It is not unusual for a movie to undergo some extensive changes during the early months of development, but when it comes to James Cameron’s Avatar sequels, it seems that the director took even more drastic measures than most to make sure the story was right. With Avatar back in cinemas and Avatar: The Way of Water heading into cinemas this December, Cameron has been discussing in great depth the decade-long process that has been needed to bring the story of Pandora back to the big screen, and that included scrapping over a year’s worth of scripting that didn’t work. Cameron explained to The Times:
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With this kind of brutal changes being made to the Avatar sequels by Cameron, it is not surprising that the follow-up to his 2009 monster hit has taken so long. While there are now four new Avatar movies seemingly set to be released in the coming years, it has been a long time since Avatar jumped onto 3D technology with everything it had and became the biggest movie of all time. The real question now is can Avatar: The Way of Water do the same again, or is it all just a little too late?
“All films work on different levels. The first is surface, which is character, problem and resolution. The second is thematic. What is the movie trying to say? But ‘Avatar’ also works on a third level, the subconscious. I wrote an entire script for the sequel, read it and realized that it did not get to level three. Boom. Start over. That took a year.”
James Cameron Says Avatar 2 is Unpredictable
20th Century Studios
There are many movie critics who still scratch their heads over what exactly made James Cameron’s Avatar the biggest movie in cinema history over a decade ago. Whether it was then-new and stunning 3D visuals, with Avatar still remaining one of the few movies that “did” 3D properly, or the performances, or the script, the truth about Avatar’s popularity is going to be tested with the arrival of Avatar: The Way of Water. Whether the movie sinks or swims in the current unpredictable box office climate, one thing that James Cameron is certain of is that unpredictability will also be found in the movie itself. He said:
One thing that is known about Avatar: The Way of Water is that ten years of development has seemingly resulted in another visually stunning spectacle, one that will transport those who saw Avatar in theaters all those years ago right back to Pandora and the characters they were first introduced to in that movie. The original Avatar is currently back in cinemas for a limited time, with remastered picture and sound, and is expected to do well at the box office this weekend in anticipation of Avatar: The Way of Water’s release on December 16, 2022.
