“Avatar” star Sam Worthington recently spoke to The Independent and said James Cameron‘s record-breaking movie series does not face the same studio pressures as other Hollywood mega-franchises like the Marvel Cinematic Universe. Three movies in, the “Avatar” franchise has grossed $6.7 billion and counting in theaters worldwide. The 2009 original remains the highest-grossing film of all time, while 2022’s “The Way of Water” is third on the list.
“We’re unlike Marvel movies, in the sense of… it feels like an independent movie when we make it,” Worthington said. “We don’t have outside pressures, or expectations from the press, or the studio, or the community. It doesn’t affect what we do. And that’s why we can take more risks.”
“It’s not like we have to get scenes completed by today or the studio is going to be upset. We just play and create. People don’t understand that,” the actor added, dispelling rumors that Cameron is a tyrant on his film sets. “They think it’s this big solid machine where Jim is the didactic director. And he’s not. He’s a painter.”
The most recent “Avatar” blockbuster, “Fire & Ash,” opened in theaters last December and grossed $1.4 billion worldwide. It was a significant drop-off from the previous entry despite being a strong showing for a Hollywood blockbuster overall, which led some to question whether or not Cameron will get the chance to make his final two “Avatar” movies. “Avatar 4” and “Avatar 5” technically have release dates on Disney’s calendar (Dec. 21, 2029 and Dec. 19, 2031), but Cameron has been vocal about only making them if his franchise remains a financial success.
“I don’t know if the saga goes beyond this point. I hope it does,” Cameron told EW before “Fire & Ash” opened in theaters. “But, you know, we prove that business case every time we go out… If we don’t get to make 4 and 5, for whatever reason, I’ll hold a press conference and I’ll tell you what we were gonna do. How’s that?”
Cameron said his other option is to novelize his scripts for “Avatar 4” and “Avatar 5,” adding: “There’s so much culture and backstory and lateral detail in these characters that’s been worked out. I’d love to do something that’s at that level of granular detail.”
During an interview with Variety around the same time, Cameron said “we’re getting ahead of ourselves” when asked about “Avatar 4” because “we’ve got to make some money with this one. Every time we go out, we have to prove this crazy business case yet again. The world has changed. We all know the stats, where theatrical is. It’s been a bad year. It’s starting to perk up a little bit with a couple of recent releases: ‘Wicked: For Good’ has done well, and ‘Zootopia 2’ is doing well. So, we’ll see.”
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