James Cameron Says AVATAR 4 Is “Very Likely” Even After AVATAR: FIRE AND ASH Fell Short at the Box Office
The future of the Avatar franchise is still looking pretty solid, even if the latest chapter didn’t quite reach the massive heights of its predecessor.
While Avatar: Fire and Ash pulled in impressive global numbers, it earned significantly less than Avatar: The Way of Water. Still, director James Cameron says the next installment is likely moving forward.
The filmmaker recently addressed the situation and reassured fans that the journey on Pandora isn’t over yet.
Avatar: Fire and Ash arrived with huge expectations after the enormous success of Avatar: The Way of Water. While the film still performed well by most standards, it didn’t dominate the global box office in the same way.
According to reports, the film earned about $1.45 billion worldwide, which would normally be considered a massive hit. However, due to its enormous production costs, there were questions about whether the movie had actually turned a profit.
During the Saturn Awards, Cameron spoke about the future of the series and made it clear that a fourth film is still very much a possibility.
Addressing the status of the next chapter, he said it’s “very likely” that the franchise will continue and noted that he’s paying close attention to how audiences are responding to the latest film as the team considers where the story goes next.
The movie stars Sigourney Weaver, Zoe Saldaña, and Sam Worthington, returning to Pandora as the Sully family faces one of their most painful chapters yet. In the story, Jake Sully and his family struggle to deal with the devastating loss of their son Neteyam.
As grief weighs heavily on them, they’re forced to push forward when a new threat rises. The violent Ash people, known as the Mangkwan clan, emerge as dangerous enemies led by the ruthless Varang, played by Oona Chaplin. The fractured family must unite once again to defend their home.
Despite the film’s huge box office haul, Cameron previously acknowledged that the economics of filmmaking have become increasingly complicated.
"Here's the thing: the movie industry is depressed right now. Avatar 3 cost a lot of money. We have to do well in order to continue. We have to do well, and we need to figure out how to make Avatar movies more inexpensively in order to continue."
That challenge is even more apparent now that Fire and Ash finished its run roughly $870 million behind The Way of Water. Even so, the franchise is still one of the most profitable and recognizable sci-fi series ever made.
For Cameron, the world of Pandora clearly still has more story left to tell. And if the director’s latest comments are any indication, fans shouldn’t start worrying about Avatar 4 just yet.
Via: Screen Rant