Posted on 09/18/2022 5:02:22 AM PDT by dennisw
Before the release of the sequel “Avatar: The Way of Water,” the iconoclastic filmmaker explains why he’s bringing the first film back to theaters.
Does knowing audiences want that blockbuster experience put more pressure on you?
I’ve always thrived in that scenario. The danger has been that there are so many big movies coming out all the time and we were always jostling for place. That’s why I recommended to Fox that we push “Titanic” till Christmas, because we’d have a clear playing field in January and February, and that worked out beautifully. The same strategy worked well with “Avatar.” And of course we’re going into the same date with “The Way of Water.” But we’re not jostling as much now because there aren’t as many big tentpoles.
There’s a sense of responsibility to do the best job we can and make it a moneymaker. But I don’t how that translates artistically to any decision I make on the movie. I don’t say, Hmmm, let’s put that plant over there because we’ll make more money. It doesn’t work that way. When it’s good enough, you kind of know.
“Avatar” had a prominent message about taking care of the environment and the resources it has provided. In the years since its release, do you feel like that message has been heeded?
I’m not going to feel guilty because my movie didn’t save the world. I certainly wasn’t the only voice back then, and I’m certainly not the only voice now, telling people that they have to change. But people don’t want to change. We love to burn energy. We love to eat our meat and dairy.
(Excerpt) Read more at nytimes.com ...
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Asking people to fundamentally change their behavior patterns, it’s like asking them to change their religion. We’re seeing this ongoing series of greater and greater manifestations of the consequences, like with these heat waves in China and North America and Europe, the flooding in Pakistan, which is horrific. And eventually we will change or we’ll die out. “Avatar” is not trying to tell you what to do specifically. It’s not telling you, Go vote for so-and-so, buy a Prius, put down the cheeseburger. It’s just reminding us of what we’re losing. And it puts us back in touch with that childlike state of wonder about the natural world. As long as that beauty still resonates within us, there’s hope.
Are you concerned that in the time between the original and the sequel, audiences will have lost their connection to the story or its characters?
I think I could have made a sequel two years later and have it bomb because people didn’t relate to the characters or the direction of the film. My personal experience goes like this: I made a sequel called “Aliens,” seven years after the first movie. It was very well received. I made a sequel called “Terminator 2,” seven years after the first movie. It did an order of magnitude of more, in revenue, than the first film. I was a little concerned that I had stretched the tether too far, in our fast-paced, modern world, with “Avatar 2” coming in 12 years later. Right until we dropped the teaser trailer, and we got 148 million views in 24 hours. There’s that scarce seen but wondered at principle, which is, Wow, we haven’t seen that in a long time, but I remember how cool it was back then. Does that play in our favor? I don’t know. I guess we’re going to find out.
In the era of the original “Avatar,” we learned that you possess a baseball cap bearing the letters “HMFIC” (a boastful if family-unfriendly personal description). Did that get any use on the making of “The Way of Water”?
I would either wear that hat on the first day of a new shoot, or I would wear my T-shirt that says “Time becomes meaningless in the face of creativity.” Just to shake up the studio a little bit. I don’t think I [wore] the HMFIC hat on the new “Avatar.” This is the kinder, gentler me. This is the mellow, Zen nice guy, sensitive to everybody’s needs and emotional requirements. No microaggressions here. Which is usually good for about the first two weeks.
What a Nancy boy.
The movie Avatar: Last Air Bender sucked so bad, I stopped watching after five minutes. Is there some other Avatar movie that I didn’t watch? Oh, well.
No and no.
Hates that movie.
Unless it is like this. I won’t be impressed.
https://youtu.be/ZkfmQuqcuOY
I seriously doubt that James Cameron is less woke than he was back 12 years ago.
“Avatar: Last Air Bender” and James Cameron’s “Avatar” are two different movies. One has nothing to do with the other.
On the way out of the theatre after watching Avatar, my wife said, “I don’t think it would really end that way.”. I think she was right.
Didn’t think much of the first one. As a technical achievement it was fine. But the story and the dialog.... ugh.
I watched Avatar in 3-D in the theater. The plot of the movie was insipid, but it was one of the few 3-D films that actually immersed you in the environment, rather than just creating a cheesy effect like being shot at by arrows, etc.
As Sam Goldwyn said 'if you want to send a message, use Western Union'.
A ridiculous movie for a ridiculous people.
The mineral was unobtanium.
The story was unbelievabium.
Enh. There’s also a new Wakanda flick out. I’m sick of special effects fests. I’m sick of what Marvel has become. I’m sick of what Disney, its lord and master, has become. Not watching any of it. Marvel in 1963 was fun and fresh. The 1960s Marvel did what my teachers barely tried to do, taught me to read. It’s now dead to me.
Same here. I was absolutely blown away by the visual effects. At the time they were state of the art. They still are today.
I'll pass!
I went to the theater to see Avatar after if had made its first billion dollars. I don’t normally care for science fiction. I’m one of the 17 people who has never been terribly interested in Star Trek. But I wanted to see what all the fuss was about for Avatar. After the first 20 minutes, the sounds of my own snoring woke me up. 10 minutes later, it happened again.
I was getting stared at by some movie watchers in front of me.
That’s when I figured it was me. I was the problem. I was just the wrong type of consumer for this very popular and pivotal film. So I took all my soggy popcorn all my sticky raisinettes and went home.
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