James Cameron Is Banking On You Watching Avatar: The Way Of Water Twice
Director James Cameron, the self-proclaimed "king of the world," has returned to the world of making big-budget mega-blockbusters with the upcoming sequel "Avatar: The Way of Water." Cameron has spent 13 years on the epic sequel to 2009's "Avatar," and he hopes audiences turn up for the belated follow-up. Cameron hopes to make three more sequels in the world of the Na'vi, with the films scheduled to be released every two years going forward.
While "Avatar 3" has already been shot, Cameron has a lot riding on the success of "Avatar: The Way of Water." If the film bombs at the box office, it could jeopardize the partially shot "Avatar 4" and "Avatar 5" from getting completed. And Cameron's already got plans for sixth and seventh installments if the fans want them. He even has an alternate plan to condense the films into a trilogy if "Avatar 2" is not a success.
When talking about what early tracking for "Avatar 2" says about box office outlook, Cameron said that the film basically has to replicate the success of the first "Avatar" film in order to break even. According to The Hollywood Reporter, the budget of "Avatar: The Way of Water" cost around $350 million to $400 million to make. That's a lot of tickets that need to be sold. Cameron has a very sound logic of how he thinks he can make that money back.
James Cameron is hoping the long runtime of Avatar 2 works in his favor
James Cameron is banking on fans watching "Avatar: The Way of Water" twice in theaters, and he thinks he may be helped by the film's runtime. "Avatar: The Way of Water" will boast a runtime of three hours and 12 minutes with no intermission. Fans may be getting "Avengers: Endgame" flashbacks when hearing that runtime, but they'll need to plan their snack purchases accordingly since "Avatar" runs 10 minutes longer than "Endgame."
In an interview with The Hollywood Reporter, Cameron addressed the runtime and the lack of intermission. He said that the over three-hour length of the film was already agreed upon when the film was set up at 20th Century Fox before Disney took over that studio. "We're going to play the epic game," Cameron said. When asked about when audiences can build in a bathroom break when going to see "Avatar 2" in theaters, he said, "Any time they want. They can see the scene they missed when they come see it again."
The numbers show that audiences tend to see a James Cameron movie multiple times. So, the director is hoping that remains the case for the big-budget sequel. He says he won't really know if the film is a success or not until at least the third weekend of release by that logic. He cites examples of his previous two directorial efforts, "You're not going to know by the first weekend. 'Titanic' didn't work that way. 'Avatar' didn't work that way." THR goes on to point out how "Avatar" opened to a paltry $79 million back in the day, but it had amazing legs and barely dropped in the subsequent weeks. "Avatar" went on to become the highest-grossing movie of all time to date with a staggering $2.92 billion worldwide box office take.