The Avatar franchise solely consists of two launched films as of the writing of this text, however it’s nonetheless the Walt Disney Company’s most necessary property for the foreseeable future. The first epic science fiction movie, directed and written by James Cameron, premiered in 2009, breaking quite a few data and receiving widespread constructive opinions. During its theatrical run, Avatar turned the highest-grossing film of all time (a place it held for nearly ten years earlier than Avengers: Endgame overtook it, however Avatar later reclaimed its title with re-releases in 2021). The sequel, Avatar: The Way of Water, premiered in 2022 and skilled related success to its predecessor, changing into the third-highest-grossing movie ever.
Back in 2009, Disney didn’t personal the rights to Avatar, which was distributed by twentieth Century Fox. However, when Disney purchased twenty first Century Fox, it acquired all its key property, together with twentieth Century Fox movie and tv studios and its properties. So, as of March 2019, Disney owns the Avatar franchise, which is able to probably repay for the corporate in the long term. While most of Disney’s different (beforehand wildly profitable) franchises are heading in a downward pattern, the world of Pandora is simply getting stronger.
When Disney bought Fox in 2019, two of the largest takeaways had been that the corporate now holds the rights to the X-Men (that means they will be a part of the Marvel Cinematic Universe) and the Avatar movie collection. Many claimed that buying Avatar was an enormous win for Disney, however on the time, solely the primary film had been launched, which was, in fact, the highest-grossing movie ever, however it was nonetheless just one entity. It had been ten years since Avatar premiered, and some doubted that the sequels might obtain the identical success as the primary film due to the lengthy interval between them. However, Avatar: The Way of Water proved the skeptics fallacious.
Thirteen years following the discharge of Avatar, the second movie premiered, and audiences got here out in droves to see it in theaters. Although it had been a few years because the first installment debuted and the COVID-19 pandemic had given individuals much less incentive to go to the cinema, Avatar: The Way of Water obtained constructive opinions and was a powerful triumph on the field workplace. It earned $2.32 billion, making it the third-highest-grossing film of all time. The sequel’s efficiency on the field workplace licensed the Avatar franchise’s rightful place as Disney’s most necessary asset and one which it ought to closely give attention to going ahead.
Although the Avatar movie collection’ success can converse for itself when discussing Disney’s most necessary franchise, it is usually important to think about the corporate’s struggling properties. Disney owns Marvel Studios and Lucasfilm, that means it holds the rights to the Marvel Cinematic Universe and the Star Wars franchise. Once upon a time, just some years in the past, the MCU and Star Wars had been the largest media collections within the United States. However, following the premieres of Avengers: Endgame and Star Wars: The Rise of Skywalker in 2019, each franchises have struggled to take care of their success.
One might blame COVID-19 for the MCU and Star Wars‘ failures, but Avatar: The Way of Water proved that film series can succeed in the 2020s. Marvel has continuously fallen short of what many expected following the Infinity Saga’s finish. Out of the ten films that Marvel has launched following Spider-Man: Far From Home, just one surpassed $1 billion on the field workplace — Spider-Man: No Way Home (and it isn’t exhausting to see why it was a triumph). A handful of others (like Doctor Strange within the Multiverse of Madness and Black Panther: Wakanda Forever) have gotten shut. Still, total, the Multiverse Saga has been a disappointment.
Meanwhile, the way forward for Star Wars movies is a query mark. Disney claims three films are in growth, together with a New Jedi Order movie, a Dawn of the Jedi story, and a New Republic mission. Additionally, quite a few different films have been rumored in recent times. However, not a lot is thought about these initiatives and what the Star Wars franchise (on the large display screen) will appear like following The Rise of Skywalker. Thankfully, Disney has the Avatar movie collection to fall again on.
Whereas the Star Wars franchise seemingly has no upcoming films which have made quite a lot of progress in manufacturing, the Avatar movie collection consists of many sequels which might be both accomplished, being filmed, or within the pre-production course of. Star Wars has loads of deliberate future films, however they aren’t almost as developed as Avatar‘s upcoming film slate. As for the MCU, Marvel has numerous projects in development, but they are likely being reworked as the studio deals with the firing of Jonathan Majors and the need to revisit their plans for the Multiverse Saga, given its past failures. So, Avatar is evidently Disney’s most dependable (and necessary) franchise.
Avatar 3 is completed with principal pictures and is at the moment within the phases of post-production as Disney prepares for a 2025 launch date. Some Avatar 4 scenes had been filmed through the manufacturing of the third movie, and the forged and crew are within the midst of capturing extra sequences from the fourth installment’s script. Lastly, Avatar 5 is within the pre-production course of. James Cameron seemingly runs a good ship, that means that Disney can rely on his movie collection to succeed, whereas its different franchises are extra unreliable as of late.
