Avatar: the highest-grossing film with no cultural imprint
Avatar is the 2009 science-fiction epic that had a chokehold on the film industry the year it was released. James Cameron wrote and directed the project, having begun working on it in 1994 after writing an 80-page treatment for the script. Avatar is set in the far future of the mid-22nd century and presents humanity’s colonisation of Pandora, a lush habitable moon with the valuable mineral unobtanium.
The mining colony threatens Pandora’s inhabitants, the Na’vi. That is until a recruit called Jake inhabits the Na’vi form and joins a clan, eventually falling for the tribe’s princess. After extensive world-building throughout the mid-2000s, Cameron finally started principal photography for Avatar in April 2007, and the film premiered in London on December 10th, 2009.
To get it out of the way early, Avatar had an eye-watering budget of $237 million. Due to positive reviews, with critics highly praising its groundbreaking visual effects, it smashed the box office with a gross total of $2 billion and became the first film to do so. Therefore, James Cameron’s Avatar is the highest-grossing film of all time, a title previously held by another Cameron movie, Titanic, which maintained that record for 12 years. When adjusting for inflation, Avatar is the second highest-grossing film in history, only surpassed by Victor Fleming’s Gone with the Wind.
For nearly a decade, Avatar was the highest-grossing feature film in the world until Avengers: Endgame crossed it in 2019. However, a Chinese re-release in March 2021 led to Avatar regaining its top spot. Essentially, films generate income from several revenue streams, which are highly important to artists and studios. These streams are theatrical exhibitions, home videos, television broadcast rights, and merchandising. However, box-office earnings are the primary metric when determining if a film is successful. The box office not only showcases the availability compared to sales figures for home video and broadcast rights but also demonstrates the historical practice.
While talking about Avatar’s groundbreaking success in an interview with the LA Times, Cameron shared: “You’ve got to compete head-on with these other epic works of fantasy and fiction, the Tolkiens and the Star Wars and the Star Treks. People want a persistent alternate reality to invest themselves in, and they want the detail that makes it rich and worth their time. They want to live somewhere else. Like Pandora.”
The technological advancements and the box office performance constitute Avatar’s legacy when it comes to film and culture. Since the movie was released, studios have attempted to top it through expensive and visually spectacular features, such as sci-fi and Marvel films. However, Avatar’s story and other film elements have a measly conversation. There was once a running joke online that, despite being aware of its financial success and visual strengths, film audiences could not remember anything else about Avatar.
It is claimed that many people can no longer outline the story, name one character, or recite one quote. Considering the hype that anticipated Avatar’s release and then momentarily followed it, it’s borderline comical to think it left no impression with anything other than the visuals. Maybe if Cameron had stuck to his original script that focused on the world and culture he had spent years building rather than scrapping most of it to make room for the military sequences, things could have been different.
However, Cameron revealed in 2010 that Avatar would transform from a stand-alone feature to a long-lasting franchise of four films in total. The first sequel, Avatar: The Way of Water, was initially planned for a 2014 release, a fitting six years after its predecessor. However, complications with the technology needed to capture underwater movement prevented this. The initial shooting began on August 15th, 2017, and the film’s release date is now set for Friday, December 16th 2022.
This upcoming release has rejuvenated discussions around Avatar. With a budget of $250 million, Avatar: The Way of the Water is one of the most expensive films ever made. Also, film critics are predicting it will change the face of filmmaking through its new technology. If history repeats itself, Cameron may end up with three billings in the top ten highest-grossing films of all time.
