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Avatar 2, 3, 4 and 5

Started by Small Man Big Horse, April 22, 2017, 05:46:39 PM

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Small Man Big Horse

James Cameron's finally announced the release dates for the following four films which surely no one cares about now?

QuoteJames Cameron sets release dates for Avatars 2, 3, 4, and 5

After literally years of tinkering, tweaking, theme parks, and general blue-skinned messing around, we've finally got a release date for our return trip to Pandora. James Cameron has announced that Avatar 2 will arrive in theatres in 2020, just a scant 11 years after its predecessor inspired dizzying box office returns and a blazing firestorm of internet argument.

But Cameron—a cinematic ambition addict if ever there was one—didn't just announce one release date for the franchise. (December 18, 2020, by the way.) He also listed release dates for Avatars 3, 4, and 5, which will be arriving in Decembers of 2021, 2024, and 2025. Cameron also revealed that he intends to film all four movies at the same time, with that three-year-gap presumably intended to give the planet's endangered CGI reserves the barest chance to recover from his onslaught.

Given how low the reputation of the first has sunk, is it possible that'll he create four hollywood blockbusters that'll flop in an incredibly embarrassing way at the box office? Do you have any faith in Cameron at all these days? And is it worth checking out the first one all these years later, as I've not got round to watching it yet and I'd be amazed if I did end up enjoying.

greenman

I still see a lot of people wearing wolf and owl painted T-shirts so I'd guess they'll do decently well.

Custard

Didn't the first film wrap the story up pretty tidily?

How can they milk another 4 films out of it?

*Sam Worthington waits by phone*

mothman

Given the protagonist's human body presumably has now been recycled, I'd laugh if he decided to recast the role with someone with more star power. What is the point? It's going to be one long CGI cartoon.

They should mix it into the Matrix reboots for one big expanded universe. The stock of both brands has fallen, so they should do the McBusted tactic. "The Avatratrix" or something.

BlodwynPig

The first trailer I saw for Avatar featured a giant spaceship and an incredible soundtrack. A few weeks later I looked for the trailer and could not find the same score, just some bland, generic score that most likely featured in the movie.

If they had stuck with that original music I might have been interested in watching it.

Thomas

I suspect they will tell a worthwhile story that absolutely requires four profitable instalments.

I also suspect that James Cameron is a Bad Writer (though good at directing spectacle). Have you seen the deleted scenes from Titanic? Molly Brown asking for ice in her drink as the berg slips by the window (immediately deflating the brilliant tension of the preceding sequence).[nb]the apocryphal 'I asked for ice' urban legend originally being attributed to John Jacob Astor.[/nb] The shit action move lines in the fight between Jack and David Warner. Rose's mum declining a go on the gym's rowing machine because she couldn't imagine a less useful skill, wink to camera. The dialogue left in the final edit manages to funnel the story along, but remains largely excruciating. The best line, my favourite for a long time, Cameron's mitigating circumstance, turned out to have been nicked verbatim from Twin Peaks -

'I'd rather be his whore than your wife.'

And I feel I'm in the minority but I do not find Aliens to be a good sequel. Haven't seen any Terminators yet. James Cameron did not write or direct Twister but he strikes me as the kind of man who would.

Kelvin

Quote from: Thomas on April 22, 2017, 09:13:50 PM
I also suspect that James Cameron is a Bad Writer. Have you seen the deleted scenes from Titanic? Molly Brown asking for ice in her drink as the berg slips by the window (immediately deflating the brilliant tension of the preceding sequence).[nb]the apocryphal 'I asked for ice' urban legend originally being attributed to John Jacob Astor.[/nb] The shit action move lines in the fight between Jack and David Warner. Rose's mum declining a go on the gym's rowing machine because she couldn't imagine a less useful skill, wink to camera.

In fairness, if those scenes were cut, he presumably realised the material didn't work in context.

Cameron's obviously not a great writer, but he has an ear for quotable dialogue and likeable, if simple, characters; skills which suit the type of films he makes. Films like Terminator, Aliens and True Lies are popular, not just because he knows how to direct action, but because he knows how to make you care about the characters within the limitations of the genre. Avatar is an obvious exception to this.

Thomas

Quote from: Kelvin on April 22, 2017, 09:21:04 PM
In fairness, if those scenes were cut, he presumably realised the material didn't work in context.

True, of course. In fact, here he gamely discusses his reasons for cutting the fight sequence from Titanic.

I'm just lashing out because of Avatar. Though I still don't like Aliens.

