We recently theorised that divergent estimates of Avatar: The Way of Water's budget, ranging between $350 million and $1 billion (US) were a matter of the expected effective cost of just this film versus what has already been spent making all four sequels.

In an interview with The Hollywood Reporter, James Cameron details that $1 billion is the expected production cost of all four films.

So we weren't quite right but at least in the ballpark.

He talks about the remaining films.

Having already shot and spent $100 million on Avatar 3, he's reasonably confident that it will be finished and make it to cinemas, unless Avatar 2 tanks wildly.

Some projections suggest it might not perform as strongly as the original but no-one is expecting it to bomb.

Interestingly he says that if there's demand, he'd also be willing to go further than 5.

He’s also got plans — should the world demand them — for Avatar 6 and 7. “I’d be 89 by then,” Cameron says. That sounds like a joke, but based on the fact that it took 25 years for him to make the first two Avatar movies, it’s pretty realistic. “Obviously, I’m not going to be able to make Avatar movies indefinitely, the amount of energy required.” He’s started giving some thought to a succession plan. “I would have to train somebody how to do this because, I don’t care how smart you are as a director, you don’t know how to do this.” He figures he may have five or six more movies in him and that three of them, probably, would be Avatar movies.

Zoe Saldana who plays Neytiri told Women's Wear Daily that she's grateful for the opportunities provided by franchise films but has felt artistically stuck for the past decade.

So further films may need to focus on other characters.

The issue of succession is also interesting in light of what we've seen with Star Trek and Star Wars.

Creatively, not all of what made Star Trek great came from creator Gene Roddenberry, but after his death Paramount explicitly and gleefully cast aside several of his core values for the franchise.

To disastrous effect.

Star Wars suffered a similar fate when the reigns passed from George Lucas to Kathleen Kennedy during the Disney acquisition.

In speaking of training it sounds like James is more concerned about management, but spirit matters too.

He would need a successor who truly understands, respects and wants to keep the spirit of Avatar alive.

Mmm, never noticed that one before.

Three of the biggest sci-fi franchises, all created by fellows with names beginning with a 'j' sound.

Stargate SG-1 was co-created by Jonathan Glassner, so three and a half.

Avatar: The Way of Water releases in Australian cinemas on December 15.

[ Main Image: Avatar The Way of Water teaser. Credit: 20th Century Studios via YouTube. ]

References

Keegan, Rebecca (November 30, 2022). Inside James Cameron’s Billion-Dollar Bet on ‘Avatar’. The Hollywood Reporter.

Nordstrom, Leigh (November 26, 2022). Zoe Saldaña Has Taken Control. Women's Wear Daily.