Disney’s overall theatrical outlook for 2024 doesn’t seem to have that many big draws aside from Deadpool 3 and possibly Inside Out 2. After the past two years of delivering underwhelming content that either underperforms or outright loses money the company is desperate for a hit. But one thing that could have been a guarantee to making money this year was delayed into the next year. That movie was the third Avatar film.
In mid-2023, it was announced that the upcoming Avatar sequels, which were originally meant to be released biennially starting with 2022’s Avatar: The Way of Water, would change course in terms of release with the currently unnamed Avatar 3 releasing in 2025 with Avatar 4 in 2029 and Avatar 5 in 2031.
The main reason given by the film’s producer Jon Landau, was that they wanted to focus more on quality over quantity and ensure the film is the best it can be before releasing it to the public. While an understandable statement, the filming of Avatar 3 was roughly 95% complete around the time Avatar: The Way of Water was released, with production on Avatar 4 already beginning. That is a post-production period of nearly two years, which seems rather long.
What’s even odder is that the announcement for the delays was made around the time of the 2023 Hollywood strikes, the same time multiple Hollywood companies announced delays for various projects. So, the delays for the Avatar sequels may have been related to the strikes. But even that seems odd since the strikes were mainly actor and writer-related, but Avatar 3 only had post-production to be done.
The evidence suggests that delays were a knee-jerk reaction to the strikes, as many shows and films had to be delayed. Disney most likely wanted to spread out their already finished and nearly finished work to compensate. But that doesn’t seem to be working out all that great. Had Avatar 3 kept its 2023 release, they would have almost guaranteed a large Holiday box office due to the track record of the first two films.
What do you think? Should Disney have kept Avatar 3 on track for a Christmas 2024 release or was it better to delay it and the other sequels?
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