It seems like a lifetime ago that fans and audiences were treated to James Cameron’s Avatar and introduced to the world of Pandora, along with its alien inhabitants known as the Na’vi. The film blew movie-goers away with its beautiful story and jaw-dropping visuals, setting record after record at the box office with a staggering $2.8 billion worldwide and taking home several wins at numerous coveted film awards. It’s safe to say that even among James Cameron’s body of work, Avatar is capable of standing above and beyond the rest of the pack as not just a critical/box office success but a cultural staple as well.
Due to the success of the first film, Cameron was essentially backed into a corner to make sequels for the film (which he hadn’t planned on doing), and the sequels have yet to see the light of day. The first sequel, Avatar 2, was initially scheduled to be released all the way back in 2014 and is finally going to be released this holiday season (fingers crossed). But with such a long gap between the movies, are audiences still as hyped for the upcoming sequel as they should be?
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It Has Been 13 Years Since Avatar
20th Century Studios
Don’t get us wrong - there are multiple reasons that Avatar is the highest-grossing film of all time and has at least been heard of in virtually every household in the world, and no amount of gap between projects could douse a fire that large entirely. But the facts are that 13 years is a really long time, especially in an era as advanced and progressive as the one we’re currently living in (at least, technology-wise). One of the biggest draws of Avatar was the visuals. In 2009, James Cameron’s rendition of Pandora was literally jaw-dropping, causing movie-goers to come back again and again simply to immerse themselves in a different exotic world.
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Nearly a decade and a half later, the visuals still easily hold up, but there’s also no question that visuals and CGI effects in movies have gotten insanely better since 2009. MCU projects look real now; Star Wars projects look real now; Wizarding World projects look real now. James Cameron is fully up to the task and has never been one to shy away from staying up-to-date with filmmaking tactics. Still, it also means that he is responsible for making sure Avatar 2 is even more visually stunning than the original, and all rumors point to that being the case.
Long Delays are Cameron’s Specialty
20th Century Fox
Thirteen years might be a very long time, especially between an original film and its true sequel (there was a 19-year gap between Return of the Jedi and The Phantom Menace). However, longtime fans of Cameron’s work know that his sequels are like fine wine – they only get better with age. Some of Cameron’s most prolific and notable movies have been sequels, such as Aliens and Terminator 2: Judgment Day. Those sequels were true sequels and came out seven years after their predecessor. With that knowledge, fans should rest easy knowing that a long-awaited Cameron sequel only means a better Cameron sequel. Not to mention, Cameron has blamed a large portion of the delays on making sure he gets the script for Avatar 2 and further sequels perfect.
What We Know About the Sequel(s)
As stated, Cameron has devoted a significant chunk of the last decade and a half to making sure that the Avatar sequels won’t just be big-studio cash-grabs and that they all stand on their own two big, blue feet. It’s been reported that the stories for the sequels are all so unique and universal that audiences don’t have to have seen the original Avatar to enjoy them. Along with that information, fans know that the sequels will feature all of the characters from the original (even some that died) and introduce a plethora of new ones. Pandora will still be the setting, with the story taking place 14 years after the original (somehow still making chronological sense) revolving around Sully, Neytiri, and their children.
RELATED: James Cameron Threatened to Fire Avatar Sequel Writers for Creating New Stories
Early reports of the plot also indicate that humans will return to Pandora to continue mining Unobtanium (and probably for revenge), forcing the Na’vi to flee to an underwater civilization, where most of the film is rumored to take place. While Cameron and the actors have kept quiet on any specific details, several of the more-involved cast members and filmmakers have dropped hints and breadcrumbs about how awesome they believe the sequels to be and can’t wait for audiences to see what Cameron has come up with. So, even though it’s been a near-decade and a half since the original Avatar took the world by storm, perhaps its high-time fans start getting just as hyped for the upcoming sequels.
