It has been remarked ad nauseam, that despite its record-breaking run at the box office, James Cameron's Avatar seemed to make zero cultural impact since its release more than seven years ago. You’ve watched the video essays about it, you’ve read the think pieces, you're just as confused by it as you are exhausted by it – I’m with you. A hoary point, make no mistake, but it is nevertheless true. Outside of cosplay and a pretty solid porn parody, the highest grossing film of all time has been denied entrance into our generally charitable pop culture lexicon.
READ: 'Avatar' Sequels 2, 3, 4 And 5 Steal 'Star Wars' Release Date
Not that it matters. Cameron is a Hollywood deity, and he’s determined to make this thing a revered classic whether you give a shit about it or not. By the way, I’m of the opinion that he totally knows you don’t. He sat down with CNN earlier this week to tell indifferent moviegoers to suck his balls:
“It was a seven-year gap between The Terminator and Terminator 2: Judgment Day , a seven year gap between Alien and Aliens . It’s going to be obviously more like a ten-year gap between Avatar and Avatar 2 . But Avatar 2, you are going not with the promise, but the certainty of three more films beyond that and that’s a very different concept with audiences.”
In other words, brilliance takes time, you restive mouth breathers. And you know what, I’m almost surely in the minority here, but I agree and am kind of excited for Avatar 2.
For the record, that doesn’t mean I loved or even liked Avatar. I didn’t hate it, it just didn’t really feel like a movie to me. It was like a simulation of a movie. Like the kind of movie, film student would write for a class about how movies work. It’s James Cameron, so you never get the sense the team behind it are going through the motions. There's passion there, but not enough to mask what is fundamentally a movie about galactic native americans fighting the proverbial “man.”
Having said all of that, there were enough seeds of interesting ideas to warrant a sequel. James Cameron's poised persistence in the face of what has been a slowly mounting backlash against the film, I think, is evidence that he believes audiences are in for quite the surprise on December 2020 (that’s the latest official release date).
Cameron’s confidence in a project isn’t an inconsequential thing. The guy made five of your top ten favorite movies. And those sequels he cited to CNN as examples of movies that were separated from their predecessors by famously huge time gaps, were both arguably better movies (I like Alien better too, but a case can absolutely be made for Aliens).
I don’t doubt that our great grandchildren are going to have egg on their faces by the time Avatar 3 rolls around.
You excited for Avatar 2? Let us know in the comments.
