Alright! On December 16th, 2022, Avatar: The Way of Water was released on the world, which continued the story of Jake Sully, military defector turned Na'Vi, as he raises his children on the alien world of Pandora with his wife Neytiri. It was the long-gestating sequel to Avatar, which became the highest-grossing film of all time back in 2009 thanks to visual wonder and revolutionizing 3D.
While a sequel to the highest-grossing film of all time seems like surefire box office success, there was a lot of hesitancy surrounding The Way of Water's release - would people still care after thirteen years? Following the first's release, it was commonplace to hear about how unmemorable it was, with the most typical criticisms citing bland characters, lack of memorable lines, and unfavorable comparisons to Pocahontas, Dances with Wolves, and Nickelodeon's similarly-titled Avatar: The Last Airbender. Aside from the visuals and gimmick of nine-foot-tall blue aliens, would the complete lack of memorability hamper the sequel's aspirations?
To make matters worse, in November of 2022, James Cameron, director of both movies, said in an interview with GQ that to be profitable, it would “Have to be the third or fourth highest-grossing film in history. That’s your threshold. That’s your break even,” going on to say that it might represent “the worst business case in movie history.” While it was clearly a hyperbole on Cameron's part to demonstrate how expensive the movie is (With a budget of $350 million, it's the fourth most expensive film ever made), and the fact that the guy's been living in a sound stage in New Zealand since 2009 and probably still thinks the fourth highest grossing film is The Dark Knight, that didn't stop sensationalist headlines from claiming The Way of Water had a break-even point of $2 billion.
That, coupled with the cold feet from online commentators in the form of disparaging Twitter posts, rude comments under every related article, professionally published articles from reputable sources, and pictures of empty theaters garnering hundreds of thousands of Reddit upvotes, had some thinking this sequel might legitimately fail. That feeling was only aided by a disappointing opening weekend, where the movie underperformed by up to $50 million with a debut of $134 million. Was everyone right? Was Disney investing too much in a property no one cared about?
The answer, quite obviously, was no. Surprise surprise, a long-awaited sequel to the highest-grossing film of all time makes quite a bit of money, and on January 22nd it became the sixth film to cross the $2 billion threshold, and, as of February 28th, is the third highest-grossing film of all time with a worldwide gross of $2,267,606,306. You heard that right - third. It outgrossed supremely popular contemporaries such as Star Wars: The Force Awakens, Avengers: Infinity War, and Spider-Man: No Way Home with ease, and eventually surpassed Cameron's own Titanic.
Yet, as was the case in 2009, it's almost a fever dream. Yes, I saw Avatar: The Way of Water. Almost everyone I've talked to has seen it or is planning to, even the blue-collar folks you wouldn't think are interested in big-budget fantasy. The consensus remains the same: Pretty good, if relatively basic, coupled with gorgeous visuals and an unjustified runtime. Two months later and it's less an iconic experience and more a hazy fog - just like the first. You figure it did successfully - the theater was rather packed, after all. Maybe a billion. You check the stats and - two billion? Third? What? Is that true? How? That doesn't seem right.
So we once again ask the question: Do audiences still care about Avatar? From a box office standpoint, they certainly do. Despite nonexistent merch, fandom, character growth, and memorability, audiences showed up for a sequel in droves. But do they care? Well, here's the truth: They never cared in the first place. That's what makes it special. There is no brand loyalty. Unlike most franchises (Superheroes, Star Wars, Star Trek, etc), there is no passionate fanbase for Avatar at war with itself, no "thirst edits" on TikTok, and no otherwise petulant behavior. As far as audiences are concerned, there are two takes on Avatar and its sequel: A) The visuals were gorgeous and overall I liked it, but it was way too long, or B) I'm not a fan and it was far too long, but the visuals were gorgeous. Both sides will go see the Avatar movies regardless of quality, simply because the visual scale merits the ticket price. It's an atypical blockbuster, not one that prides itself on giant explosions, but rather a family drama first and foremost.
It's just a movie. And then just a movie happens to be just a sequel, and then another sequel, and then two more. Despite being a franchise, each one becomes an event, not due to emotional investment in the characters or plot, but rather because you completely forgot the predecessor aside from lukewarm-positive feelings and visual luster. It's a one-and-done deal that can be done more than once, a rinse-and-repeat flavor that seems appealing each time despite forever ending as the lowest common denominator of generic. To paraphrase Community, "Your lack of flavor is kind of a flavor."
If I were to sum up the strength of the Avatar brand in a single simile, it would be that Avatar is like a visually appealing box of off-brand Oreos. Each time you pick up the package you note the excellent design, but after eating one you're not particularly impressed or disappointed. You got exactly what you wanted, a somewhat bland cookie that satisfied your immediate desires, brought to you by the auteur chef who made Tapioca 2: Judgement Day. You'll eat all of them, forget you bought them, and maybe in three months or so you buy them again thinking they might be better, but knowing deep down inside that it's the exact same taste as before.
This isn't to say Avatar is bad but rather bland from plot and character standpoints. While I like the franchise well enough, the appreciation of Avatar comes from knowing how much effort went into every single frame and creature design. It's not so much a movie you go and watch, but rather one that you appreciate. Watching behind-the-scenes featurettes published on YouTube provides a glimpse of the sheer amount of effort that went into building Pandora. The scale and scope of the Avatar movies don't always come from wide shots and big vehicles, but rather from blades of grass and fantastical tree structures. Merely seeing the movie is immersive from one of the most interesting catch-22s of all time - making you invested in every aspect of the movie except for the ones that carry the emotional drive of the movie.
And so life goes on. Mark my words, the exact same conversations will be had surrounding Avatar: The Seed Bearer's release. "Is that really coming out? Does anyone care? Surely it won't be that successful. The first two weren't even good aside from the visuals. Can't wait for them to rip off the better Avatar and introduce the fire Na'vi." You will see that exact conversation several hundred times, followed by "Avatar 3 is pretty good but too long" reviews, check it out opening weekend, forget about it, and then, as a child would with a forgotten science project, check on it in two months and find that it has robustly grown while you weren't looking.
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One thing is for sure though, Avatar is easily the most compelling case ever made for a return of the ten-minute intermission. |
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