James Cameron is hoping that movie theaters make a return sooner rather than later, so big-budget films like Avatar 2 can gross at least a billion dollars.
James Cameron is one among millions eager for theaters to survive the pandemic and reopen again. But while the average person just wants to go see a movie again, Cameron is hoping that with the return of theaters, big-budget films like his own Avatar 2 can gross billions of dollars.
The Battle of the Billions is one Cameron knows well. For years, his Avatar was the highest-grossing film in history. But about two years ago, Avengers: Endgame surpassed it with well over $2.79 billion earned at the box office. And then Avatar took the honor back when the sci-fi epic was re-released in China last month, bringing the grand total to over $2.8 billion.
I assume this back and forth will continue until another movie comes along to dethrone both pretenders, although it’ll likely stay under the umbrella of Disney; remember that Disney also owns the Avatar franchise since it purchased 20th Century Fox.
James Cameron recently stopped by The Tonight Show with Jimmy Fallon and talked about the box office brawl. He doesn’t really care about being number one, but rather about movie theaters in general.
"Everybody makes a big deal out of [the box office battle], but the truth is what we really need to focus on is getting back to theaters. Hopefully we can still have movies like that, ‘Endgame’ and ‘Avatar’ and the big Marvel movies and all that, movies that are able to make $1 billion or $2 billion.Let’s pray that movie theaters are still there after this pandemic and after this shift towards streaming, not that I have anything against streaming. There’s great writing and great shows in [streaming], but let’s remember that movie theaters are a sacred experience for all of us. Let’s get back out there when it’s safe to do so."
It will be nice to sit in a movie theatre again amongst cheering, excited fans. There’s nothing that can beat that feeling.
The sequel to Avatar is set to open in theaters on December 16, 2022, so perhaps it can play a part in returning them to prominence. Given how long we’ve all waited for this sequel, as long as its safe to do so, I think many will be flocking to the theaters to watch it.
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