Replies From View

He deleted various scenes from Terminator 2 for very good reasons (they added unneeded extra information which ended up only slowing down the pace of the film), which were then incorporated into the Special Edition anyway which is still the most easy version to see in the UK.

So I suspect he is just a shit man, really.  A shit man who managed to hide it for a while.

monolith

I'm not having the Terminators (the 2 proper ones) slagged. The first one in particular is astonishingly brilliant even today.

mothman

True Lies also stands up very well. I'm still not sure how I feel about The Abyss. I like it, but it's very flawed. I've always felt that Michael Biehn should have had a better career than he has; but in the basis of this (and other stuff like The Seventh Sign) it's easy to see why he didn't.

AlienS is great and so much more than just the action film that followed the horror film. The pervading female themes are refreshing in a genre better known for dick-waving 80s machismo.

Replies From View

Quote from: monolith on May 03, 2017, 10:03:10 PM
I'm not having the Terminators (the 2 proper ones) slagged. The first one in particular is astonishingly brilliant even today.

The Special Edition of the second film is slaggable, I'm afraid.

monolith

Quote from: Replies From View on May 04, 2017, 12:11:07 AM
The Special Edition of the second film is slaggable, I'm afraid.
Sadly I agree. Is the theatrical version available on Blu Ray/DVD over here yet? I remember trying to find it years ago and could only get the special edition which is definitely the inferior version. The only version of the theatrical cut I have is on VHS...

batwings

Quote from: monolith on May 05, 2017, 10:35:43 PM
Sadly I agree. Is the theatrical version available on Blu Ray/DVD over here yet? I remember trying to find it years ago and could only get the special edition which is definitely the inferior version. The only version of the theatrical cut I have is on VHS...

The Blu-Ray (skynet edition) uses seamless branching to let you choose from a number of cuts, including the original theatrical.

Replies From View

Quote from: batwings on May 06, 2017, 06:55:50 AM
The Blu-Ray (skynet edition) uses seamless branching to let you choose from a number of cuts, including the original theatrical.

Well the joke is on them, because I don't have a Blu Ray player.

mobias

Quote from: mothman on May 03, 2017, 10:27:53 PM
True Lies also stands up very well.

I'd like to see True Lies again. It sits rather alone in Cameron's body of work as being pretty much his only non high concept movie. Its pretty much just a James Bond/Bourne type film but obviously with the added bonus of having Arnie in it. I certainly remember it being a lot of fun. I once read an interview with Cameron where he said in the wake of 9/11 its the only film of his which has aged rather badly, he said there's no way he feels he could have made it today and thats the main reason he never did a much mooted sequel to it.

I actually watched a few scenes from Titanic on Netflix last night to see 4K streaming in action on my new TV and the 1997 CGI looks really quite shocking in a lot of scenes. I guess the clarity of 4K isn't very flattering to any of it. 

Shoulders?-Stomach!

I hope James Cameron's house goes on fire and it is later discovered he was in it a lot.

biggytitbo

Quote from: Replies From View on May 06, 2017, 07:54:07 AM
Well the joke is on them, because I don't have a Blu Ray player.


You bought the betamax vhs player you use from 'Blue Ray' though didnt you, that bloke who sells knocked off consumer goods and pornos in the local pub?

mothman

Quote from: mobias on May 06, 2017, 09:42:11 AM
I'd like to see True Lies again. It sits rather alone in Cameron's body of work as being pretty much his only non high concept movie. Its pretty much just a James Bond/Bourne type film but obviously with the added bonus of having Arnie in it. I certainly remember it being a lot of fun. I once read an interview with Cameron where he said in the wake of 9/11 its the only film of his which has aged rather badly, he said there's no way he feels he could have made it today and thats the main reason he never did a much mooted sequel to it.

I actually watched a few scenes from Titanic on Netflix last night to see 4K streaming in action on my new TV and the 1997 CGI looks really quite shocking in a lot of scenes. I guess the clarity of 4K isn't very flattering to any of it. 

I've seen it many times, before and after 9/11, and never had a problem with it. Ultimately the terrorists are such comedy terrorists (and references to Islam not that frequent - they're basically just stereotypical brown terrorists) that it's hard to foster any sense of outrage. Cameron likely made the right call however, because the manufactured outrage from the usual suspects would have easily generated sufficient bad word-of-mouth to kill the sequel's chances. And Omega Sector's enemies in the sequel could've been non-terrorist related. Just think of how well Olympus Has Fallen did (enough for a sequel?!), with Arnie going up against North Koreans... or a proper Bond-style megavillain. Another one for the fantasy sequel thread, really.