Now, as Avatar: The Way of Water is making waves in theaters, director James Cameron has coined a new phrase called the Stranger Things Effect. Speaking to Entertainment Weekly, the filmmaker claimed that certain footage for Avatar 3 and Avatar 4 was shot alongside the second Avatar film to avoid the inevitable growing up and signs of aging for the child actors. The multi-year project had to be covered in a single production, “Otherwise you get – and I love Stranger Things – but you get the Stranger Things effect where they’re supposed to be in high school [but] They look like they’re 27,” Cameron said.
While it was easy for leads Sam Worthington and Zoe Saldana slipping into their roles at any time has never stopped the growth spurts of the child actors. Jack Championwho plays Miles “Spider” Socorro, the human adoptee of Jake Sully and Neytiri, was 14 at the time Avatar: The Way of Water started filming. “We shot with Jack when he was 14 and 15, almost to 16. So we shot him over an 18 month period.” Cameron told EW. The actor is now an adult, he turned 18 in November. The production alternated continuously between filming scenes for The way of the waterthe totality avatar 3and trade one of avatar 4.
Sure, performance tracking could become a recurring star Sigourney Weaver into a teenager, Kiri, but there are limitations in capturing the performance of VFX. Trinity Jo-Li Bliss plays Tukt, Jake and Neytiri’s youngest child, and has been cast avatar 2 when she was about seven years old. She is now 13. Likewise Bailey Bass, 19, who played the Metkayina clan’s Tsireya on the coast, was about 12 when she auditioned for the sequel. While not as pronounced, the effects of aging are definitely being felt on Netflix stranger things, where the voices of the male leads deepened with each season. Wanting to avoid that, Cameron built on the Pandora arc as quickly as possible, leaving out a few unanswered questions at the end of each entry. “You can call it sequel bait, but I’m not trying to justify a sequel,” Cameron said in the interview. “We already shot the other d–n film. I don’t have to sell it to anyone.”
Speak with diversity Earlier this year, Avatar: The Way of Water became a producer Jon Landau briefly touched on the filming process for the franchise’s sequels, noting that there were “logistical reasons” for the moves they took. And now we know why – to the “stranger things Effect”. Cameron also made bold claims about his avatar universe and declared that he was even ready to do so Complete the franchise with a trilogy if Avatar 2 underperforms.
In its first week, Avatar: The Way of Water has now surpassed that 600 million dollars (approx. Rs. 5,052 crore) mark at the worldwide box office. While the production budget wasn’t specifically mentioned, Cameron recommended that the film “must become the third or fourth highest-grossing film in history to break even.”
The idea of making three films in a row never seemed daunting to Saldaña, at least not from a plot and thematic point of view. “We read through everything, we discussed at length where we stood, we defined the beats that made us different [Avatar] 2 out of 3,” she told EW. “From my point of view, I never felt like it was awkward or anything, but that just has to do with the time we’ve been preparing for it. Jim makes you a part of the whole process and listens to you. Any need you have, he pays great attention to that detail and tries his best to absorb and integrate your input.”
Avatar: The Way of Water is now showing in Indian cinemas in English, Hindi, Kannada, Malayalam, Tamil and Telugu. Avatar 3 is scheduled to be released in December 2024followed by Avatar 4 in December 2026.
