Avatar 2 is one of Disney’s most crucial upcoming movies, and not just because of its prospects as a blockbuster cash cow. Almost exactly 13 years after Avatar’s initial 2009 release, James Cameron has finally returned to the franchise, which officially became a product of Disney in 2019 after the company’s multi-billion dollar acquisition of 21th Century Fox. While Avatar wasn’t the only reason for the acquisition, James Cameron’s films presented an enormous opportunity for the entire Disney company, which far surpasses Avatar 2’s projection to make $1 billion at the 2022 box office.
The epic sci-fi film Avatar, based on mid-22nd century humans attempting to colonize a habitable moon in a faraway star system, is not best known for its worldbuilding, visual effects, and plot, but for its status as the highest-grossing film of all time. Surpassing James Cameron’s own 1997 epic romance Titanic, and later reclaiming its title from Avengers: Endgame in 2021, Avatar remains the best box-office performing film in history. Considering Disney already leads current theatrical release profits with the Marvel Cinematic Universe, acquiring the Avatar franchise is just one more asset in the studio’s pocket for guaranteed blockbuster success.
Supporting Disney’s confidence in the Avatar franchise’s financial and cultural viability, the company already has the Avatar 3, 4, and 5 on its schedule for the next six years. Considering it’s been over a decade since the monstrous cultural overhaul of Avatar, it seems risky for Disney to bet on a franchise with only one existing movie for its future profits. The general anticipation for Avatar 2 has declined since it was first announced in 2010, but Disney is evidently certain of its draw when considering the amount of time, money, and focus the company is putting into the franchise’s future. Disney’s gamble with Avatar 2 is crucial to the company’s profitable future outside of just one billion-dollar box office haul, with its multi-dimensional importance arguably reaching that of the MCU.
Disney Is Betting Big On Avatar 2 & Other Sequels For Box Office Success
Rather than place the highly-anticipated upcoming MCU films in a more reliably profitable release date spot, Disney has reserved its Christmas blockbuster window for Avatar 2. Premiering on December 16, 2022, Avatar 2 is in the same blockbuster release date window as 2021’s Spider-Man: No Way Home, which is the first film to hit $1 billion at the box office since Disney’s own 2019 film Star Wars: The Rise of Skywalker, which also had a Christmas release date. Aside from this window being important for yearly Oscars contention, a December release date is one of the greatest guarantees for a blockbuster movie’s success, which proves how much effort Disney is investing in Avatar 2. Rather than increase the profits of, say, Lightyear or the exciting Thor: Love and Thunder by placing it in the Christmas slot, Disney is doing all that it can to push viewers into theaters for Avatar 2.
Disney isn’t only anticipating a billion-dollar box office pay-day from Avatar 2, as the company has already scheduled the upcoming release dates of three more Avatar sequels through 2028. While some studios might have placed a franchise blockbuster like Avatar 2 in the December window and adjusted future release dates depending on its initial success, Disney has already scheduled Avatar 3, 4, and 5 for December premieres in 2024, 2026, and 2028. While Marvel release date projections have been unreliable in recent years, it doesn’t appear Disney will budge on moving the Avatar sequels’ prime release windows unless Avatar 2 is met with an unforeseen tragic response. By keeping Avatar 2 and all following Cameron sequels in the Christmas release date window, Disney is banking on Avatar as a flagship movie franchise that will uphold the studio’s box office success for at least the next six years.
Avatar Is Important To Disney's Theme Park Plans, Not Just Movies
While acquiring Avatar 2 as just a sequel film would have been a gold mine back in 2010, Disney’s purposes for the franchise far surpass that of theatrical pursuits. Even in 2016, Avatar 2 was described as the Crown Jewels in Disney’s Fox acquisition, but not just because of its box office guarantees. Disney was primarily concerned with acquiring Avatar 2, and thus the franchise, because of the golden opportunity to synergize the movies’ releases with theme parks. Disney has the opportunity to create a wider community and fandom of the Avatar films through attractions with more immersive experiences into Pandora, which was one of the primary draws for Avatar’s other-worldly premise in the first place.
By acquiring Avatar, Disney is hoping to make the World of Pandora a theme park experience comparable to the enormity of WB’s Wizarding World of Harry Potter. However, the Avatar world also has an asset connected to the films’ premise that other franchises don’t necessarily have. The films are based on humans sending themselves into other worlds via avatars, thus allowing theme park-goers to more realistically experience the world with its visual technology. Following Avatar 2, Disney can plan accordingly with how it schedules the World of Pandora attractions in order to gain more hype and excitement for Avatar’s subsequent releases.
Will Disney's Avatar Gamble Pay Off?
Disney is investing an incredible portion of its assets into the viability of Avatar’s future, which still has several forces working against it to immediately guarantee its success. Most importantly, the cultural response to Avatar 2 and the future sequels has been fairly muted, with many having lost interest after such a long gap between films. However, the notoriety of Avatar’s first film is bound to bring back a significant portion of original viewers for the 2022 sequel, which is a lot considering the 2009 movie’s box office performance. The world of Pandora was also incredibly advanced technologically back in 2009, but cinematic technology has come a long way since then, making the impact of the franchise’s visual effects relatively less enticing for audiences. Additionally, Avatar (2009) ended in a fairly conclusive manner, with the story it wanted to tell having already been told. While the extensive world of Avatar leaves room for exploration, there isn’t much hinting at how the story of Avatar 2 will be all that different from the original, especially since there was no cliffhanger from the 2009 movie to draw viewers back in for the need of a concluded story.
However, Avatar’s success doesn’t necessarily rely on the actual circumstances of its plot, as it’s primarily the themes that Avatar projects, its special effects and technology, and sensational entertainment that made the original so attractive to audiences. The immersive quality and striking visuals of Avatar are bound to bring many back to theaters, which is a significant aspect of why Avatar 2 is expected to be one of the biggest movies of 2022. Avatar 2 not performing well would be one of the most surprising occurrences for modern blockbusters, especially since director James Cameron is returning to helm the franchise. Cameron has proven himself as a safe box office bet, so gambling against the director would be a much bigger mistake. With Cameron behind the camera, immersive visual effects with even more advanced technology, prime release date windows, and the World of Pandora theme park in Disney’s pocket, the Avatar franchise seems to be a safe gamble for the studio.
While it’s difficult to predict whether it will become as massive as the MCU, Disney’s investment increases the prospects of Avatar becoming much more than just a film experience, thus enhancing its cultural importance for the franchise’s future. The Avatar brand is one that has been a virtually untouched gold mine for over a decade, so if Avatar 2’s 2022 release is even half as substantial as Disney predicts it to be, the franchise can grow with the support of the attractions. With the powers that be at Disney, Avatar 2 is in the best hands possible to propel the future of the franchise as a flagship blockbuster monstrosity, with its only real competitors being those of Disney itself.
