Where will “Avatar: The Way Of Water” end up on the highest-grossing movie of all time list? It currently sits at #4 with a $2.13 billion total gross, just shy of “Titanic” at $2.19 billion. Looking ahead, “Water” overtaking “Titanic” (no pun intended) feels inevitable. But looking further than that, where will the upcoming “Avatar” sequels land on that all-time list when they hit theaters in 2024, 2026, and 2028?
READ MORE: ‘Avatar: The Way Of Water’ Hits $2B At Global Box Office Faster Than ‘Avatar’
There’s no way to gauge that right now, given how little anyone knows about those movies at this point. But Variety reports that “Avatar” producer Jon Landau teased some hints for fans about the upcoming sequels in a new interview with Empire magazine. The juiciest new detail? Well, fans already knew that “Avatar 3” would introduce a fire-based Na’vi clan called the Ash People, but now Landau spoils their leader. Oona Chaplin, of “Game Of Thrones” fame, will play Varang, the Ash People leader, a tribe of Na’vi that’s not as welcoming as the recent movie’s Metkayina clan.
“There are good humans and there are bad humans,” Landau told Empire in the interview. “It’s the same thing on the Na’vi side. Oftentimes, people don’t see themselves as bad. What is the root cause of how they evolve into what we perceive as bad? Maybe there are other factors there that we aren’t aware of.” That quote doesn’t give any plot details away for “Avatar 3,” but prepare for the Ash People to be problematic for Jake Sully and his family. As for Chapling, fans already knew about her casting, but not who she played; now it’s clear she has a prevalent role for at least the next installment.
Did Landau provide any other scoops in his interview? A couple: “Avatar 4” features “a big time jump” after “Avatar 3,” and “Avatar 5” will partially take place on Earth. Landau previously dropped that news about sequel #5 in a Gizmodo interview he did last December in the lead-up to “Water,” but he didn’t provide any concrete details then about how Earth will loo He does now. “There’s over-population and a depletion of our natural resources that make life harder,” explained Landau.
That’s not hard to fathom, since the search for a new source of resources is why the RDA comes to Pandora in the first place in “Avatar.” But Landau stressed that the “Avatar” version of Earth won’t be too desolated. “But we don’t want to paint a bleak picture for where our world is going,” added the producer. “The films are also about the idea that we can change course.”
So, to recap: Oona Chaplin plays Varang, leader of the Ash People, in “Avatar 3”; “Avatar 4” feature a big jump forward in time; and “Avatar 5” partially takes place on a depleted, over-populated Earth. But don’t worry if that’s not enough info, “Avatar” fans. Both Landau and James Cameron will presumably have more tidbits about the sequels as “The Way Of Water” continues to climb the all-time box office chart.