After 13 years, James Cameron will re-introduce audiences to Pandora with his Avatar sequel in December 2022. While the 2009 film is still the highest-grossing film of all time, superhero fare like Avengers: Endgame and Spider-Man: No Way Home demolished its other records and swept it under the cultural rug. But thanks to Disney's lackluster marketing rollout, there hasn't been much buzz about the impending Avatar follow-up.
Currently, Avatar 2 is set to hit theaters during the holiday season on December 16, 2022. The film has been pushed back a total of eight times, with its original release originally slated for 2016. The reasons for these pushbacks range from limits in filmmaking technology to the Covid-19 pandemic having shut down theaters in 2020. But will a crowded holiday box office and 13 years outside of the cultural lexicon result in Cameron's worst opening of his career? Or will Avatar fans and curious moviegoers show up in droves and return to Pandora?
James Cameron is notorious for being immensely tedious in his filmmaking and taking his time perfecting the final product. The first Avatar also took 13 years to make, with Cameron having written an 80-page treatment back in 1994. Maybe Cameron thinks he can recreate the original's success by taking the same amount of time as he did previously. It's possible, though, that Cameron missed the boat as audiences' attention spans and narrative tastes aren't what they used to be.
Take a look at the other films Avatar 2 will be going up against at the box office during its release window. Currently, Avatar 2 will be playing alongside movies like Shazam! Fury of the Gods and the Chris Pratt Mario movie during its first two weeks of release. Movies like Black Panther: Wakanda Forever and Creed 3 will be released not even a month prior to Avatar 2 and will certainly be pulling fans in for repeat viewings. This slate of movies shows that fans value characters they recognize and IP they trust. It also doesn't help that big names in the entertainment industry, like Shazam 2's director David F. Sandberg, are saying that Avatar 2 should be worried.
Of course, it would be wrong to say that no one is excited to return to the Na'vi's planet. But despite some light Twitter buzz at the recent announcement of a trailer being paired with Doctor Strange in the Multiverse of Madness, there has been little hype generated around the sequel. A big part of that might fall to the fans' hindsight in regards to the 2009 film. There is no arguing that the special effects and visuals of Avatar were objectively mind-blowing for the time. Yet, looking back, more fans have returned to 2009's Iron Man because of its great characters and effective narrative. This is something many viewers realized Cameron's Avatar didn't have when reminiscing.
Avatar had nothing interesting or new to add to the well-tread narrative arc it used. There are plenty of films, like The Last of the Mohicans, The Last Samurai or Atlantis: The Lost Empire, that follow the same plot as Avatar but did it remarkably better. The sequel certainly has the opportunity to learn from the glaring issues of its predecessor, and maybe the new writers brought on to help pen the subsequent films will help.
It seems like the only people that are excited about the upcoming sequel are those involved in the series, like returning actor Zoe Saldaña. But whether audiences want it or not, multiple franchise movies are set to follow the sequel coming in December. Disney has announced that there will be three more Avatar films after this sequel, each having two years between releases. The third was filmed simultaneously with Avatar 2 and is said to have around 90 percent of it already shot. It is clear that Disney hopes this potential series will become another powerhouse franchise they can add to their list of IP. But even James Cameron realizes films four and five won't come to fruition if fans don't show up for Avatar 2.