As the next installment, "Avatar: Fire and Ash," approaches its release, director James Cameron recently sat down with Discussing Film, offering a rare glimpse into the behind-the-scenes struggles and pressures surrounding the franchise's sequel planning.
Cameron explained that the studio initially resisted his proposal to expand the "Avatar" saga from three planned sequels to four, and was particularly hesitant about his decision to split the screenplay. He recalled challenging the studio at the time, asking, "What part of this don't you understand? Another two billion dollars, what's not to be sure about?"
The 2009 original "Avatar" remains the highest-grossing film of all time worldwide, unadjusted for inflation, with a staggering $2.9 billion. Cameron, keenly aware of the franchise's potential, realized while developing "Avatar: The Way of Water" that the story's scope was far grander than anticipated. He ultimately decided to split what was originally conceived as the second film into two parts (now "The Way of Water" and the upcoming third film), pushing the original third installment to become the fourth, thus expanding the entire series to a total of five films. This expansion, however, met with resistance from the studio, which questioned whether the narrative could sustain such an ambitious scale.
Cameron, however, clearly had unwavering confidence in his vision. "The Way of Water" proved him right, grossing $2.3 billion globally upon its 2022 release and becoming the third-highest-grossing film in history. This success, however, places immense pressure on the upcoming "Avatar: Fire and Ash," which is widely expected to surpass $2 billion at the box office to maintain the "Avatar" franchise's legendary commercial performance.
Notably, Cameron revealed an interesting shift in the studio's attitude towards the sequel scripts. He recounted receiving three pages of notes for "The Way of Water" screenplay, which dwindled to just one page for the third installment. For the "Avatar 4" script, there were no notes at all; the creative director simply expressed shock with a "Holy fuck." Cameron quipped that this meant the story was "crazy in a great way that didn't need any changes."
While Cameron has already filmed portions of "Avatar 4," the successful production of subsequent installments ultimately hinges on the box office performance of "Avatar: Fire and Ash."