Fans of James Cameron’s Avatar series are urging one another to see Fire and Ash multiple times at the cinemas as the third film struggles to repeat history at the box office.
The first Avatar film was a cultural phenomenon without compare. It’s the highest-grossing movie of all time, having raked in just shy of $3 billion at the box office.
The 2022 sequel, The Way of Water, similarly flew up the charts, making $2.3 billion on its way to becoming the third biggest movie in history.
At the time of writing, the third entry in the Pandoran franchise isn’t keeping pace. Currently sitting at around $1.3 billion – still making it one of the 25 highest-grossing films ever – it’s a considerable drop from the last two chapters of the story as it rounds out its time in theaters.
In light of the decline, some diehard fans of the series are calling on others to take action. They’re urging fellow Sully tribesmen to go and support the film, seeing it multiple times to further ‘help’ the box office figure, as doubt hangs over the future of the franchise.
Avatar fans urged to ‘help’ Fire and Ash at box office
Although Avatar 4 and Avatar 5 have tentative dates – December 21, 2029 and December 19, 2031 respectively – the sequels haven’t officially been given the go ahead. Recently, James Cameron was questioning whether they’d even be made given the sheer costs of production.
“It is one metric f**k ton of money, which means we have to make two metric f**k tons of money to make a profit,” he said.
Given Fire and Ash isn’t making quite the same splash this go around, hardcore fans are concerned the fina two chapters of the story won’t see the light of day. As such, they’re now rallying to boost box office figures as the third film ends its run.
“Dear Avatar fans… Pandora needs us (this is not a drill),” one Reddit post spotted by IGN read. It served as a call to action, encouraging others in the community to see the film “more than once in the theater. Actually, please see it at least twice. Heck, bring a sibling or a friend.”
As the one avid fan put it, as though it were a struggling indie film, “every dollar counts. Every little bit adds up to a lot.”
Of course, Disney’s bottom line is just fine, and everyone involved has still walked away that little bit wealthier, given Fire and Ash is among the highest-grossing movies ever put to screen. It’s just not as lucrative as the last two chapters.
“Sorry, but a multi-billion dollar media franchise does not need help from us,” one of the top replies said. “Oh, we have so lost the plot,” another comment added.
Clearly, not everyone is onboard with the idea, but the post certainly gained traction in the Avatar community, and others have been offering to pay for tickets for those yet to go see it for themselves at least once.
Whether it’ll have any tangible impact by the time the final box office sum is calculated, who’s to say? But it’s evident fans are incredibly eager to see the tale play out in full on the big screen, not merely through a press conference as Cameron has suggested.
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