Must all good things come to an end?
Famed director James Cameron has made peace with the idea of ending the “Avatar” franchise if the upcoming sequels are box office failures.
The movie’s sequel, “Avatar: The Way of Water,” hits theaters Dec. 16, arriving 13 years after the original’s 2009 release. More than a decade later, Cameron is aware that audiences’ tastes have shifted, but the recent “Avatar” re-release earned $15 million in the US alone, so it appears that people are still interested in the franchise.
But if not, Cameron says that that’s OK, too.
“The market could be telling us we’re done in three months, or we might be semi-done, meaning: ‘OK, let’s complete the story within movie three, and not go on endlessly,’ if it’s just not profitable,” he told Total Film magazine.
“We’re in a different world now than we were when I wrote this stuff, even,” Cameron continued. “It’s the one-two punch — the pandemic and streaming. Or, conversely, maybe we’ll remind people what going to the theatre is all about. This film definitely does that. The question is: How many people give a s- -t now?”
If the second film doesn’t wow audiences, Cameron said he is prepared to wrap up the franchise by the third installment, though as of now the fourth and fifth films are still in the pipeline.
Should the franchise carry on, however, Cameron has teased the idea of finding someone else to direct the final two movies.
“The ‘Avatar’ films themselves are kind of all-consuming,” Cameron told Empire earlier this year. “I’ve got some other things I’m developing as well that are exciting. I think eventually over time — I don’t know if that’s after three or after four — I’ll want to pass the baton to a director that I trust to take over, so I can go do some other stuff that I’m also interested in. Or maybe not. I don’t know.”
“Movie 4 is a corker. It’s a motherf- -ker,” he continued. “I actually hope I get to make it. But it depends on market force. Three is in the can so it’s coming out regardless. I really hope that we get to make four and five because it’s one big story, ultimately.”