As ‘Avatar: Fire and Ash:’ ends its time in theaters, fans can’t help but notice how the movie no longer holds the same magic it had when the franchise started in 2009.
Reviews are not promising, citing reasons such as the movie seems less alien-like, the plotlines are uncomfortable and the movie is long and uneventful.
The Avatar franchise opened with an intense reaction from viewers, breaking box office numbers and becoming the first movie to claim the title of the highest grossing film to date. The second one followed close behind showing similar success with both surpassing $2 million in revenue.
However, as the third installation wraps up in movie theaters, there appears to be a drastic decrease in how the movie has performed compared to its predecessors. Even with the film being a commercial success, the box office seems disappointed with its predicted outcomes not being met. The movie is expected to gross $1.414 billion at the end of its seventh week in theaters; this amount is only slightly more than half of its previous counterparts.
Such a relatively poor reception is due to a number of reasons.
Audiences find the story lacking and complain that what was once an engaging story seems to be continuously rehashed and thrown back in their faces. Fans don’t believe the movie is worth the watch if the plot stays stagnant.
The only thing that appears to be changing is the increase in age gap between love interests.
Kiri, who is Grace’s clone from the first movie and the adopted daughter of Jake and Neytiri, is forced to fall in love with her friend and adopted brother, Spider. The plot twist? Kiri is played by a 76-year-old woman. She even had to have a stunt double in order for her character to kiss the 21-year-old actor playing Spider.
Although fans received this unexpected pairing, it’s not the one they wanted. The once blossoming love story of Jake and Neytiri that developed all throughout the first Avatar has dwindled to nothing with multiple scenes showing their love for each other being cut out to save on movie length. Fans find it disheartening that the two now seem to fight more than they have time for each other.
James Cameron, the franchise’s creative director, has no intention of ending Avatar anytime soon, but it begs the question of how long it will be until viewers stop watching. With the revenue decreasing throughout the franchise’s run and the insane expenses of shooting the movies combined, it seems that the Avatar franchise may have large difficulties in the future. Cameron must come up with a more cost-efficient way to produce the movies or the franchise may have to end sooner than he would hope.
