Avatar 2 – A long and costly endeavour

It’s taken 13 years for a sequel to James Cameron’s Avatar to arrive, thanks in part to needing to invent new technology to realise it

Avatar (2009)

There follows extended period for scriptwriting and development of new cameras and technology

Avatar: The Way of Water (2022)
Avatar 3 (2024) 
Avatar 4 (2026)
Avatar 5 (2028)

09 10 11 12 13 14 15 16 17 18 19 20 21 22 23 24 25 26 27 28 

Last two films subject to success of others

Sully rides Skimwing in scene from Avatar 2


SELECTION OF MOST EXPENSIVE MOVIES EVER MADE

Movie						Released 	Original 	Adjusted 
								budget ($m)	budget ($m) *
1 Pirates of the Caribbean: On Stranger Tides	2011		379		500
2 Avengers: Age of Ultron			2015		365		457
3 Pirates of the Caribbean: At World’s End	2007		300		430
4 Cleopatra					1963		44		429
5 Avengers: Endgame				2019		356		415
6 Avengers: Infinity War			2018		325		387
7 Avatar: The Way of Water			2022		375†		375
8 Spider-Man 3					2007		258		370
9 Titanic					1997		200		370
10 Justice League				2017		300 		362
16 Avatar					2009		237		327

Avatar is 16th most expensive movie ever made, but most successful movie in history, pulling in global box office gross earnings of $2,922,917,914


Note: Budget numbers for movies can be both difficult to find and unreliable. *Budgets adjusted for inflation using U.S. CPI inflation calculator. †The Hollywood Reporter states Avatar: The Way of Water has budget of $350m-$400m (averaged here to $375m). 

Pictures: © 20th Century Studios
Sources: Wikipedia, Box Office Mojo, U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics 
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