Avatar: The Way of Water director James Cameron has shared his thoughts on the gap between the original film and the sequel's release.

In an interview with The New York Times, Cameron was asked if he had any concerns over how the upcoming Avatar sequel will perform given the nearly 13-year delay in its release. "I think I could have made a sequel two years later and have it bomb because people didn't relate to the characters or the direction of the film," Cameron said. "My personal experience goes like this: I made a sequel called Aliens, seven years after the first movie. It was very well received. I made a sequel called Terminator 2 seven years after the first movie. It did an order of magnitude of more, in revenue, than the first film."

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The Academy Award-winner continued, "I was a little concerned that I had stretched the tether too far, in our fast-paced, modern world, with Avatar 2 coming in 12 years later," he explained. "Right until we dropped the teaser trailer, and we got 148 million views in 24 hours. There's that scarce seen but wondered at principle, which is, 'Wow, we haven't seen that in a long time, but I remember how cool it was back then.' Does that play in our favor? I don't know. I guess we're going to find out."

Cameron's Sequel Concerns

Released in theaters in 2009, Avatar was universally praised for its groundbreaking visual effects and use of 3D technology. The film quickly became the highest-grossing film of all time, beating out Cameron's own Titanic from 1997. The success of the film originally made Cameron hesitant to create its subsequent sequels. "I had to think long and hard whether I even wanted to make another Avatar film because it was kind of ours to lose," Cameron said in July. "When you’ve done something that’s been that transcendent in terms of success, do you really want to go try and do that again? There’s a lot of pressure on it. I thought about it for a good two years before we finally made a deal."

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Nevertheless, Avatar went on to hold the top spot for 10 years until it was beaten by the 2019 Avengers: Endgame. However, in 2021, Avatar went on to reclaim its title thanks to a re-release of the film in China. After several extended delays, Avatar: The Way of Water will finally release in December 2022.

Despite the gap between the two films, 20th Century Studios President Steve Asbell has stated that there are no concerns from the studio about how audiences will react to the franchise's return. "I can tell you that there is no better marketing apparatus in the business than the one at Disney," Asbell said in March. "They will do an incredible job reigniting that passion for the original film."

Avatar: The Way of Water opens in theaters on Dec. 16, 2022, while the upcoming 4K re-release of the original Avatar will release on Sept. 23.

Source: The New York Times