‘Avatar’ vs. ‘Avengers’
Director James Cameron predicts a change.
Set on the magnificent moon Pandora, James Cameron’s “Avatar” was unleashed 10 years ago and ruled the box office on Earth, passing Cameron’s own behemoth “Titanic” to become the biggest movie of all time.
The action adventure reigned supreme with $2.78 billion worldwide until 2019, when Marvel’s epic “Avengers: Endgame” pulled ahead with $2.79 billion.
Cameron believes “Avatar,” which celebrates its anniversary Wednesday, will be restored to its place atop the boxoffice mountain over “Endgame” through an inevitable re-release, part of a larger plan to rekindle global audience love before the movie’s first sequel, planned for release Dec. 17, 2021.
“I think it’s a certainty,” says Cameron of “Avatar” eventually passing “Avengers” in theaters. “But let’s give ‘Endgame’ their moment and let’s celebrate that people are going to the movie theater.”
Cameron says he “really enjoyed” the superhero epic and admires the Marvel Cinematic Universe. But he clearly relishes the idea of taking the top spot again.
“I don’t want to sound snarky after I took the high road (by offering congratulations),” he says. “But they beat us by one quarter of a percent. I did the math in my head while driving in this morning. I think accountants call that a rounding error.”
When “Endgame” squeaked by “Avatar” in July (thanks to Marvel’s theatrical rerelease), holding a small $8 million advantage, Cameron saluted “Endgame” filmmakers on Twitter using the “Avatar” Na’vi tongue.
“Oel Ngati Kameie, I see you Marvel – Congratulations to Avengers Endgame on becoming the new box-office king,” Cameron wrote on the poster showing Iron Man covered in bioluminescent creatures, recalling Jake Sully’s (Sam Worthington) magical introduction to Pandora.
Cameron wasn’t just being a good sport. He’s genuinely enthused about Marvel’s revitalization of the theater experience. The way he sees it, the “Endgame” success bodes well for his sequel, which will be followed by three more “Avatar” films starring Worthington and Zoe Saldana (scheduled for 2023, 2025 and 2027).
“I saw it as a really good sign,” Cameron says of the success of “Endgame.” “I was really concerned with all the new streaming services and the different ways people can consume movies right now that the theatergoing experience might have been eroded to the point that a new ‘Avatar’ film – even if it were better than the first one, and better received – could never achieve the same box-office levels. Now at least we know such a thing is still possible at the movie theater.”
“This gives me heart to go forward,” he says.
The filmmaker is confident that the original “Avatar” will easily return to box-office king if it’s rereleased ahead of the sequel, a strategy that would build brand buzz while reminding audiences of the full glory of the Oscar-winning cinematography and special effects that compelled theater attendance.
Cameron’s longtime collaborator and “Avatar” producer Jon Landau says Disney, the studio which now owns the franchise, would be involved in any decision to rerelease (Cameron says it’s “under discussion”). Landau emphasizes the rerelease would strictly be undertaken to support the new films.
“If (a rerelease) can service the release of the sequels, then great. Our focus is on the sequels,” says Landau. “It’s not about looking back, not trying to overtake.”
Cameron says his real reason for looking back is about formulating future success. Before taking on the planned sequels, Cameron and his writing team broke down exactly what it was that made a new concept like “Avatar” a worldwide phenom – in order to replicate the triumph. He believes it was the story of Saldana’s Neytiri and Worthington’s Sully, a paraplegic Marine who transforms mentally and physically to become a Na’vi and helps save Pandora from human greed.
“‘Avatar’ is about finding our home, finding our family, finding our clan. And fighting to protect that which we found and earn our place in it. That turns out to be a more important part of it than people realize,” says Cameron. “That’s why it spoke to every culture in the world and shot to No. 1 in every market. It was dealing with a universal truth of the human condition that transcended culture.”
At the time, computer-generated flight sequences such as Sully riding his own banshee around floating mountains were the most difficult scenes to pull off. But they’re standard shots now compared to the underwater world setting of the first sequel.
“Flight was our big challenge on the first film. Now we’re working underwater, which is 10 times more complicated. We set the bar higher and higher,” Cameron says. “I don’t do it because it’s hard. We’re doing it because things that haven’t been done before are the most fresh.”
The new “Avatar” films, which already have been pushed back from their announced release dates, have raised the same skepticism that Cameron has seen with expensive, delayed films such as his “Titanic.” That ended in triumph.
“When people doubt, we work harder to prove them wrong,” says Landau. “We make movies that are universally commercial and at a very high quality of the craft. We believe in what we’re doing.”