Highlights

Despite being one of the highest-grossing movies of all time, Avatar 2 is already being forgotten by fans, which doesn't bode well for the planned series.
Avatar 2 had all the ingredients to be memorable, with stunning visuals and a star-studded cast, but it seems to have failed to make a lasting impact on audiences.
The success of Avatar 2 is crucial for the future of the franchise, as there are plans for several more movies and potential tie-ins like television series. If fans continue to forget about Avatar 2, it may raise doubts about the series' future.

Avatar 2: The Way Of Water was only released a short while ago in 2022, but for some reason, it already feels as if the movie was released decades ago. Somehow, the original flight-filled Avatar movie (which released back in 2009) seems to be the better-remembered movie in the minds of most fans. There are a number of reasons proposed as to why this, is from the animation being revolutionary back in 2009 to the sequel simply coming too long after the initial film’s hype.

Regardless of what the reason may be, the whimper of Avatar 2 that followed the bang of the original Avatar does not bode well for the planned series. If it's true that Avatar 2 is intended to be the second part of a much larger franchise, that very series may be in jeopardy. While Avatar 2 has been received well globally by both fans and critics, making it easy to call a great film, it is also already being forgotten.

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Avatar 2 Made Money, But Hasn't Left An Impression

Avatar 2: The Way Of Water
Director	James Cameron
Screenplay	James Cameron, Rick Jaffa, Amanda Silver
Cast	Sam Worthington, Zoe Saldaña, Sigourney Weaver, Stephen Lang, Kate Winslet
Release Dates	December 6, 2022 (Odeon Luxe Leicester Square), December 16, 2022 (United States)
Runtime	192 minutes
Budget	$350–460 million
Box Office	$2.32 billion

With how quickly Avatar 2 is being forgotten by those who have gone to see it, some people might wrongly believe that that movie didn’t make much money. On the contrary, Avatar 2 is one of the highest-grossing movies of all time, and the highest-grossing movie of 2022. Its box office total had the film grossing more than $2 billion (roughly $2.32 billion). The only movies that have made more money at the box office are Avengers: Endgame, and the original Avatar. Most fans will say that both of those movies are more memorable than Avatar 2, and that might also be true of other top-grossing movies like Titanic, Star Wars: The Force Awakens, or The Lion King.

It’s surprising that the third-highest-grossing movie of all time hasn’t had a lasting impact on the people who went to see it. It set out to tell an equally epic story as the original, while fleshing out the world of Pandora and its Na’vi clans. It was just as gorgeous as the original on a visual level, with some saying it even managed to look better than the more than a decade-old original. Avatar 2 had everything going for it to be one of the most memorable films of 2022. The returning star-studded cast all did a phenomenal job, and many of the newcomers added a lot to the film.

Interestingly, on a critical level, Avatar 2 is not as well received as the original. However, fans seem to prefer Avatar 2 more (at least according to Rotten Tomatoes). That makes it all the more puzzling as to why Avatar 2 has failed to leave a lasting impact on the huge number of Avatar fans who went out to see the film in theaters. It is possible that issues like being a pandemic-era film, the reception from Indigenous peoples across North America, and the massive 192-minute runtime contributed to the film's failing to leave a solid impression on fans. Compounding on the lengthy runtime, it’s not uncommon to see fans listing a weak story as one of their main criticisms of Avatar 2.

Avatar 2's Impact Is Bad News For Future Avatars

Some people may laugh off a movie as successful as Avatar 2 not having great lasting power. However, that is a serious issue considering the massive franchise that is supposedly planned. Avatar movies have been talked about and planned out as far as 2031, meaning that over the next few years, there will be an additional three Avatar movies at minimum. That’s not the only Avatar media coming either. Everyone knows that with great success comes a number of tie-ins, including television series. James Cameron had this to say about a potential TV show in an interview about the franchise via Comicbook.com:

"Now, maybe 10 years from now, if we inject enough machine, deep-learning, and A.I. into the process, it might be possible to collapse down from a one-year timeline to do a shot, down closer to real time. I don't know if we'll get to real time but I think we might get close enough to do television, but it won't be for, I'd say minimum five years, maybe more like 10. But if Avatar becomes a universe, if it becomes a persistent world for people and the desire is there, yeah. I could see that happening eventually."

Thanks to how much thought, planning, and of course, money that is being put into this Avatar franchise, a single moment of doubt can be a serious issue. If Avatar 2 truly is a forgettable movie, that may lead to many people wondering whether it would even be worth it to go out to see a third, fourth, or fifth film, let alone a television series or even a game series. The third Avatar movie is supposedly already done shooting and is in the post-production phase, with the fourth and fifth movies in the works. Now is not the time for fans to begin having doubts about the series.

Realistically, only time will tell if Avatar 2 is forgotten by fans. If there is any meaningful drop in box office numbers for Avatar 3, it will be fair to say that Avatar 2 is being forgotten. Until then, the rave reviews from audience members and the massive box office impact the movie managed to have made it clear that fans are willing to support the Avatar series, even if those movies are massive undertakings for the person going to see them.