James Cameron has lost it

[Flying Spaghetti Monster]

I liked Avatar more than most. It has flaws but was actually an entertaining science fiction movie from one of the masters of the genre, and I'm so glad it's not a superhero flick.

That said, has Cameron gone crazy?

I knew he was making two sequels to the film to make it a trilogy, but now, he is planning on three sequels.

Three?

WTF?

That's overdoing it, and I think people will be burnt out on avatar long before that happens.

 

[Captaindemotion]

^ Depends on how good they are, doesn't it?

 

[FPAlpha]

Say what you will about the basic story of Avatar (which was in all honesty pretty generic and bland) but there are many hints to the scope of the universe Cameron built.. he really created an entire universe with much detail and there's plenty room for stories in there.

Of course if the third or fourth movie still has catlike, giant savages fighting off evil humans it might get boring.

 

[Turtletrekker]

Yeah, Cameron doesn't have a clue. Hollywood has never milked a cash cow dry before, has it?

 

[ManOnTheWave]

He may have loads of ideas which he has yet to collapse together into fewer, more coherent stories. Or Sigourney may have misspoke or been misunderstood.

 

[Redfern]

Well, I see the hopes of his adapting Kishiro's "Gunnm" (translated as "Gun Dream") better known in the US as "Battle Angel Alita" drifting further and further away.

Sincerely,

Bill

 

[davejames]

Yeah I loved the first movie as well, but I can't say I have any desire to see tons of sequels.

Maybe one, at the most.

 

[OmahaStar]

It all depends on what old stories he's read, or old tv series he's watched. Maybe he's cribbed together enough stolen plots to do three more movies?

 

[Sindatur]

Eh....Transformers 4 is gonna be made, I can't imagine Avatar is going to wear out it's welcome any sooner.

 

[RoJoHen]

Meh. Avatar sequels will likely be rentals for me, so he's free to do as many as he wants.

 

[Guy Gardener]

The subsequent transformers movies were not planned.

it's like a human centipede with turned inside out ideals.

Did Jimmy think that he wanted...

Could Jim like Forrest Gump intersplice the next terminator Movie through his Titanic movie?

 

[MacLeod]

Given what Avatar made, the next 3 films could each cost US$200m and the studio would still be in profit from the films.

It's only crazy if it doesn't work, if it does it's genius.

Filming multiple films at once, whilst not without it's drawbacks does have one key advantage. The actors can't ask for more money between films.

 

[Derishton]

I don't see why three sequels is worse than two, except that we've all been trained to think in trilogies. (By Aristotle, but never mind - there's still nothing intrinsically not-crazy about three films rather than four.)

 

[stj]

Maybe the fourth one will be a sex farce?

 

[Temis the Vorta]

For my money, Avatar = stunning imagery (especially in 3D) so who gives a phlox about the characters or story. That's why I didn't mind that it was a ripoff of Pocohontas/Dances with Wolves/etc.

So let's say Avatar 2 explores the undersea environment of Pandora, Avatar 3 explores some other planet (or even dazzling places in outer space, like the Pillars of Creation), etc.

As long as the focus is always on creating some new visual extravaganza, I don't see why they would be any less successful than before. They've proven that you don't need brilliant writing or an original premise to make a billion dollars.

 

[DarthTom]

Yeah, Cameron doesn't have a clue. Hollywood has never milked a cash cow dry before, has it?

And they made how many Harry Potter films?

If Cameron has a good story to tell e.g. Potter why not?

 

[RoJoHen]

It was certainly a neat visual experience, but I don't see the need to do it again. Even if I see the next Avatar (which is debatable at this point) in theaters, I doubt I'll see it in 3D. It just wasn't cool enough to warrant the extra money or the headache the 3D glasses gave me. And frankly, I think the movie is far more vibrant and colorful in 2D without the tinting effect of the glasses.

 

[Temis the Vorta]

Potter was essentially the Hero's Journey - a character who is The One who will Save the World. That's a nice durable archetype, and the Potter movies just stretched the journey out with lots of padding to give them material for lots of movies.

Avatar doesn't really fit that mold, where they left things. The main character has completed his quest by becoming a Na'vi. So what's the story going to be? A retread of Good Natives vs. Bad Corporate Exploiters? That's not nearly the same kind of archetype as the Hero's Journey, and it wasn't even particularly worthwhile as the basis for one movie, never mind three more.

Cameron is going to need to find something else to base the sequels on. But like I said before, the bar is not set high. Maybe he could get away with a retread of Good Natives vs. Bad Corporate Exploiters, as long as the visuals are sumptuous and not a retread (eg, another planet, or the oceans of Pandora.)

 

[Mark_Nguyen]

Small group of heroes versus the Big Corporate Machine is something Cameron uses a lot: Aliens, The Abyss, and Avatar exemplify this. Of course, he can try to explore the various different tribes of Na'vi (bringing in a class struggle a la Titanic) or straightforward Terminator-esque action plot with some human supersoldier coming to Pandora to kill Jake. Who knows? Cameron does play with stereotypes and already-done stories, but he does them in the way that nets a movie studio a ton of profit. Enough of us are gonna watch it anyway, so he's already won.

Mark

 

[MacLeod]

Well trying to take down the Evil Mega Corp is hardly new in the realm of films.