James Cameron Says He’ll Reveal AVATAR 4 and 5 Plots If the Franchise Ends After FIRE AND ASH
Avatar: Fire and Ash is doing solid numbers at the box office, but James Cameron isn’t taking anything for granted. The director recently told Entertainment Weekly that if the third Avatar film doesn’t pull in enough cash to greenlight the next two sequels, he’ll reveal the planned storylines himself… in a press conference.
“I don’t know if the saga goes beyond this point. I hope it does. But, you know, we prove that business case every time we go out… If we don’t get to make 4 and 5, for whatever reason, I’ll hold a press conference and I’ll tell you what we were gonna do. How’s that?”
Cameron even floated the idea of turning those scripts into novels, saying, “There’s so much culture and backstory and lateral detail in these characters that’s been worked out. I’d love to do something that’s at that level of granular detail.”
Cameron’s been upfront during the Fire and Ash press tour about the future of the franchise being tied directly to the film’s financial performance. While Avatar 4 is already partially shot, Disney hasn’t officially committed to Avatar 5, and nothing’s guaranteed in today’s theatrical landscape.
When talking about Avatar 4, Cameron previously admitted, “We’re getting ahead of ourselves. We’ve got to make some money with this one. Every time we go out, we have to prove this crazy business case yet again.
“The world has changed. We all know the stats, where theatrical is. It’s been a bad year. It’s starting to perk up a little bit with a couple of recent releases: Wicked: For Good has done well, and Zootopia 2 is doing well. So, we’ll see.”
Luckily for fans, Fire and Ash is off to a strong start. It raked in over $500 million globally within its first week, with projections looking good heading into the new year. If it keeps this pace, the odds are pretty good we’ll be heading back to Pandora for Avatar 4 and Avatar 5.
But if not, well, at least we’ll find out where the story was headed.