming the first film to gross more than $2 billion.
Whether Avatar 2 earns as much acclaim and popularity is yet to be seen. However, we can’t imagine that it will be a financial failure with Cameron behind the wheel. Stay tuned for updates.