Even though several years have passed between the original Avatar and its sequel, the franchise remains adored by millions of fans worldwide. While the first movie set records at the box office, analyst data collected since the sequel’s release indicates that it is also doing well. Most fans are not aware yet, but it has been confirmed that new projects tentatively titled Avatar 3 and Avatar 4 have already undergone some production.
James Cameron is celebrating the success of the sequel, but is also looking forward and figuring out how to innovate the franchise.
Another reason why there has been some production on the future projects is to avoid the “Stranger Things effect,” where you have a cast of characters whose ages play a factor in the story because they grow so quickly in real life. This happens a lot when productions cast young actors for their roles; you really have to prioritize capturing them on film before nature takes its coarse and the actor may then seem to “age out” of the role.
In Avatar: The Way of Water, Tuk (played by Trinity Jo-Li Bliss was 7 years old when cast and is now 13), and Spider (Jack Champion was 12 when cast and is now 18). Cameron shot some of their scenes for Avatar 3 and Avatar 4 to accommodate the difference in age for the characters.
“Otherwise, you get-and I love Stranger Things-but you get the Stranger Things effect, where they’re supposed to still be in high school [but] they look like they’re 27,” Cameron said. “You know, I love the show. It’s okay, we’ll suspend disbelief. We like the characters. But, you know.”
Producer Jon Landau confirmed that each film will introduce new characters. “Each movie is going to introduce audiences to new clans, new cultures on Pandora,” Landau said. “Once we introduce a character, they stay a part of the ongoing evolution. We just add to it. So you can expect to see the Metkayin that you meet in this movie in subsequent movies. There are other clans that we’ll introduce in movie 3 that you’ll see in movie 4 and so on and so forth.”
As of today, Avatar: The Way of Water has generated $168 million domestically and over $500 million worldwide.
Perhaps the most significant part of the news for the fans is that the Avatar franchise is going to have more installments sooner rather than later.