James Cameron has done it again! In this circumstance, the “it” is just talking about a film so much that you’re starting to question where James Cameron (person) ends and where James Cameron (The Director Of Avatar) begins. As it turns out, this guy just loves his own movie, which is respectable.
Obviously, Avatar: The Way Of The Water is going to be a major hit, simply because we all want to see Edie Falco on the big screen. But Cameron is hoping that his overly blue franchise is just the beginning of a beautiful new (decade-old) franchise.
Cameron recently spoke to Variety about his aspirations for Pandora, the lush CGI world where teenage Sigourney Weaver lives (this makes sense). As with most successful movies, Cameron hopes that the film will have the same longevity as your childhood favorites. “There’s this epic landscape with epic storytelling. I was trying to emulate a Star Wars universe or Lord of the Rings. Something that’s a persistent world that people can come back to and enjoy over time.” It’s a lot easier to go back and enjoy Avatar due to the fact that it ends up in theaters any time your local AMC needs a little pick-me-up.
Still, Cameron hopes to follow in the footsteps of legendary franchises. “If you look at something like The Rings of Power, with those multiple storylines and interesting characters, that’s what I was aspiring to. But they had a guide; I didn’t,” Cameron said, adding that he had to create his own source text.
“I had to write my own Silmarillion or Lord of the Rings in the form of notes. But I also didn’t want to do it all alone. I knew that I was going to do multiple movies, so I created a little writers’ room like you would for a TV show,” Cameron added. Those writers were given extensive notes on how not to make a movie, so hopefully, they learned a little something.
If Cameron really wants to invest in his source material, he should just speak with George R.R. Martin! The two can bond over how much time passes between their releases. Surely this will go over very well.
You can check out Avatar 2 in theaters this Friday, while the third one will come out sometime over the next decade, probably.