“I would put a shotgun in my mouth”: James Cameron would Rather Die than Release a 9-Hour Version of the Avatar Franchise
Most cinema buffs are aware of James Cameron and his genre-defining work in the industry. The stellar filmmaker envisions extraordinary worlds that transport viewers into another realm altogether. From The Terminator to the Avatar franchises, Cameron believes in making movies that challenge the concepts of mundane reality. For this, viewers need time to familiarize themselves with the theme and know more about the fantastical world.
Rumored 9-Hour Version of Avatar
Since the news of fans getting more sequels in the Avatar franchise spread, people have been excited to see the story continue. Being an ambitious filmmaker, James Cameron shoots hours of footage to select what works best during post-production. He plays around with different ideas and concepts to later determine what to add. In this respect, fans were led to believe that there are longer versions of the movies where they can get a better insight into the world of Na’vi warriors.
During an interview with Temple of Geek at the Saturn Awards, Cameron shut down rumors of the third movie being nine hours long. He clarified that the footage is for more upcoming movies and not just for the third chapter. The franchise is said to be at least 5 movies long, with ideas for more iterations already in Cameron’s mind. He said,
“By the way, can I just shoot something down right now that has been propagated? There is no nine-hour rough cut [of Avatar 3] … I would put a shotgun in my mouth if I ever did a nine-hour rough cut. No, what I said was it’s nine hours of material, meaning Avatar 3, Avatar 4, and Avatar 5 — that’s, you know, three hours a movie. Somehow that turned into a nine-hour — can you imagine?”
The rumor claimed that the nine-hour cut of the Avatar footage will be released as a series on Disney+. It will be an extension of the movies and dive deeper into the fictional world. However, as Cameron clarified, this is not happening. Similar to DC releasing Zack Snyder’s version of Justice League to include more intricate scenes, fans hoped this would be the case for Cameron’s widely acclaimed Avatar franchise as well.
When is Avatar 3 Releasing?
The third chapter in the Avatar saga is believed to be hitting the big screens in December next year. As per Cameron’s claims, the movie might be close to three hours long, which is still lengthy compared to other more concise films of today that are about 90 minutes long. Nonetheless, Cameron makes the Avatar movies out of sheer love for the concept of it and the stories that keep coming to him. The success of the movies is a wonderful by-product.
Not just Cameron, but the entire cast and crew of the project support the idea of making as many films as they can as everyone is extremely passionate about the movies. The filmmaker has big plans for the franchise, which are similar to wide-ranging past franchises like Star Trek and Star Wars. The fourth and fifth chapters of Avatar are said to follow in 2029 and 2031.
Movies Avatar and Avatar: The Way of Water are streaming on Disney+ and Apple TV+.
