By now, you’d be well aware that Avengers: Endgame is a BIG DEAL and let’s be honest, the numbers don’t lie. As of September 4th, the film had grossed $2.796 billion worldwide, making it the highest-grossing film of all time. Endgame has essentially broken the Internet, the box office and most importantly, the film has dethroned 2009’s Avatar from its number one spot.
You’d think the team behind Avatar would be pissed that they’ve been knocked off the top spot, but according to director James Cameron, it’s actually a good sign.
In an interview with Deadline, Cameron was asked about Endgame’s success and he said, “it gives me a lot of hope…Avengers: Endgame is demonstrable proof that people will still go to movie theatres.”
“The thing that scared me most about making Avatar 2 and Avatar 3 was that the market might have shifted so much that it simply was no longer possible to get people that excited about going and sitting in a dark room with a bunch of strangers to watch something,” he said.
There’s said to be another FOUR Avatar films in the pipeline over the next eight years, so it’s no surprise James Cameron is keen on keeping audiences engaged.
The real question is: is there a hunger for so many more Avatar films? Reddit chatter seems to suggest people aren’t that keen. In a thread about whether Avatar still a good movie, one user wrote, “The writing is awful. Terrible dialog. I couldn’t even watch the whole movie,” and another wrote, “Mediocre at best.”
According to Deadline, the fourth and film Avatar films are conditional on the second and third instalments’ box office performances. As for whether Avatar will reclaim glory with the next series of movies, we’ll just have to wait and see.