James Cameron says trolls will “shut the f**k up” before Avatar 2
20th Century Studios/James Cameron/InstagramJames Cameron isn’t bothered by online trolls – he knows they’ll “shut the f**k up” before seeing Avatar 2.
Avatar is still the biggest movie of all time. While it was briefly dethroned by Avengers: Endgame in 2019, Cameron let the Marvel Cinematic Universe enjoy a brief stint at the top before ordering a re-release in China, adding to its box office haul once more.
Think about the cinematic landscape of 2009: the MCU had just launched with Iron Man a year prior; underneath Avatar at the box office, you had Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince and Ice Age 3; and in the top 10, somehow, Angels and Demons managed to squeeze in. Langdon fever gripped the nation, clearly.
It was a massive cultural event in a year of quieter blockbusters, but that doesn’t mean it wasn’t extraordinary. Yet, for some inexplicable reason, Avatar has become an easy punching bag on social media. They’ll be reminded soon: never bet against Cameron.
20th Century StudiosJames Cameron says Avatar 2 trolls will “shut the f**k up” before Way of Water
In an extensive interview with Empire Magazine ahead of the long-awaited sequel’s release in December this year, Cameron spoke about the film’s runtime, his plan to possibly “pass the baton” for Avatar 4 and 5, and the bamboozling backlash.
There’s an overriding observation about Avatar: despite making all that money, it seemingly left no pop-culture footprint and people can barely remember any of the characters’ names. Cameron has heard these criticisms, but he doesn’t care, and he thinks this September’s wide re-release will prove him right.
He said: “The trolls will have it that nobody gives a shit and they can’t remember the characters’ names or one damn thing that happened in the movie.
“Then they see the movie again and go: ‘Oh, okay, excuse me, let me just shut the f**k up right now.’ So I’m not worried about that.”
20th Century StudiosJames Cameron doesn’t want “whining” over long Avatar 2 runtime
Cameron also hit out at any tedious complaints about the sequel’s inevitable epic runtime, given the first film ran at 2h 40m, and he’s already likened the future of the franchise to Lord of the Rings.
“I don’t want anybody whining about length when they sit and binge-watch [television] for eight hours. I can almost write this part of the review. ‘The agonisingly long three-hour movie…’ It’s like, give me a f**king break,” he said.
“I’ve watched my kids sit and do five one-hour episodes in a row. Here’s the big social paradigm shift that has to happen: it’s okay to get up and go pee.”
Avatar: The Way of Water hits cinemas on December 16, 2022.