James Cameron's new Avatar film is a marvel and certainly deserves to be seen on the big screen. The Oscar winner isn't afraid to speak up and support the ultimate movie-going experience — and audiences around the world agree, as it shows: According to Variety, Avatar: The Way of Water recently broke $1.708 billion globally, which means Cameron's hit sequel has officially passed 2015’s Jurassic World as the seventh-highest-grossing movie in film history. Cameron himself is also making history as the first director to have three movies exceeding 1.5 billion dollars at the box office worldwide.
It's no surprise, then, that Cameron didn't shy away on Tuesday's Golden Globes red carpet from continuing to support seeing films in theaters versus at home via streaming. "Enough with the streaming already!" he told Variety during the red carpet pre-show. "I'm tired of sitting on my a**!" See below for a closer look at why the Avatar franchise is the ultimate celebration of movie-theater magic — and why Cameron is correct in advocating for the theatrical experience versus streaming for these sorts films.
Why Avatar Films Are Best Seen in Theaters
The first Avatar film is set in the year 2154 and involves a mission by U. S. Armed Forces to an earth-sized moon in orbit around a massive star. This new world, Pandora, is a rich source of a mineral Earth desperately needs. Pandora represents not even a remote threat to Earth, but the human race sends in ex-military mercenaries to attack and conquer them. From there, chaos ensues.
Then in Avatar: The Way of Water offers much more than the embattled human-on-Pandora storyline, continued from the 2009 smash-hit. Set more than a decade after the events of the first film, the sequel follows the Sully family (Sam Worthington and Zoe Saldana, returning from the original film), but we care more about the trouble that follows and surrounds them. From there, it's battles on battles in a fight to stay alive as they set foot in a new part of Pandora. Also starring in this continually hopeful box-office hit are Sigourney Weaver, Stephen Lang, Edie Falco, Jemaine Clement and Kate Winslet.
Cameron filmed The Way of Water in 3-D and should be seen as such. Both films so far are utterly immersive. At the very least, if you don't want to fork over the extra funds to see it in 3-D, a standard movie-theater screening will certainly suffice. But don't wait for streaming, for all you true cinephiles out there!
Future of the Avatar Franchise
The next Avatar film is mostly shot and due to hit the masses in 2024. James Cameron is planning more films after that. However, he's been quoted saying he might pass the baton to another director after either the the third or fourth Avatar movie in the Pandora-verse. And according to Cameron, Avatar 3 is happening no matter what, but the fate of the fourth and fifth sequels might depend the market at the time.
In addition to the main characters who returned for The Way of Water, Spider (Jack Champion) had an essential role in the sequel representing a character who is similar to the audience, watching things from the sidelines. Despite being accepted into Jake Sully's family, he is not one of the Omatikaya people. While some Na'vi recognize him as part of their own, others believe he is a remnant of an alien race who destroyed their homeland. We can't wait to see what happens with Spider, Sully and the rest of the gang in the third installment!