Avatar 2: We finally know the release date of James Cameron’s film

Avatar 2: We finally know the release date of James Cameron’s film

Avatar 2 will be released on December 14 of 2022 in theaters. Thirteen years after the first opus, this sequel is both eagerly awaited because it follows phenomenal success in the history of cinema, but some also wonder if it’s not a little too late.

We take the same and start again

Avatar 2 will be directed and written by James Cameron, like the first opus and normally like the three films which are to succeed it in the saga. The American director has chosen to rely on a casting substantially identical to the first film.

We find Zoé Saldana, Sigourney Weaver, Sam Worthington, Giovanni Ribsi, CCH Pounder, etc. Among the new arrivals, let us quote in particular Kate Winslet or the Spanish actress Oona Chaplin whom you could see in Quantum of Solace, Sherlock, Game of Thrones.

Side scenario, we still know very little. The plot should take place mainly underwater, and several years after the first opus (which takes place in 2154).

Four films planned, none released

Avatar set only six weeks to become the biggest success in cinema history in 2009. At the time, it was only the second film to exceed $2 billion in revenue, and still remains the film with the most revenue, even if there are now five films with more than 2 billion revenue (it was overtaken by Avengers: Endgame, before its release in 2021 in China).

Editor’s note: Obviously, counting inflation, this ranking would be very different. Avatar is said to be second with $ 3.273 billion in revenue, behind Gone with the Wind.

After such success no one was surprised to see James Cameron to promise not one sequel, but four : from Avatar 2 to Avatar 5. However, the wait was long, very long, maybe too long. Initially, in 2013, Fox had spoken of three sequels: Avatar 2 in 2016, Avatar 3 in 2017 and Avatar 4 in 2018.

Two years later James Cameron postpones the three outings by one year. In 2016, on the pretext of trying to avoid a release against Star Wars VIII in addition to production delays, Avatar 2 should be released in 2018. That same year, Cameron announced, Avatar 5! At the time, we were therefore expecting four releases between 2018 and 2023.

But in 2017, the project seems more concrete, we clearly have release dates. James Cameron has $ 1 billion in budget to shoot Avatar 2 and 3 in one go, and promises these releases: Avatar 2 on December 18 of 2020, Avatar 3 on December 17 of 2021, then Avatar 4 on December 20 of 2024 and Avatar 5 on December 19 of 2025.

Production begins in September 2017, and the director guarantees that in the event of failure of the first two sequels, the saga would end there.

In 2019, Disney buys Fox and the dates are changed again: Avatar 2 is scheduled for December 2021, Avatar 3 for 2023, Avatar 4 for 2025, and Avatar 5 for 2027. But as you know, the pandemic has been there.

Result, we now know that Avatar 2 will be released this year, December 14 of 2022. Thirteen years after the first opus, six years after the first planned release date. On the other hand, doubts about the success of these suites are growing.

Avatar was a technical revolution upon its release, but in 2022 the cinema has changed a lot. Other sagas have been there, and the very large-scale computer-generated images no longer impress as much. Above all, the first film is never really became “cult”, despite a phenomenal commercial success when it was released.

Finally, thirteen years later we can say that 3D in cinema has become commonplace but has never conquered a very large audience, and the Avatar universe (video games, books, etc.) remains little followed. So many doubt the merits of a four-film project.

But with a director like James Cameron you have to be wary of predictions: Avatar 2 could amaze everyone and be the new yardstick in big show cinema.

Avatar 2 will be released on December 14 of 2022 in theaters.