James Cameron Reveals That He Had To Fight For Getting Sequels For Avatar

[RAMROD 111,669]

 

James Cameron revealed in an interview with Discussing Film that he received pushback from the studio when he decided to expand the number of “Avatar” sequels from three films to four. After the record-breaking success of the original “Avatar” in 2009, Cameron assembled a writer’s room to begin developing the continuation of a story across three sequels.

“We were working on three scripts and then it turned into four. Two got split into two and three,” Cameron said about his decision to split what was the original script for “Avatar: The Way of Water” into both “The Way of Water” and a new third movie, “Fire and Ash.” The decision meant that what was planned to be the third “Avatar” movie would now be the fourth, bringing the total number of films in the franchise to five.

“I actually got a fair bit of pushback from the studio,” Cameron said. “My counterargument was, ‘Wait a minute. What part of you getting another chance to make $2 billion is in question here?'”

The original “Avatar” remains the highest-grossing movie in history (unadjusted for inflation) with $2.9 billion. Cameron knew what he was talking about with his counterargument to the studio as 2022’s “The Way of Water” grossed $2.3 billion to become the third highest-grosser in history. Now the pressure is on for “Fire and Ash” to cross the $2 billion mark at the worldwide box office later this month.

 

https://variety.com/2025/film/news/james-cameron-studio-pushback-avatar-sequels-1236603271/

[NUTELLA 14,351]

6 minutes ago, RAMROD said:

The original “Avatar” remains the highest-grossing movie in history

Inexplicable.

The only thing I remember about this movie is falling asleep in the theater & waking up because my friend was trying to shove Dots into my nostrils

[Rahrahbitchson 21,660]

Do these movies deserve it ?

I havent seen Avatar in my life 

[Pablo 8,004]

12 minutes ago, NUTELLA said:

Inexplicable.

The only thing I remember about this movie is falling asleep in the theater & waking up because my friend was trying to shove Dots into my nostrils

I'm still shocked it did so well, money laundering? 

[Lucas 28,136]

2 minutes ago, Rahrahbitchson said:

Do these movies deserve it ?

I havent seen Avatar in my life 

Good movies but not groundbreaking enough to gross that much. Just tons of hype back then. But the movies are visually STUNNING, particularly the second.

[Karl 3,496]

Aaandd the trendy avatar hate train comes in  

[NUTELLA 14,351]

6 minutes ago, Karl said:

Aaandd the trendy avatar hate train comes in  

None of the above replies were hateful? lol merely confounded that it did so remarkably well (& remains box office queen after all this time)

Spoiler

Having said that, if I could remember it, I'd probably hate it.

[Quasi 10,988]

Glad he was able to continue the story into sequels two and three. It’s a stunning film with a great message. Sure the script isn’t profound but it’s absurdly entertaining and watching it on the biggest screen possible is what cinemas are made for. It really feels like an event and a special experience to witness it in a big theatre.

[faysalaaa 5,043]

16 minutes ago, Rahrahbitchson said:

Do these movies deserve it ?

I havent seen Avatar in my life 

Visually they are one of the best movies, and its why most people enjoy it. Story is good but nothing special though. So if you enjoy visuals, you would enjoy the movie. 

[elijahfan 26,685]

I was a big fan of the first one, which I went to see several times in theaters back then, but I'm not sure it warranted that many sequels... It does feel like seeing pretty much the same film over and over again. I'll go see the new one out of sheer curiosity, but I'm not massively excited about it. I'll most likely see it once and forget about it, same as with Way of Water.

[jimmytimestep 2,762]

25 minutes ago, Rahrahbitchson said:

Do these movies deserve it ?

I havent seen Avatar in my life 

The first one is pretty good. Imagine an action/sci-fi version of Pocahontas, lol.

The Way of Water is a bit of a slog imo, like...we get it, James - I don't need to see these super slow long shots of giant animals swimming

[Lord Mayhem 1,947]

Well CLEARLY it has paid off...literally 

I hope he gets to complete the story in 4 and 5. 

[Economy 50,929]

29 minutes ago, Rahrahbitchson said:

Do these movies deserve it ?

I havent seen Avatar in my life 

I also agree with others comments

 

They are solid scifi movies (especially the first one).

 

Is it ground breaking to the point of being highest grossing and so acclaimed? In my opinion no. Worth a whatch tho

[HotLikeMexico 5,457]

Bye he's so full of ****. No fighting was done. If it makes money... it gets a sequel.

[Defmix100 6,519]

30 minutes ago, HotLikeMexico said:

Bye he's so full of ****. No fighting was done. If it makes money... it gets a sequel.

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