Is Anyone Still Hyped For The Avatar Sequels?

I still remember when I was saw Avatar for the first time in 2009. It was quite the theater experience, but not the best movie. I did enjoy it, but after watching it at home, it just felt different. Sure, the action was still cool and everything looked amazing, but it wasn’t like watching it in the theater. To me, Avatar is that kind of movie that you need to watch in the theater. I bring this up because we’re supposed to be getting at least four or five more sequels to Avatar. Heck, I’ve lost count and at this point, I’m expecting to hear more delaying news. The second one has been delayed several times already and again, I’ve lost count. I’ll just ask the big question, because I’m generally curious.

Is anyone still hyped for the Avatar sequels? I won’t lie, I still have at least a shred of excitement for them. It’s mostly because I like the lore and the ideas and all of that world-building intrigued me. Call it Dances with Wolves with blue aliens if you want, but the aliens makes all the difference. As far as science fiction goes, Avatar fits the bill and clearly entertained the majority of audiences. Right up until Avengers: Endgame, Avatar was the highest grossing movie of all time. Love it or hate it, that’s quite a record to keep for that long. It made the money it did because the marketing was good, the ideas were cool, and the movie itself was good. Maybe not as great as it was hyped up to be, but I’d say it was still a very good movie.

With all the money that it made, it’s no surprise that James Cameron would plan for a sequel. Now here’s the thing, Cameron has always been a great and ambitious director. However, I don’t think anyone would’ve predicted that he was going to pursue not one, not two, not even three, but four sequels to the first Avatar. If you don’t think that’s crazy enough, he claimed that he was going to film all of them simultaneously with release dates stretching all the way to 2023. Hey, I give the guy kudos for being ambitious, but he’s really going all-out with these movies. And apparently the reason he keeps delaying the shooting for these movies is because he needs the technology to film it.

If you’ve been keeping up with his social media, he actually showed pictures of Sam Worthington and Zoe Saldana filming their motion-capture performances underwater. Now that is impressive, because it’s never been done before. That does get me a bit more excited for the sequels, because it does show that Cameron won’t pursue these films unless he knows for sure that he can make them to their best quality. If he’s going to give us something that we haven’t seen before, that’s certainly a start to making us excited for another sequel (or four).

Now here’s where things can get a little weird for me. Cameron is brining back Sigourney Weaver and Stephen Lang as the same characters. Why is this weird? Well, because both of their characters died. How is he going to make that work? Granted it’s science fiction, but the thing is, why should he? Those characters served their purpose and they really don’t need to return. Cameron is a creative guy, but bringing back those characters gives me some lack of creativity vibes. We don’t know how big their roles will be, but I hope they don’t have a major role like in the last film. What we really need to make the sequels interesting is some different kinds of villains.

Actually, I remember reading that Vin Diesel was cast in a undisclosed role. I hope he doesn’t play a human, because he’s much better suited for a hostile alien. He can be a hostile Na’vi looking to destroy everything Jake has built. Now that Jake has a family with Neytari, he has much more to lose. Vin Diesel also has the muscular physique to pull off that look of a very intimidating Na’vi who can lead a violent clan. That’s the kind of action we need for the sequels. He can bring back the humans once, maybe twice, but if wants to get us excited, he needs to put that creative mind to work.

Give us something we haven’t seen before, give us more creative villains, and amp up the action, and we’ll watch them. I won’t lie, I’ll spend the money to see them. I still like you, James Cameron. Don’t let me down.