It is happening again. James Cameron‘s Avatar sequels have been delayed once more, this time owing to Disney’s acquisition of Fox. It’s incredible to think that the original plan was for Avatar 2 to arrive – get this – in 2014. The slow development of the screenplays, and Cameron’s decision to expand his plan from two sequels to four – delayed that. Who’d have thought we’d still be waiting five years later?
Production had finally begun last year, aiming for a 2020 debut for Avatar 2. But now Disney, in a slew of release dates and announcements, have pushed the sequels once more. Avatar 2 will now hit cinemas December 17, 2021, and will alternate holiday release schedules with Star Wars. So, they look something like this:
December 17, 2021 – Avatar 2
December 22, 2023 – Avatar 3
December 19, 2025 – Avatar 4
December 17, 2027 – Avatar 5
Yes, the Avatar franchise now runs through 2027. Cue the jokes about how the world will have ended by then and we’ll probably be living on our own version of Pandora. So Disney now essentially has the holiday season by the throat for close to a decade, with Star Wars movies arriving in the years in-between Avatar films.
The crazy thing is that, even though Avatar is currently the highest grossing film of all time, it hasn’t exactly hung around in the public consciousness. It was a brilliant cinematic experience at the time, leading to a brief Hollywood fad with 3D, but doesn’t have the cinematic legacy previous highest grossing films had. Think Jurassic Park and Titanic.
Cameron previously stated that if Avatar 2 and 3 don’t work, there’s no guarantee the final sequels happen. That seems increasingly unlikely with the Disney machine now behind them.
There’s no doubt that they will put their full marketing weight behind the sequels when they eventually arrive, and they’ll probably do well. It just doesn’t feel like the slam dunk you’d expect from a film that made close to $3 billion at the box office.
#Peace.Love.Avatar
