The original Avatar blew audiences away. While the story or characters of the film were maybe not the most original, it couldn't be argued that we had never seen anything that looked like Avatar before. Whether you watched the movie in 3D or not, there's little argument that the visuals weren't stunning or that the motion capture work had never been done better to that point. We know how much James Cameron likes to wow his audience, and it seems that the forthcoming Avatar sequels will do it to us all over again, at least according to the director himself.
It may sound like he's just tooting his own horn, but James Cameron says that's not the case. He's not saying that every image of Avatar 2 necessarily looks unbelievable. He admits that he's become somewhat jaded by simply dealing with images from the Avatar sequels every day, but even coming from that perspective, there are still times he finds what he sees to look incredible. According to Cameron...
I deal with images in that world every single day and there are some days when I look at those images and say, ‘This is really amazing.' I’m not patting myself on the back with that comment.
Indeed, James Cameron isn't telling the Toronto Sun that he is the one making these images look "really amazing." He credits the "best designers in the world" as well as a great cast for making the new Avatar movies come to life in a way that even impresses him.
We know that large portions of at least Avatar 2 will take place underwater and that seems to be where most of the really impressive work is being done. The movie is certainly using a lot of digital effects but it's also filming its actors underwater and this combination of ideas, from all accounts, is creating something quite spectacular.
After spending years wrangling the screenplays of what's ended up becoming four additional Avatar films, the long-awaited films are finally happening more than a decade after the original became the highest-grossing movie of all-time. Avatar 2 is currently set for a December 2021 release date, and while it seems hitting that date is still likely, we'll still want to keep an eye on it. The movie could be delayed to make room for other projects that have been delayed due to pandemic. Or alternatively, though less likely, the film could even be moved up to fill a gap in the schedule that has resulted by other productions being delayed.
Certainly, Avatar 2 and the other sequels are setting the bar high as far as what we're going to see when they arrive. But if James Cameron is still being impressed, then perhaps we all will be as well.
