James Cameron is the king of the box office, no doubt, but the box office returns on the third installment, “Avatar: Fire & Ash,” aren’t keeping up with the previous two releases from the “Avatar” franchise. Theoretically, this could be a tad concerning for those hoping to see more adventures on Pandora.
In a new article from Variety, they’re pointing out that the $500 million (combined money spent on both production and marketing budgets) sequel is becoming “barely profitable” due to the skyrocketing costs, and the current box office total of $1.44 billion is quite a drop from “Avatar: The Way of Water” ($2.33 billion), which by our account would be a hefty drop of over $890 million between releases.
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That drop isn’t just nothing, considering Disney and 20th Century Studios would see that kind of fluctuation between films as concerning, given the costs involved here and that dip eating into the studio’s profits. Cameron has previously telegraphed that the studio (Disney is undergoing a major change with Bob Iger’s exit and replacement with Josh D’Amaro) would ultimately determine if they’ll complete those next two movies.
Even though Cameron and his cast have already started filming scenes for “Avatar 4,” such as Michelle Yeoh‘s (“Everything Everywhere All At Once”) human character, Dr. Karina Mogue, is expected to show up in the next two movies, and being spotted on set goofing around with the director, with her co-star Giovanni Ribisi (plays Parker Selfridge and is expected to return in those unreleased sequels) in the background.
“Avatar 4” is slotted to be released by Disney on December 21, 2029, so until there is some shocking announcement, we’ll have to assume things will keep chugging along. For Cameron he’s trying to get other movies in development like his fantasy actioner “The Devils,” his WWII atomic bomb drama “Ghosts of Hiroshima,” and has been discussing with Disney/Robert Rodriguez the merits of a possible sequel to “Alita: Battle Angel” (once planned as a trilogy of films).
- Christopher Marc
- Christopher Marc
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- Christopher Marc
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