For over 20 years, James Cameron could claim that he directed a movie that made more money than any other in history. First, it was Titanic, which claimed the top spot on the charts until 2009, when Cameron’s own Avatar overtook it.
Then, in July of 2019, in blew a foul wind and Avengers: Endgame became the most profitable movie of all time. Sure, Cameon acted gracious, sending out a congratulatory tweet before going back to his workshop to hack away at his rinky-dink Avatar sequels, but you knew he was seething. You knew he hungered for…revenge!
Congratulations, @MarvelStudios! pic.twitter.com/DWZDX0uDVi
— Avatar (@officialavatar) July 22, 2019
Speaking to USA Today, he sounds confident that he’ll get it once Disney rereleases Avatar into theaters to help promote the upcoming sequels. “I think it’s a certainty,” Cameron said of Avatar eventually reclaiming its place atop the heap. “But let’s give Endgame their moment and let’s celebrate that people are going to the movie theater.”
If that sounds too shady, Cameron qualified that he “really enjoyed” the Russo Brothers’ little superhero movie; he just doesn’t see the numbers working out. “I don’t want to sound snarky after I took the high road (by offering congratulations),” he said, already kind of failing at not sounding snarky. “But they beat us by one quarter of a percent. I did the math in my head while driving in this morning. I think accountants call that a rounding error.”
Just FYI, Endgame earned about $2,797,800,564 at the box office, while Avatar brought in $2,789,958,507. I suppose a rerelease might close that $7 million gap, especially if interest was high in the sequels.
Is it, though? Even though the movie was a huge success, it hasn’t really stuck in people’s heads the way that the Marvel Cinematic Universe has, or even the way Titanic did back in the day.
The way Cameron sees it, Avatar succeeded in the first place because of the story of paraplegic Marine Jake Sully (Sam Worthington) ingratiating himself with the Na’vi aliens of the planet Pandora and starting a relationship with the fierce Neytiri (Zoe Saldana). “Avatar is about finding our home, finding our family, finding our clan,” he said. “And fighting to protect that which we found and earn our place in it. That turns out to be a more important part of it than people realize. That’s why it spoke to every culture in the world and shot to No. 1 in every market. It was dealing with a universal truth of the human condition that transcended culture.”
I thought it was a remake of Dances With Wolves with aliens, but you see it how you see it.
More seriously, Cameron does see the success of Endgame as a good sign for Avatar 2: The Way of Water. “I was really concerned with all the new streaming services and the different ways people can consume movies right now that the theatergoing experience might have been eroded to the point that a new Avatar film – even if it were better than the first one, and better received – could never achieve the same box-office levels,” he said. “Now at least we know such a thing is still possible at the movie theater. This gives me heart to go forward.”
The second movie, by the way, will deal with Jake and Neytiri traveling Pandora and meeting up with “the Metkayina free-diving clan.” Naturally, there are a lot of watery environments. “Flight was our big challenge on the first film,” Cameron remembered. “Now we’re working underwater, which is 10 times more complicated. We set the bar higher and higher. I don’t do it because it’s hard. We’re doing it because things that haven’t been done before are the most fresh.”
We get it, James, you do the coolest new stuff. But does all this mean that Avatar will definitely take back its box office crown from Endgame? If there actually is a rerelease, I can see it happening, but Avatar producer Jon Landau doesn’t sound sure if Disney will even do that. “If (a rerelease) can service the release of the sequels, then great,” Landau said. “Our focus is on the sequels. It’s not about looking back, not trying to overtake.”
Cameron, for his part, says a rerelease is “under discussion.” I like the idea of him desperately begging the Disney execs to do one, supposedly to help the sequels but really because he burns to be number 1 again.
Anyway, if there’s gonna be a rerelease, it’ll likely happen closer to the end of the year. Avatar 2: The Way of Water comes out on December 17, 2021.
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