According to writer-director James Cameron, Avatar: The Way of Water is expected to “easily” pass the break-even point and turn a profit, thus confirming that the planned sequels are happening.
Speaking on the newest episode of Who’s Talking To Chris Wallace? on HBO Max (via The Hollywood Reporter), Cameron said the next six or seven years of his life are now locked in for the upcoming Avatar sequels.
“It looks like just with the momentum that the film has now that will easily pass our break even in the next few days, so it looks like I can’t wiggle out of this, I’m gonna have to do these other sequels,” Cameron said. “I know what I’m going to be doing the next six or seven years.”
He added: “I’m sure that we’ll have a discussion soon with with the top folks at Disney about the game plan going forward for Avatar 3.”
That film, which was shot back-to-back with The Way of Water, is “already in the can,” Cameron said. Some of Avatar 4 is already filmed, he added, and both Avatar 4 and Avatar 5 are written.
“We’ve begun a franchise at this point. We’ve begun a saga that can now play out over multiple films,” he said.
The Way of Water was one of the most expensive films in history, carrying a production budget of $400 million and marketing spend of $200 million for a total of $600 million, according to The Hollywood Reporter.
The Way of Water earned $1 billion worldwide in its first two weeks, a figure that has since climbed beyond $1.5 billion, surpassing Top Gun: Maverick to become the biggest movie of 2022. The movie is the 10th highest-grossing film in history. Cameron now has three movies that have earned more than $1 billion globally, including the 2009 original Avatar ($2.92 billion), Titanic ($2.2 billion), and The Way of Water ($1.5 billion and counting).
Avatar 3, which will feature evil Na’vi, is scheduled to hit theaters in December 2024. As for Avatar 4 and Avatar 5, Cameron has said he might not direct them and instead pass off directing duties.
“I think eventually over time–I don’t know if that’s after three or after four–I’ll want to pass the baton to a director that I trust to take over, so I can go do some other stuff that I’m also interested in. Or maybe not. I don’t know,” Cameron said.
In other news, Ubisoft’s Avatar game, Frontiers of Pandora, is on the way this year.