There is a precise moment, in the great contemporary sagas, in which the story stops belonging only to the screen and begins to live in a more fragile space: that of hypotheses, promises, “ifs”. Avatar it arrived exactly there. Not because a vision is missing, but because for the first time that vision is told as something that may not be completely fulfilled. While Avatar – Fire and Ash is still in theaters and continues its run at the global box office, James Cameron began talking about the future of the saga in unusually cautious terms. There isn’t the emphasis of the announcement, there isn’t the granite confidence that accompanied the previous chapters. Rather, there is a new awareness: Avatar it is no longer a project that proceeds by inertia. Every film must earn the right to exist.
Cameron he doesn’t hide it. In fact, he says it openly. But it does so by carefully choosing what to show and what not. Because, and this is the whole point, the plot of Avatar 4 it already exists, it has been thought out, structured, integrated into a broader plan. Yet it will not be told. At least not now. During his recent statements to Entertainment Weeklythe director has implied that the story of the next chapters is not something to be anticipated, explained or used as promotional leverage. Avatar it is not a saga that thrives on verbal cliffhangers or narrative teasers. It is a world that, however Cameronit only makes sense if it can be experienced the way it was intended: at the cinema, as an immersive and total experience.
It is only later, entering into the merits of the future of the franchise, that the phrase destined to cause discussion arrives. “I don’t know if the saga will go beyond this point,” he admitted Cameron. “I hope so. But every time we go out we demonstrate economic sustainability…”.
And this is where the perspective changes.
Because Cameron immediately adds: “If for any reason we can’t get 4 and 5 done, I’ll hold a press conference and tell you what we intended to do. What do you think?” The plot of Avatar 4therefore, will only be revealed under a specific condition: if the film is never made. Not before. Not in part. Not in the form of a preview. Only in case the story can no longer become cinema. It’s a choice that says much more than it seems. In an industry that tends to transform every idea into ancillary content, Cameron it does the opposite: it protects the texture from premature consumption. Consider it an experience, not information. Telling it without images, without staging, without the context for which it was designed, would mean emptying it.
The production context remains in the background, but it is impossible to ignore it completely. Fire and Ash is getting solid results, but Avatar it is a franchise with enormous costs, requiring ongoing sustainability to justify long-term planning. Cameron he knows it and doesn’t deny it. But instead of using the plot as collateral or as a weapon of reassurance, he chooses to do the opposite: he keeps it closed, as something that will only be delivered if the journey were to be interrupted. The same approach emerges when he talks about the possible expansion of the narrative universe. “There’s so much culture and backstory and secondary details to these characters that have been developed,” he explained. “I’d love to do something that gets to that level of minute detail. But there’s no business model for that anymore. People don’t read. However, it might be useful to have a canonical documentation of everything that was supposed to be.”
Here too, no easy promises. Just the idea that, if cinema can no longer contain everything, then it will be necessary to leave a trace. Not to expand the brand, but to close it with coherence. Avatar 4 it remains set, at least officially, for 2029. But more important than the date is the condition posed by its author. The story will only be told if it can no longer be shown. It is a rare position, almost against the grain, which should be read as a declaration of poetics even before a strategy.
