Tuesday, February 9, 2010

Avatar 2

It’s been a week since the Academy Awards nominations were announced, and there is very little to report on the Oscar front.

So, let’s talk sequels. A recent viewing of James Cameron’s Terminator 2: Judgment Day has revealed to me what most already knew: Cameron knows how to write and direct a sequel. He does not use sequels simply to cash in on popular films.

With Aliens, he expanded the universe presented in Ridley Scott’s original. He took the horror and claustrophobia of Alien and blew it up into a massive action-adventure film that tells a cohesive story.

Similarly, he used T2 to expand on the lore of the first film and filled out a story of which audiences wanted more. His sequels are bigger, bolder, and often better than their predecessors. All of this brings me to Avatar, which has recently become the highest grossing film of all time.

Cameron has already stated that he has enough material for two sequels to the best-picture-nominated 3D spectacle. But, one thing at a time-- what can we expect from Avatar 2? How could he possibly top the biggest movie of all time?

In thinking about it, I decided, “Why think about it?” Let’s just be happy with what we have: the best film-going experience in a generation. So, see it. See it again. See it a third time. It’s a big screen movie and must be seen that way.

1 comment:

Nate said...

I recently read an interview with James "my films make billions" Cameron and he hinted that he feels "mandated" to direct another "Avatar" film, given the massive success of the current film. Only time will tell, I suppose.