The next Avatar movie is still over one year away, but unlike so many times that we've considered the sequel to the highest grossing movie of all-time, Avatar 2 is actually happening. Considering how long the movie has been in active production, one way or another this movie will see the light of day. And slowly but surely Avatar 2 continues to move forward. Franchise producer Lon Landau has officially confirmed that Simon Franglen is being brought in score all of the forthcoming Avatar sequels. He'll be replacing the late James Horner, and there are many reasons to be excited by this choice.
James Horner's final Oscar nomination came as the composer of the original Avatar. Unfortunately, since the seven time Oscar nominee, and one time winner, passed away in 2015, he could not write the music for the new Avatar movies. Instead, Simon Franglen will take over the job. Fraglen previous scored The Magnificent Seven remake as well as the Jennifer garner action movie Peppermint, but he worked on the team with James Horner that scored the first movie, including writing the music for the songs sung by Na'Vi. He also scored the original music heard at Pandora - The World of Avatar at Disney's Animal Kingdom, so he has significant experience with the franchise.
Considering that Simon Franglen has been part of the Avatar franchise since the beginning, it makes sense for him to take over where James Horner started. Odds are that aspects of Horner's original score will still appear in the Avatar sequels. While Franglen will certainly bring his own style to the music, it likely won't feel like a complete reinvention. Everybody involved will still want the new movies to sound like Avatar movie fans remember, and that means keeping some of the core elements that made up the score.
And if you've ever found yourself wandering through The World of Avatar at Walt Disney World and feeling like you were truly on an alien planet, then there seems to be a good chance that Avatar 2, will make you feel the same way. It's even possible that some of that music could be adapted into the new movies to make the theme park land feel more integrated into the larger franchise.
And with the score being created, we take another step closer to Avatar 2 and Avatar 3 finally ceasing to be fantasy and becoming reality. The recording of the score is one of the last big steps in a film's post production, and while we're certainly not there yet, every little bit counts.
In December of 2022, unless we get still more delays, Avatar 2 will finally be here. Whether or not the movie will be the massive hit of its predecessor is anybody's guess, but from the cast to the crew, it's certainly doing everything it can to make for an epic and momorable movie.
