'The Reality Is Avatar 3 Did OK but as a Cultural Force, It's Exhausted' — James Cameron Reportedly Discussing Ways to Make Avatar 4 and 5 Cheaper and Shorter

Invest in miniatures and some costumes

Its a sad state of affairs where a movie can make over 1 billion dollars and thats just "OK". Thats an insane amount of money. The whole industry is fucked if thats where they're at.

Cultural force? The movie's are wildly successful, but their cultural impact seems to be that they come around every once in a while, impress everyone on a technical level and are subsequently forgotten.

Perhaps tell a new story? Like wtf

He's an amazing, generational filmmaker. I just wish he hadn't spent the last 20 years of his passion and expertise on something so contrived and tepid. Dude should be making action blockbusters, not hyper-budgeted versions of 90s straight-to-VHS adventure fantasy movies.

A good writer would compensate well for downscale in other areas, like the visuals. Just saying as someone who didn't hate these movies.

Unpopular opinion, but I was not thrilled with the first one. I didn't think it was worthy of a sequel and I certainly didn't think it deserved to become a dynasty.

*Avatar 3* felt like the deleted scenes of *Avatar 2*. So yeah, he’s not wrong.

None of these movies have a story that could even remotely justify their runtime. Start there.

Bro, you always introduce time travel in the fourth episode, and then you do multiverse in the fifth. Duh, james cameron.

As a cultural force? Aside from the FX the whole series is utterly forgettable.

If Jimmy had invested more time into crafting the story as he did for the technical aspects of these films maybe he wouldn’t be running into this issue now instead of later.

Dear Mr. Cameron - Maybe if you'd had better writers throughout you'd be doing better.

My kids forced me to watch this film with them a few days ago. Truth be told, if you turn your brain off, the three hours go by quite quickly and there are some good set pieces here and there. But it's now been about 10 days or so since we watched and I could not remember a single thing about it. That's your Avatar experience in a nutshell. Pretty, but so, so forgettable because there really is nothing memorable about them.

These movies are super forgettable. Pretty but empty. Hard to be a cultural force when it’s so bland.

It was never a "cultural force" it was always gimmick. And a weaksauce one at that

Who is clamoring for these movies? I literally know ZERO people who give a shit about them.

I did not care to see Avatar 3 and so I didn’t. The 2nd was a very enjoyable experience, but that movie did not end with me dying to see more. When I really think about it, half the reason I wanted to see avatar two was to how the visuals looked after almost 15 years. This new one coming only two years after the last one did not have that added benefit of my curiosity for the visual effects. I’d be willing to bet I’m not the only one who thought that.

Was it ever a cultural force? I've never seen much in the way of Listnook conversations about any of the movies. I think the first one came out and people went more because of the novelty of it. But in the intervening decade+ before the second movie came out, did anyone actually give a shit that it was taking so long? Does anyone actually care about any of these movies and their mythology? Is there anything enduring about them?

At what point was Avatar "a Cultural Force"?

I have an idea, don’t make them

Maybe because it was the same movie as the sequel, which was the same movie as the original, with slightly different-looking, blue creatures?

Hire the WNBA and paint em blue or is that what already happens???

Try making a new story. Go to a new planet

Do an animated series for Disney Plus

Just make Titanic 2 already!

Don’t make the same movie 2 times?

Avatar 3 was the first one I didn’t watch in the theater. It’s just kind of an exhausted idea…plus I’m constantly exhausted and broke because of all the nonsense going on in my country (US).

Was it ever a cultural force, though? TItanic and Terminator were. This franchise is little more than Fern Gully on steroids.

Just let us rent fern gully ...

The thing is that *we do not need Avatar 4 and 5.*

It felt obvious after Avatar 2 that the “cultural force” of the first movie was done.

How about not making them at all

Or maybe not make them At all?

I will never understand his obsession with making Avatar. Why do you need 5 chapters of the same tired ass story?

I hope 4 and 5 get made

It's never been culturally relevant IMO. Sells a ton of movie tickets but that seems about it. You never see merch out in the wild, people don't dress up like characters on Halloween or at ComicCons, there's no video games, IP licenses to Lego, trading cards, animated spinoffs for kids, or things like that. Disney is rethinking making an immersive world at its parks, like Galaxy's Edge or Wizarding World of Harry Potter. The fact that all 3 movies made over a billion dollars surprises me. But I think the biggest error was dropping 3 right after 2. Doesn't need to be a decade between movies but there was enough time between 1 and 2 that the tech got a chance to really evolve and people wanted the experience again.

We’re all going to be at a different stage in our lives if he really manages to get to film number 7. That’s maybe 12-15 years away. James Cameron might want to crack on with them - and make them quicker and shorter - simply to make it more likely that he’ll get to see them finish.

There’s no excuse for how long these movies are. That’s why I didn’t see part 3. They could all be a full hour shorter.

I'd love to see the conclusion to the story. I also agree that Avatar doesn't have the cultural impact it thought it had. They're fun and stunning movies to watch and that's about it. They certainly don't need to be 3 hours long each. I'd say, make 4 and 5, make them each shorter and film both simultaneously. If they've developed the tech over the past movies, it should be cheaper to make these than the previous ones. Cut back on the R&D. These movies already look insanely good. You don't need to invest a huge fortune into that. Pick and choose what's important to innovate on. I think the next 2 films will do well, but not as well as the 1st or 2nd films. It might do better than the 3rd if they keep the budget under control. I hope they get made. I do enjoy the theatrical experience of watching them. There really aren't any other creators making stuff like this. Cameron is in a league all his own. We're lucky, as an audience, we even get stuff like this anymore.

