James Cameron calls Avatar films ‘hideously expensive’, says he could wrap franchise after third film ‘if it’s not profitable’
James Cameron had proudly announced the Avatar series of five films after the success of the first Avatar film in 2009. The second and third part of the franchise have been in production for the last few years with the second part titled Avatar: The Way of Water due for release in December. While the Hollywood filmmaker is reportedly working with a budget of $1 billion for the four sequels, he recently said that the series might wrap up after Avatar 3 if “it’s just not profitable.”
Talking to Total Film, Cameron said that he wrote the films before the streaming culture invaded the world, and before the pandemic seemingly changed the movie viewing experience, so it is yet to be seen how the audience will respond to the films. “We’re in a different world now than we were when I wrote this stuff, even,” he said. The Titanic director added, “It’s the one-two punch – the pandemic and streaming. Or, conversely, maybe we’ll remind people what going to the theatre is all about. This film definitely does that. The question is: how many people give a s**t now?”
James Cameron said that he had taken out a few parts from Avatar: The Way of Water and saved them for the third part, which he is sure will be made and released. Calling these films “hideously expensive”, Cameron said it was a “sketchy business” to make such expensive films even before the pandemic implying that it was more of a risk now. “At this point, we just have to play it out to see what happens. But what I know right now is: we’re delivering three hours of a pretty much insane experience,” he said. The director added, “The market could be telling us we’re done in three months, or we might be semi-done, meaning: ‘OK, let’s complete the story within movie three, and not go on endlessly’, if it’s just not profitable.”
Earlier, reports suggested that the runtime of Avatar: The Way of Water was 3 hours and 10 minutes and while no official sources have confirmed that yet, Cameron seems to be in agreement that the movie is rather long. “It’s a longer film, because there’s more characters to service. There’s more story to service,” he said.
Avatar: The Way of Water is releasing worldwide on December 16.
