James Cameron is one of the most successful filmmakers in the world mostly known for his sci-fi epics. His films including the ‘Terminator‘ franchise, ‘Titanic‘, ‘Avatar‘, and ‘Aliens‘ have been critical and commercial successes and have also won him the Academy Awards.
Now, the 68-year-old Canadian filmmaker is gearing up for his upcoming film ‘Avatar: The Way of Water’. Cameron has plans to direct four sequels to the film that will release in 2022, 2024, 2026, and 2028. But this feels like stretching a franchise till there’s no soul left in it.
Is James Cameron Stretching The ‘Avatar’ Franchise?
When James Cameron made ‘Avatar‘ in 2009, people were blown away by it. The visual spectacle was something no one had ever seen before. No wonder it took him almost a decade to make this epic.
He conceived the idea in the mid-1990s but realized there wasn’t any technology to make it possible. The motion capture that Cameron needed extensively was finally out in the market in around 2005 and everything was set in motion. ‘Avatar‘ marked Cameron’s return to the director’s chair after 12 years.
The film was hailed as a technical marvel and was loved for its groundbreaking visual effects. It took home three Oscars and was the highest-grossing film on the planet for nearly a decade until it was overtaken by the 2019 film ‘Avengers: Endgame.’
But people quickly pointed out the paper-thin plot of the film and Cameron defended it saying it was by design. Having said and done all of that, did we really need four more such films? At this point, people have lost their interest in the franchise since it was in the making for so long. Plus, the technology of a film can only take it so far but not very far. Ultimately it’s the story and the characters that matter.
The ‘Avatar’ Sequels Feel More Like Cash Grabs
A lot has happened since the blockbuster flick was released in 2009. Now the Hollywood film industry is bloated with IPs, franchises, and comic book films. Very few filmmakers these days including Christopher Nolan, Denis Villeneuve, and Steven Speilberg among others are doing original stuff.
Jim was one of these back in the day. But now he is a victim of his own vision. It seems that the fatigue of directing four similar kinds of films has already set in as he said that the last two ‘Avatar‘ films won’t be directed by him. Post the success of ‘The Lord of the Rings‘, several directors tried to replicate the three-films-planned-in-advance model but almost everyone failed.
When there is a plethora of stories around us, why obsess over a franchise? It’s also a financially risky move because if the way of water doesn’t work, the rest of the “planned” sequels might be dumped forever.
All we can hope is that the sequel, which is slated to release on December 16, isn’t a ‘style-over-substance’ film and continues Cameron’s style of amazing sequels (Remember ‘Aliens‘ and ‘Terminator 2‘?)
