At 4:30 Eastern on Wednesday, February 8, the Walt Disney Company broadcasted a live audio earnings call, during which the first fiscal quarter of the 2023 fiscal year was discussed.
During the call, Disney CEO Bob Iger made some crucial announcements, defined a plan for the Walt Disney Company, and answered questions. He also confirmed that more Avatar content is coming to Disney+ and Disney Parks, including Disneyland.
In the call, CEO Bob Iger stated that James Cameron’s sequel, Avatar: The Way of Water (2022), is shaping up to be “one of the most successful films of the quarter.” Not only that, but the Avatar (2009) sequel has also become the “fourth biggest film of all time globally with close to $2.2 billion earned in the box office to date.”
After this, Bob Iger revealed that the massive success and popularity of the movie “will result in the creation of more opportunities for fans to engage with the franchise.”
Over at Walt Disney World Resort, Animal Kingdom has been home to Pandora: the World of Avatar for a few years now. The heavily immersive and themed area is one of Walt Disney World Resort’s most impressive additions, and the popularity of the land has only become more popular due to the release of Avatar: The Way of Water.
Bob Iger also acknowledged this during the earnings call, stating, “They have been doing well at Walt Disney World’s Pandora: World of Avatar, as well as in theaters globally and on Disney+; the first film is delivering very strong numbers.”
Then, Disney CEO Bob Iger made the exciting announcement: “Today, I am thrilled to announce that we will bring an exciting Avatar experience to Disneyland. We will be sharing more details on that very soon.”
Director James Cameron recently opened up.candidly about what he calls an “arranged marriage” with Disney. The ‘Avatar’ Director has been daunted in the past, no one expected ‘Titanic, to be a success and it ended up becoming the highest grossing ever, (you’re welcome, Mr. Cameron. As a 7th grade girl full of …whatever 7th grade girls are full of…I saw it in theaters 8 times). The film held that title for over a decade. Then along came Avatar and smashed ‘Titanic’s’ record in 2009. ‘Avatar’, of course, is another James Cameron masterpiece. It holds that title to this day, but he’s hoping (with Disney’s help) to unseat that achievement and blow past it with ‘Avatar: The Way of Water‘.
Cameron made ‘Avatar’ for Fox in 2009. Before the sequel was filmed, Disney had bought Fox which put the director directly in the hands of the Mouse. How did he feel about that? Positive…for the most part.
“We sort of were led to believe that the ‘Avatar’ overall was one of the jewels in the crown of what Disney was acquiring, so we expected them to be leaning forward and wanting to see what we were all about,” says Cameron. “They were excited by the potential of the new films, especially as it was planned out to be a series of films, a saga over time played out in four movies.”
Cameron excitedly went to work with Disney. In a recent interview he said, “They knew exactly what they were buying on paper, but they didn’t really know us as a production company, and they didn’t really have the really granular ins and outs of how an ‘Avatar’ movie gets made.” So he invited Disney executives on set and was transparent with them about everything that was happening. They developed a good working relationship.
Then Bob Iger left the company and the director was subject to the creative direction (or lack thereof) of Bob Chapek. “Of course, we were always curious about what the new emphasis would be, and whether we’d get caught in the vortex of Disney+ and talking about shortening windows and all that sort of thing,” he said referring to the extremely short length of time Disney has allowed movies to run exclusively in theaters before sending them to Disney+. This, in Cameron’s eyes, would’ve been disastrous for the film because due to budget overruns, the film needs repeat theatrical views to be a success.
Luckily, by the time ‘Avatar: The Way of Water’ debuted, Iger was back on top. “I don’t want to overplay it, but [Iger and I] always sort of saw eye to eye, so we’re definitely pretty happy with the way things are working out right now,” he states. “For an arranged marriage, I would say it has gone about as well as you could conceivably ask for.”
The film is currently smashing records but not yet where it needs to be. The film currently has grossed $1.5 billion worldwide, which is no small chunk of change but considering the fact that it had a $2 billion budget, it’s still got a long way to go. You can see ‘Avatar: The Way of Water’ in theaters now.
For the first time ever, a film has bypassed the $2.9 billion threshold at the global box office, and the prized film just happens to be owned by Disney.
Nearly 70 years ago, a boy was born in the tiny town of Kapuskasing, Ontario, Canada. As a child, he had a voracious appetite for science fiction books that only grew stronger as he aged. He grew up to become a talented filmmaker who made a name for himself with a film based on one of the greatest tragedies of the 20th century, Titanic, which hit the box office in 1997 boasted an all-star cast, led by Leonardo DiCaprio and Kate Winslet.
But even before Titanic was complete, Director James Cameron had already begun work on his super-blockbuster, Avatar.
Avatar was the first film to ever gross more than $2 billion worldwide. At that time, it was the only film to have ever achieved such a feat. Soon after, however, Avatar was in good company with Star Wars: The Force Awakens and Cameron’s original Oscar-winning gold mine, Titanic, which had finally been able to break the $2 billion glass ceiling thanks to a re-release of the film.
In 2017, Cameron’s CGI-heavy film had amassed $2.7 billion at the global box office from its initial theatrical run and a short re-release in some areas only a few months later.
And it would seem that Cameron is a fan of the re-releases, as the re-release of Avatar is responsible for putting the film over the $2.9 billion mark worldwide, and it’s the first film in history to earn these accolades. The recent re-release ahead of the upcoming release of the film’s sequel, was only in 40 markets and was a very limited engagement, lasting only 2 weeks.
But it was long enough to gain another $18 million domestically and $39 million in overseas markets, pushing the global box office total to $2.905 billion.
