Disney
Obviously feeling himself ahead of the impending success of Avatar: The Way of Water, James Cameron is already gearing up for its sequel, Avatar 3.
And according to some industry reports, Cameron has turned in a 9-hour-long cut to Disney that he wants to finish ALL the VFX on before making cuts.
According to Cameron, the third Avatar film has been designed so that it can serve as a conclusion to the franchise if The Way of Water doesn’t perform at the box office. Given that the film is currently tracking to make over half a billion dollars in its first weekend, alone, though, it’s likely that Disney will happily let Cameron continue to churn at Avatar movies if they remain as successful as the first two. The film has also proved to be a critical hit, too, as it currently has an 80% critics score on Rotten Tomatoes.
Cameron certainly isn’t shy about his plans for the franchise, as he said in the lead-up to the film’s release that he already has ideas for Avatar 6 and Avatar 7.
“We’ll probably finish movie three regardless because it’s all shot,” he said in an interview with The Hollywood Reporter. “We’d have to really crater for it not to seem like it was worth the additional investment. We’d have to leave a smoking hole in the ground. Now, hopefully, we get to tell the whole thing because five’s better than four, four’s better than three, and three’s better than two.”
“I’d be 89 by then. Obviously, I’m not going to be able to make Avatar movies indefinitely, the amount of energy required. I would have to train somebody how to do this because, I don’t care how smart you are as a director, you don’t know how to do this.”
‘Avatar: The Way of Water’ Review: James Cameron Is A Pioneer Exploring A Frontier That May Not Be Worth Conquering
Avatar: The Way of Water stars Sam Worthington, Zoe Saldaña, Stephen Lang, Giovanni Ribisi, Sigourney Weaver, Edie Falco, Kate Winslet, Jemaine Clement, Michelle Yeoh, Brendan Cowell, Cliff Curtis, Oona Chaplin, CJ Jones, and more. The film hit movie theaters in the United States on Friday, December 16.