James Cameron's plans for Avatar 5 make it a much bigger risk that Avatar: The Way of Water. The holiday season release of Avatar 2 will show the world a new aquatic side of Pandora 13 years after Avatar first showed the planet's breathtaking landscape and its indigenous people, the Na'vi. Avatar 2 picks up with human-turned-Na'vi Jake Sully (Sam Worthington) a full member of the Omaticaya tribe, and raising a family with his Na'vi bride Neytiri (Zoe Saldana).
Avatar 2's box office potential has been a matter of debate in light of its record-shattering budget. James Cameron himself has even described the film as embodying "the worst business case in movie history". To be sure, while Avatar 2 does have perform incredibly well commercially to succeed, Cameron's own grandiose plans for the Avatar franchise make Avatar 5 the peak of the franchise's challenges.
Avatar 4 Also Has A Major Franchise Risk
Cameron has greatly hyped the visual effects technology, including underwater motion capture suits, as a major selling point of Avatar 2, which make his intention to surpass the first Avatar's amazing effects quite clear. Cameron evidently aims for the Avatar sequels to outdo each other, but with Cameron incorporating new technology to make with each Avatar movie more beautiful than the last, that could hit a ceiling at some point. That ceiling could well be the in-production Avatar 4, which, in turn, would impact Cameron's goals with Avatar 5.
Cameron's penchant for record-breaking budgets has been a staple of his style as a filmmaker since Terminator 2: Judgment Day, and the Avatar sequels are said to boast a collective budget of $1 billion. With Avatar 2 and Avatar 3 already in the can, Avatar 4 might be the point where Cameron's vision becomes borderline impossible to realize. If that is the kind of challenge Avatar 4 faces, Avatar 5 might fully cross the line into a practically unfilmable movie.
How Avatar Can Make Its Franchise Risks Pay Off
While the logistical challenges of Avatar 4 and Avatar 5, James Cameron's notorious drive as a filmmaker make him more than accustomed to such challenges. One visual effects advancement Cameron has spoken enthusiastically of is the potentially for glasses-free 3D, and Avatar 5 could be exactly where he hopes to implement that. With how immersive Avatar's 3D was, there might be no better way to top it in Avatar 5 than a truly never-before-seen kind of 3D experience like glasses-free 3D.
Avatar 2's early reactions indicate that Cameron has hit the cultural zeitgeist again, which bodes well for its box office prospects. It also shows how unique a cinematic experience an adventure on Pandora really is, along with the Herculean trajectory of James Cameron's 3D ambitions for the Avatar franchise. If Avatar 5 can maintain that, it could end up being remembered as one of the most historic achievements in cinematic history.
