Audiences have been waiting well over a decade now to see what James Cameron has cooked up for Avatar 2. While the first film has somewhat lost its splendor with moviegoers over the years, James Cameron did previously create two of the biggest sequels of all time. With both Aliens and Terminator 2 under his belt, it’s exciting to wonder if Cameron will add the same level of expansion to Avatar. And, based on a new image released from Avatar 2, it looks like the potential is definitely there. It looks like Avatar 2 will be taking the setting to Pandora’s oceans, and with it a brand new category of life to explore.
The image comes via EW, where they were also able to reveal some details about Avatar 2. Apparently the storyline takes place around 14 years after the events of the original Avatar. As such, the gap between films matches up with their release dates.
Here’s what producer Jon Landau stated about Avatar 2 and the other sequels they’re working on:
“Ultimately, the sequels are a story about family, and the lengths parents will go through to keep that family together and keep them safe,” producer Jon Landau explains. “I always say that Jim’s movies have universal themes — and really, there’s no more universal theme than family.”
He also discussed the scale of the new sequels.
“What we are doing now, from a story standpoint and a world standpoint, is on a much larger scale,” Landau says. “That’s both exciting and challenging. We are putting much more detail, first and foremost, into the performances of the cast, but we’re [also] putting much more detail and diversity into the world that we are creating.”
It certainly sounds like a gamble, and even director James Cameron has acknowledged that.
“The big issue is: Are we going to make any damn money?” Cameron says of his planned sequels. “Big, expensive films have got to make a lot of money. We’re in a new world post-COVID, post-streaming. Maybe those [box office] numbers will never be seen again. Who knows? It’s all a big roll of the dice.”
It’s definitely admirable to see such risks being taken, especially for so many sequels in development. After waiting over a decade to see Avatar 2, it’ll be especially interesting and exciting to see what James Cameron has come up with. Hopefully we’ll have more images and glimpses at the upcoming sequel soon.
Avatar 2 is scheduled to hit theaters on December 16, 2022.