James Cameron on the pressure of making Avatar sequels: “I cry”

Earlier this year, James Cameron’s 2009 sci-fi flick Avatar reclaimed its spot as the highest-grossing movie of all time, taking back the crown it briefly lost to Avengers: Endgame. Its haul now stands at an outrageous $2.802 billion following a successful rerelease in China.

That’s some achievement, but Cameron isn’t planning to rest on his laurels. In fact, the “Avatar universe” is just getting started. Next year the first sequel will drop, with several more on the way. Cameron has got his work cut out for him creating something that can live up to the success of the first movie, and he’s definitely feeling the pressure.

We’ve all been disappointed at some point with sequels that don’t live up to their predecessor. However, Cameron has a proven track record of creating amazing follow-up movies. This is the guy who directed Terminator 2: Judgement Day and Aliens, two pretty awesome sequels. That said, he’s never made a follow-up to what is officially the most lucrative movie of all time. “I cry, I just sit here at my desk and cry all day long because there’s no way,” he joked during an appearance on The Tonight Show. “It’s just too much pressure, dude.”

The Avatar sequels will stay true to the original

On a more serious note, Cameron explained that he’s going to stay true to the original with the sequels, although that doesn’t mean we won’t see new parts of the planet of Pandroa, where the story takes place:

"We just try to be kind of true to what people loved about the first film and take it into whole new areas, like a lot of our scenes are in the ocean. So I’m combining things that I love, like make an Avatar and go in the ocean, I love all that stuff."

While little is known of Avatar 2, we already know that Titanic star Kate Winslet is involved. Last year, the production released an image of her on set. At one point filming underwater scenes, she held her breath for over seven minutes!

Cameron is more worried about movie theaters than box office records

Box office records might sound wonderful and prestigious, but Cameron sounds more concerned over the state of movie theaters. The global pandemic hit them really hard, and there’s a long road ahead to get things back to how they were.

"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 hope movie theaters are back to something like normal by the time Avatar 2 rolls around in December 2022.

To stay up to date on everything fantasy, science fiction, and WiC, follow our all-encompassing Facebook page and sign up for our exclusive newsletter.

Get HBO, Starz, Showtime and MORE for FREE with a no-risk, 7-day free trial of Amazon Channels