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Avatar: The Way of Water Writers Reveal Why The Sequel Was Split Into Two Movies


There is no doubt as to why James Cameron’s Avatar franchise has extended up to Avatar 5, in which they had revealed would feature Neytiri (Zoe Saldana) having her first look on earth, however, in a previous interview, when Cameron was advised by his executive to shorten Avatar: The Way of Water, he kicked out the executive in protest. It looks like Cameron was left with no choice but to comply in terms of keeping the story in two split films.

RELATED: James Cameron Lost It With Avatar 2 Executive When Told To Make The Film Shorter

Recently speaking with Variety, Avatar 2 screenwriters Rick Jaffa and Amanda Silver reveal why they had to split the Avatar into two separate movies. As expected, it was leaning more on the abundance of story material they had that could potentially be more fitting in the next installment. Check out their full comment below:

“Carrying this burden was always an issue in terms of getting the first act of that first movie moving, and there was just an enormous amount of material in there. So, somewhere after we had started writing, [Cameron] called us up and he said, ‘Look, we’ve got too much material. We’re going to split it into two movies.’”

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To think that they had already split the Avatar sequel into its progressing franchise, and yet Avatar: The Way of Water still ran for more than three hours (as long as James Cameron’s Titanic). However, this does go hand-in-hand with Cameron’s intention and that is “There’s more characters and more story to service” in this sequel. It would be interesting to see what else he has in store for part 2, other than his teasers for Avatars 3-5 involving more cultures and more area expansion in Pandora.

Avatar: The Way of Water is currently showing in theaters now, with Avatar 3 slated for release on December 20, 2024.


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