Sigh... Avatar 2 won't be released in 2018

[Jachyra]

Well, can't say I'm surprised since filming 4 movies back to back is a huge undertaking but still, it hurts, especially since no new release date is announced.

Straight from JC:

Well, 2018 is not happening. We haven’t announced a firm release date. What people have to understand is that this is a cadence of releases. So we’re not making Avatar 2. We’re making Avatar 2, 3, 4 and 5. It’s an epic undertaking. It’s not unlike building the Three Gorges dam. (Laughs) So I know where I’m going to be for the next eight years of my life. It’s not an unreasonable time frame if you think about it. It took us four-and-a-half years to make one movie and now we’re making four. We’re full tilt boogie right now. This is my day job and pretty soon we’ll be 24-7. We’re pretty well designed on all our creatures and sets. It’s pretty exciting stuff. I wish I could share with the world. But we have to preserve a certain amount of showmanship and we’re going to draw that curtain when the time is right.

Here's the link.

[Exoblade]

Sigh, lets hope its only 6 months or so.

[Eltu]

Well, on the bright side every delay means more room for it to be better

[Marvellous Chester]

The thing is gentlemen, do we care? Have we not moved on from Avatar now? I'd rather have a roast dinner washed down with strong dark beer.

But that is just me.

[Eltu]

Though I'd point out the obvious irony of commenting this on an Avatar forum () it is of course true that for a long time and in a good way, the community has been what has truly bound us together, rather than the actual film itself.

I wouldn't use the term "moved on" - it implies nothing was gained - but rather it feels that for many, Avatar has moved from being a hugely important, active part of our lives, to something that's shifted into the background but still very treasured. I can't speak for everyone, of course, but this is a common and very natural cycle of any passion or life-changing experience

Nothing wrong with that, but this also doesn't mean we can't feel excited about a new, potentially also amazing experience!

It's easy to feel "Oh, Avatar's not as important anymore", but prominence does not necessarily relate to importance - it can exist as an amazing experience of the past and still be extremely important

[Ja'k Dawsiin]

i'm as 'hung up' on Avatar today, as i was on January 9th 2010, when i first saw it on the silver screen in 3D. i want moor more moar!!!!

[Exoblade]

Its disappointing but I suppose its better that we get a good collection of films rather than a rushed Avatar 2 that ruins the whole franchise.

While I haven't watched the film for quite a while and so admit there are flaws in it, I still love the world and are interested in some of the stuff coming out recently.

[Na'vi a Kepekmì]

I am personally not shocked or surprised about this delay. When he announced the four sequels, I had a doubt that the schedule was realistic.

[Empty Glass]

I'm not too shocked either by the delay. So long as the end results are as great as they're hyping up to be, I'll be fine. What I'm really wondering is if shooting will still begin this August. (That is the most recently-mentioned date, right? I just finished a beer that is not necessarily dark but nonetheless strong so perhaps it's affecting my memory.)

[Ja'k Dawsiin]

i expect later anyway, because there is no way that JC wants to compete in the same year as any of the remaining Star Wars releases. look what happened to Passengers, which i thought was a damn good movie, really liked it, but it got squashed by sw rabid fanboys and the House of Mouse paying all the for-hire critic hacks to bash on it, so the mickey mouse wars wouldn't take a financial hit by a challenger. you seriously think JC wants to deal with the negativity of those disney freaks?!


[SPOILER] i really hated that force awakens crapfest because of that no-acting single expression girl and the fact that they killed Han Solo. i will NEVER watch another sw film from the mouseketeers. [/SPOILER]

[berryrabbit]

I highly doubt that Disney paid critics to trash Passengers, so they wouldn't have any competition with Rogue One: A Star Wars Story, Ja'k. Star Wars has been around longer than Jennifer Lawrence has been alive. Of course, people are going to go see it. I think you need to accept the fact that not everyone likes her films. She may a great actress, but that doesn't mean every single one of her films will be good. Every talented actor and actress makes a not-so-good film eventually. Not even Zoe Saldana is immune to that.

[Ja'k Dawsiin]

^ all that said doesn't change the fact that anything made of Star Wars since 1983, has been a total SUCKfest. i hated the jar jar binks prequels, especially anything involving that no-acting hayden fellow playing Darth Vader. he was basically the male version of megan fox, all face no acting ability. yuck. hated all three films, and the force awakens suckfest made it even worse. no more please.

i still love the original three films, both the theater versions and the 1997 Special Editions. have them on blu-ray. Han Solo still lives!

[Eltu]

The production of the Star Wars prequels is quite an interesting topic in its own right, and a surprisingly nuanced one. It's easy to proclaim "the prequels were only made for money-grabbing purposes!" but looking at a lot of the behind-the-scenes footage (this in particular) you get the impression that George Lucas genuinely wanted to make something amazing but a lot of different factors sadly reduced the movies much below his original vision.

The RLM reviews of the prequels (here) are often referred to when discussing EP1-3, and while they're definitely interesting and do point out a lot of flaws with the films, I think it's important to remember that the majority of people involved in creating the SW prequels genuinely wanted them to turn out great.

Hayden Christensen being a good example, is not really a terrible actor (in my opinion, at least), but he was given a script to work with that vastly reduced his ability to portrait Anakin. George Lucas definitely failed to delegate much of the dialogue writing to someone more capable at that aspect of writing, which resulted in stilted, unnatural dialogue (especially noticeable in all the Anakin/Padme dialogues). Lucas hardly wanted this to happen, he simply overestimated his personal ability to write dialogue specifically.

Does these things make the prequels worse? Absolutely - but still worth noting that few of these issues were a result of intentional neglect, but rather a series of unfortunate events. At their core there's still a hint of a greater vision and ambition, and while I agree the prequels are vastly inferior, I think this has to be recognized to avoid a one-dimensional portrayal of EP1-3.

These days when I watch through the Star Wars films, I try to view the prequels from the perspective of the core story they want to tell (the fall of the Republic) and not focus so much at their individual storytelling and cinematic flaws, and they are a much more enjoyable experience because of it.

[Empty Glass]

Originally Posted by Eltu

These days when I watch through the Star Wars films, I try to view the prequels from the perspective of the core story they want to tell (the fall of the Republic) and not focus so much at their individual storytelling and cinematic flaws, and they are a much more enjoyable experience because of it.

I took this approach when I marathoned the entire series in one day right before The Force Awakens was released. And to my surprise, I enjoyed following the overarching story of political intrigue and not getting hung up on every grain of sand...

...but I must admit that when I started watching the original three immediately after, I thought "Yeah! This is great, this is what it's all about!" like I had forgotten what they were like. Hard to pin down everything that one might say makes them good; it's easier just to feel that they just are.

[Eltu]

Yeah, definitely. I hardly argue that the prequels are as good as the originals, just that they can be appreciated for their effort and looked at less as a moneygrab

The Force Awakens, on the other hand, is interesting in a different way... it's almost exactly the opposite of the prequels. Technically, atmospherically and in terms of cinematography it's amazing, but at the same time it's not as ambitions as the prequels and doesn't really try to tell a new story.

While the prequels were flawed movies trying to tell an interesting story, The Force Awakens is an excellent movie but with little new to bring to the table. Makes me curious to see how the future SW films will be like...