James Cameron is a brilliant filmmaker who has brought the magnificent world of Pandora to life through his Avatar movies, in addition to other classics like The Terminator and Titanic. But Cameron is firmly ensconced on Pandora at the moment; the second Avatar movie, The Way of Water, came out last year, and there are three more sequels on the way.
On “Inside Pandora’s Box,” a featurette included in Avatar: The Way of Water’s digital release, Cameron spoke about the inspiration behind his creative process, and how he went about convincing the studio to expand the world of Avatar. “I went to the studio and said, ‘Let’s not do a sequel. Let’s launch ourselves on a big story arc.’ All the world-building that we do, all the character-building that we do. Let’s not just do another movie. Let’s do Star Wars. Let’s do Lord of the Rings. Let’s swing for the fences.”
James Cameron pitched the Avatar sequels as one “big story arc”
Cameron’s track record proves that he knows what he’s doing when it comes to worldbuilding. Not only has he launched long-lasting franchises like The Terminator, he’s also turned in iconic entries in already-established franchises, as with his 1986 film Aliens. If there’s anyone who can expand Avatar into a worldwide sci-fi brand, it’s him.
It helps that three of the top five highest-grossing movies of all time are ones Cameron directed, and that two of them are the two Avatar movies. And I suspect Cameron could make it four out of five in the future.
I look forward to seeing what the next few chapters of Avatar have in store and how the world of Pandora will continue to evolve and grow. With Star Wars and The Lord of the Rings as guides, we should expect big things.
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h/t Screen Rant