When it comes to box office hits that have no trouble with generating a massive fanbase, few films hit as hard as a James Cameron movie. The filmmaker is responsible for some of the highest-grossing movies of all time – the most recent example being the new movie Avatar: The Way of Water.
The sequel to the hit science fiction movie Avatar, Avatar: The Way of Water released in 2022 and has already raked in accolades and financial rewards. At the time of writing, the flick has earned over $2.217 billion worldwide and is part of the Oscars 2023 nominees for Best Picture. With that in mind, it makes sense that the sequel has its fair share of superfans.
However, during an interview with Time, Cameron revealed how his Avatar fandom is so dedicated that even he, the work’s creator, is unsure about meeting them in person.
“There was a guy in the Netherlands who just hit 100 times he’s seen it in movie theatres,” Cameron shared. “Not sure I want to meet that person. But certainly, anecdotally, many, many people are seeing it two, three, four times.”
It is understandable why a fan who has seen a film 100 times would be intimidating. However, considering how Cameron cheekily likened his Avatar franchise to JRR Tolkien’s epic Lord of the Rings saga and Peter Jackson’s Lord of the Rings movies – which helped define modern fantasy – it seems like superfans will become more commonplace.
“I was trying to do a simulation of, OK, I’m Peter Jackson making Lord of the Rings, except Lord of the Rings doesn’t exist yet, so I need to go be Tolkien and create Lord of the Rings, and then I can go be Peter Jackson,” he explained. “But I wasn’t adapting some big pantheon of books that existed. I had to go do that.”
While the verdict is still out on Cameron’s Lord of the Rings comparison, his superfans will no doubt have in-depth questions regarding Pandora lore and the IP’s inner workings – some details that Cameron may still be figuring out or doesn’t want to spoil before the run-up towards Avatar 3.
Avatar 3 is set to hit theatres on December 20, 2024. For more information on the franchise, you can read of Avatar 2 review and find out who was in the Avatar 2 cast. Or, for more award winners, here is our list of Oscar 2023 predictions.