A paraplegic Marine dispatched to the moon Pandora on a unique mission becomes torn between following his orders and protecting the world he feels is his home.
When his brother is killed in a robbery, paraplegic Marine Jake Sully decides to take his place in a mission on the distant world of Pandora. There he learns of greedy corporate figurehead Parker Selfridge’s intentions of driving off the native humanoid “Na’vi” in order to mine for the precious material scattered throughout their rich woodland.
In exchange for the spinal surgery that will fix his legs, Jake gathers knowledge, of the Indigenous Race and their Culture, for the cooperating military unit spearheaded by gung-ho Colonel Quaritch, while simultaneously attempting to infiltrate the Na’vi people with the use of an “avatar” identity. While Jake begins to bond with the native tribe and quickly falls in love with the beautiful alien Neytiri, the restless Colonel moves forward with his ruthless extermination tactics, forcing the soldier to take a stand – and fight back in an epic battle for the fate of Pandora.
The long-awaited sequel to Avatar, titled, Avatar: The Way of Water. Rotten Tomatoes says the sequel is set 10+ years after the original film and continues the story of Jake and Neytiri as they have started a family and must explore the regions of Pandora:
Set more than a decade after the events of the first film, “Avatar: The Way of Water” begins to tell the story of the Sully family (Jake, Neytiri, and their kids), the trouble that follows them, the lengths they go to keep each other safe, the battles they fight to stay alive, and the tragedies they endure.
Avatar: The Way of Water debuts at the box office on December 16.
One of the most popular attractions at Walt Disney World Resort is Flight of Passage, located in Pandora in Animal Kingdom. The attraction opened in 2017 to incredible wait times of 4+ hours, and still, years later, we can expect that during busy times of the year, wait times will climb to those large waits once again. Typically, the ride had around a two-hour wait, which is still pretty long for many!
The attraction is a flight simulator that allows us, Guests of Animal Kingdom, to hop on the back of a banshee by linking to someone who is Na’vi. Through this, we are able to deeply explore Pandora, the world of Avatar, through sights, scents, and movement. We recently reported on some Guests complaining about the state of the attraction, and now, those worries continue to grow.
Flight of passage blurriness/double vision. I wonder if anyone else has experienced this? I hadn’t ridden in over a year, but Flight has always been one of the more convincing experiences at WDW (with the exclusion of my ride last night, in which these problems were distracting). Maybe something with the glasses or how I was wearing them?
Flight of Passage utilizes 3-D glasses, but this should not make the attraction’s video footage look distorted in any way, as this Guest is noting that they experienced. It seems other Guests have also experienced similar issues in sections of the ride. One Guest replied stating, “I’ve had similar issues this pastime, but mostly just on the part where it’s in the dark cavern.” Another noted, “It’s the same for me, but it comes into focus as more of the bioluminescence comes on screen in the cave scene.”
The responses of Guests also experiencing this blurry, double vision sensation only continued to grow as the conversation carried on. Some noted that this may just be an issue with one theater, but not all, however, we cannot be sure what the issue is here, if there indeed is something broken with the attraction. One Guest noticed that the seat in which they were given made a huge difference in terms of ride quality, “I rode it twice recently. First time I was on the left side (spots 9-16), 2nd to last spot. Perfect. 2nd time I was on the right side (section for spots 1-8). Spot 1. Horrible double vision for most of the ride.”
Another rider commented in agreement but also hopes that Disney is able to correct the issues as the blurry vision increases motion sickness when riding.
Glad it wasn’t just me! It was definitely amazing when it first opened but I’ve noticed it getting progressively blurrier. I thought it was just the location of where I was sitting but it looks like there are some mechanical wear and tear issues. I hope they fix it up though because I was getting more motion sickness due to it being blurry.
During recent rides, we can attest that there are certain sections that seem to have lost their crispness. Considering Flight of Passage is a separately ticketed Lightning Lane pass, and does not come with the typical Disney Genie+ options, many Guests expect the attraction to ride without flaw. And now, with Avatar: The Way of Water debuting its first trailer, we will likely see a new resurgence in the James Cameron-created franchise.
According to Variety, Disney has decided to delay all upcoming Star Wars and Avatar films as they change their release calendar to account for the COVID-19 closure.
Each film has been offset by one year. The next Star Wars trilogy will now release every other Christmas season starting in 2023. The first will release December 22, 2023, the second will release December 19, 2025, and the third will release December 17, 2027. A recent rumor suggested that Disney might be seeking to “erase” the most recent Star Wars trilogy but this is not corroborated by any sources.
The four Avatar sequels will alternate Decembers with the Star Wars trilogy. “Avatar 2” will be released December 16, 2022, “Avatar 3” will be released December 20, 2024, “Avatar 4” will be released December 18, 2026, and “Avatar 5” will be released December 22, 2028.
“Avatar 2” was supposed to start filming this summer, but the COVID-19 pandemic delayed production. James Cameron tweeted the following in addition to Disney’s announcement:
The second Avatar film will now hit theaters thirteen years after the first film.
Disney removed and changed release dates for several other films as well. Mulan and Searchlight title, The French Dispatch, have both been removed from the calendar. The Personal History of David Copperfield, also a Searchlight title, has been moved two weeks to August 28, 2020.
Antlers, a horror film originally scheduled for an April release, has been postponed to February 19, 2021. Kenneth Branagh’s Death on the Nile has been shifted two weeks to October 23, 2020, and The Empty Man has been moved from August to December 4, 2020. Ridley Scott’s The Last Duel has been moved from Christmas 2020 to October 2021.
