Avatar and the Avatar Cadence (James Cameron, 2009-2031)

[captveg]

My understanding is that the film does still have a lasting pop culture presence in China, so that alone will drive interest in the second film to some significant heights. The fate of the 3-5th films rests mostly on how people return and react to film #2, of course.

[Gregory]

I certainly needed a refresher on how tacky and shallow this grandiose franchise is, and old interviews like this one quickly did the trick. It gets worse with every question.

Spoiler

PLAYBOY: We seem to need fantasy icons like Lara Croft and Wonder Woman, despite knowing they mess with our heads.
CAMERON: Most of men's problems with women probably have to do with realizing women are real and most of them don't look or act like Vampirella. A big recalibration happens when we're forced to deal with real women, and there's a certain geek population that would much rather deal with fantasy women than real women. Let's face it: Real women are complicated. You can try your whole life and not understand them.

PLAYBOY: How much did you get into calibrating your movie heroine's hotness?
CAMERON: Right from the beginning I said, "She's got to have tits," even though that makes no sense because her race, the Na'vi, aren't placental mammals. I designed her costumes based on a taparrabo, a loincloth thing worn by Mayan Indians. We go to another planet in this movie, so it would be stupid if she ran around in a Brazilian thong or a fur bikini like Raquel Welch in One Million Years B.C.

PLAYBOY: Are her breasts on view?
CAMERON: I came up with this free-floating, lion's-mane-like array of feathers, and we strategically lit and angled shots to not draw attention to her breasts, but they're right there. The animation uses a physics-based sim that takes into consideration gravity, air movement and the momentum of her hair, her top. We had a shot in which Neytiri falls into a specific position, and because she is lit by orange firelight, it lights up the nipples. That was good, except we're going for a PG-13 rating, so we wound up having to fix it. We'll have to put it on the special edition DVD; it will be a collector's item. A Neytiri Playboy Centerfold would have been a good idea.

PLAYBOY: So you're okay with arousing PG-13 chubbies?
CAMERON: If such a thing should ­happen—and I'm not saying it will—that would be fine.

Not to mention that he pompously misuses words like "cadence" in describing what "people have to understand."
He's like the Gene Simmons of filmmaking (but of course even richer).

[colinr0380]

Although to be fair I get the impression that Playboy would have used the same question template whether interviewing James Cameron or Kelly Reichardt.

[swo17]

Best part of Wendy and Lucy is that scene when a train passes at dusk and the dog's nipples light up.

[colinr0380]

REICHARDT: If such a thing should ­happen—and I'm not saying it will—that would be fine.

[domino harvey]

I would much rather watch the Wendy and Lucy Cadence

[matrixschmatrix]

I think they're actually part of the same filmic universe

[mfunk9786]

Cameron continues his decent into madness, giving all of the sequels exact release dates - sounds like the cadence is expected to cascade through 2025

[J M Powell]

Cameron continues his decent into madness, giving all of the sequels exact release dates - sounds like the cadence is expected to cascade through 2025

Nice allusion there to King Cameron's "In the Wake of Titanic"

[tenia]

I'm quite saddened to see Cameron is actually still wasting his energy and craftmanship on this franchise.

[captveg]

He created an IP that he has full creative control over. I'm not surprised in the least that this is where he'll spend the remainder of his career.

[colinr0380]

He really needs to get into the toy and action figure merchandising too though, if a Star Wars-style franchise is his goal.

[swo17]

Which do you guys think will sell more out of Annoying AmericanTM and Blue ThingTM?

[bearcuborg]

If this is true, at the very least I'll see part 2

[Big Ben]

All I really remember about seeing Avatar was the new level of consciousness I achieved while watching it. In the sense that I became aware of how dead my ass felt while watching it. That horrific, stark realization that stuck with me for almost all of it's runtime. I was wholly impressed by this too as it's the only film I've ever seen that has had this effect on me. I'd been bored with films before and after but no other film has ever given me as much physical pause as Avatar has.

And Cameron seems committed to doing this to me four more times.

[MichaelB]

And Cameron seems committed to doing this to me four more times.

Thankfully, I live in a country where it's not compulsory to watch James Cameron's latest film, but posts like this have reminded me of how privileged I am and that many others may not be as fortunate.

[Big Ben]

And Cameron seems committed to doing this to me four more times.

Thankfully, I live in a country where it's not compulsory to watch James Cameron's latest film, but posts like this have reminded me of how privileged I am and that many others may not be as fortunate.

Being unlucky is an understatement. Imagine having to watch and review most things that come to your small town because we only get films that are very poor. I had to watch all five Transformers films.

What bothers me most about his insistence on Avatar sequels is that they're 100 percent unnecessary. Regardless of how anyone here feels about his films individually or as a whole it's disingenuous to assume that he hasn't had an impact on culture with films like Aliens and the Terminator franchise. He absolutely doesn't need to do this. I cannot fathom how he plans to expand his story successfully to another film let alone more after that. Forbes estimates his net worth is about $650 million dollars. Surely a man that wealthy doesn't need to produce unnecessary sequels? I jest of course. Why have SOME of the money when you can have ALL of the money?

[Brian C]

I dunno. He has terrible instincts for dialogue and acting, but Cameron does have very strong instincts for storytelling. I would presume that aspect of the sequels to be basically sound.

[mfunk9786]

Since he can't just tell the Pocahontas story again in Avatar 2, I do wonder if it'll benefit from having to ideally be outlined from whole cloth, hopefully sparking some of the same kind of creativity that made something like Terminator 2: Judgment Day so interesting. That said, it's been a long, long time since 1991, and Cameron seems to have chosen technology over originality these days, instead of trying to find absorbing ways for them to coexist.

[tenia]

I definitely remember being aware of my (unexpected and unfortunate) boredom during Avatar after 40 minutes.
Usually, it's only towards the end of movies like this that I remember that it was quite predictable, a bit overlong or other mediocre things like this. But in the present case, it's like I clearly gave up after 40 minutes.
The last time like this was for Superman Returns, which is the only movie I saw in theaters and considered walking out of the screening.

[domino harvey]

Legit question: does the original still have passionate fans awaiting four sequels? This film is like the Spice Girls of blockbusters-- everyone was buying tickets, but no one ever talks about it

[knives]

Presumably yes, just not among the sort of people that are into film. Walmart shoppers basically.

[bearcuborg]

Probably not a significant amount of people, and while I remember liking the movie, I don't know any character's name or anything more than the superficial story points.

Still, if he manages to improve upon 3D like in the link I previously posted, then I can't imagine it not being a huge hit.

[DarkImbecile]

For all the disdain the first one gets and the seeming lack of enthusiasm for the sequels, I will not be surprised in the least if Avatar 2 becomes the highest grossing film of all time domestically and worldwide. Cameron knows how to get audiences in seats, even if they later can't explain exactly why they paid to see his movie three times.

[tenia]

But can a renowned director like Cameron be happy of its latest movies just feeding some fads ?
Because the first movie got lots and lots of attention, but it dried out progressively to the point not many people seems to fondly remember it (unlike, say, The Dark Knight - for a recent movie that was well received but still is fondly remembered -).