I really don’t know what the difference between Avatar 2 and 3 is,

No shit. You remade one of your movies twice with literally the same plot

Avatar 3 felt way too much like a retread of 2. Visually it was stunning but nothing really changed in the universe from the start to the end of the e movie.

Avatar was never a cultural force. It had no impact on culture whatsoever except as a benchmark for the technology/CGI quality. The story and acting are terrible. There’s no reason it needs to go on for 4 or 5 or 7 films.

Why make them at all? Boring CGI c*** to me!

If I'm being honest the only thing Avatar related I've ever been impressed with was the Pandora section of Animal Kingdom at Disney World. I've only seen the first movie and, while it was visually stunning, I never understood why they'd spend so much money to tell such a bland story.

My problem with the Avatar series is they are so formulaic and boring. Why would you commit to this epic project, get billions allocated to making it, spare zero expense, but then make a plot that is just Dances With Wolves all over again, with dialogue cringier than your average Hallmark holiday movie.

He could be doing great things like Nolan or Villenueve, but NOOOOO he likes his blue pocahontas money. Nobody gives a shit.

I'd probably rather see an Abyss sequel than another Avatar and I'd really rather not see an Abyss sequel.

It’s just utter c*** 💩

The movies are super long. I wanted to wait and watch it on Disney+ so I could pause

I mean, the wasn't a cultural behemoth either was it.. Some of the same old school, tepid liberal platitudes that we've seen in any other good coloniser stories for about a hundred years.

Way of water was so bad it killed the franchise

It was never a cultural force to begin with, no one talks about avatar at all, nor has it won any meaningful awards

No, no more please. Three were more than enough. We're good.

Put a bit of craic into them, they’re so serious - plead, fight, beg, worry, hiss, fight, stoic speech, ad nauseum.

He could just not make them. Throwing that out there.

Just f****** stop. I'm amazed anyone is a fan of this shit.

Better narrative & better dialogue please.

Cheaper and shorter? What about making them good?

Maybe you shoulda just did 3 movies.

By not making them.

Saw 3hr+ said nah

I still havent finished the 2nd one. I fell asleep during it.

Worst movies series that made a billion, change my mind.

THEY MADE A 3rd one?? WHY?

Even the first movie was exhausted…

The first Avatar wasn’t a cultural force. It was a good model for what 3d could do in movies, but once it was out of theaters no one talked about it until the next movie was announced. It was spectacle, but not any kind of cultural touchstone.

Stop making these f****** movies

Or… just don’t make it

Just stop making them. I was so underwhelmed by the first one I did not even bother watching the second and thirds ones.

I really wish he would just ditch the franchise and go back to being the guy that gave us monumental classics. So sick of these lifeless movies

I just saw the trailer for another hunger games. There are absolutely no original ideas left to create movies with anymore.

He should just not make it. It f****** sucks. Avatar robbed us of two decades without James Cameron.

It was in interesting movie/concept, but I think referring to the avatar movies as a cultural force is a bit of a stretch.

Of course it's exhausted. The same storyline with the same guy trying to destroy the same planet. Find a new story to tell

Do people actually like Avatar? I rarely see anything about it.

They saved a lot of money by reusing the same script for two movies. Can we assume there's going to be a third and fourth ocean whaling ship fight?

You could just not make either. Boom. Problem solved.

They should film them at the same time and make them only 2hrs. That would cut the budget in half. Or just end it with 4, JC barely moved the needle of the story over the last 2 films. What was even accomplished of significance story-wise in fire and ash?

Maybe a one night only play in a school gym?

Use hand puppets.

Maybe don't make 4 and 5 and move on to something else?

I don’t want another Avatar. Thanks anyway.

They are his worst movies. They are the film equivalent of watching Joe Satriani or Steve Vai work methodically across a fretboard - there's a reason their albums don't resonate with the broader public while being illustrative of peak technical proficiency.

I thought the first movie was ok, but definitely not as good as they try to market it as. There was really no reason for more of them.

Make them more interesting. The stories are 2 basic. And each film follows the same formula.

Then don't make 5 movies wtf

I have an idea. Don’t make them. They’re be really c**** then.

Start by writing a good story. Tends to sort it self out from there.

Oh no who could have seen this coming except literally anyone who saw the first space pocahontas

Just bin it figured he would have got bored with it by now

I never saw a single one of these movies and not a single person has ever told me that I must go see them and that they love these films. Zero cultural relevance. Zero impact. Why would I want to watch a video game looking movie for 3 hours?

Just don't make them? I don't know anyone who's clambering for an *Avatar 4*.

I wish he would abandon Avatar and do more documentaries about the ocean and deep sea exploration- so much more interesting.

Wait there’s avatar 2 ?

No one cares about Avatar. Cameron tarnished his legacy with these goofy-ass movies.

The problem is he’s dragged this on for almost two decades

Have Avatar 5 take place in a modern city. That will make it cheaper to film.

It doesn't help that the movie plots are uninspired retreads of better stories and movies.

Does he HAVE ago make the other sequels? One movie was enough