"Stephen Lang Wept After Reading Avatar 5 Script"

Copied and pasted this headline because there is something surreal about it

I think at this point, if you follow movie news, it's clear that Cameron is actually going to deliver the giant franchise that he promised. Whether it'll be any good I have no idea. Personally, I can't imagine the sequels being less bland than the original, so I imagine that they will redeem it to some extent all these years later

The situation is still absurd and unprecedented in Hollywood history, though. This wasn't just some property that laid dormant for some years and was picked up in order to be milked for more money like Ghostbusters and Jumanji. Those movies are getting sequels on the basis of the current one's success

Avatar was a huge event, then its reputation soured somewhat over the years, and now it's coming back as, like, a Tolkien-esque epic. There are already have 4 finished scripts

Basically, we don't know what James Cameron's final legacy as a filmmaker will be because a large bulk of his filmography has been in development for almost 20 years. After Terminator, Aliens, T2, Titanic, and Avatar, he was already considered a massive figure in the industry

But with 4 new movies coming out over the next decade the narrative of his career might be very different than what it is now. If the sequels are mediocre then I think people will be disappointed that he became so obsessed with telling one gigantic mediocre story and say that he's washed. If they are excellent then I'd think he'd have to be regarded as a genius. If they're terrible then Avatar could become one of the most maligned franchises in film history and Cameron may go down as the biggest egomaniac in filmmaking history