Most sci-fi franchises do well because they have such a large scope. They have such a large setting that the possibilities are seemingly endless, and the creators are able to expand exponentially.
Star Wars is all about Luke breaking out and exploring what’s beyond his home planet. The series starts in space and throughout the first movie they mention and visit multiple planets. This makes for a very open universe, making for many possibilities. There are innumerable storylines in the Star Wars universe; book series, cartoon series, etc.
Star Trek is entirely based on a voyage of exploration. The very first words on the show are “Space, the final frontier”. The mission of any and every crew is to “explore strange, new worlds”. This left the original series very open ended, an essential for TV. This was a huge help to the franchise because it allowed them to make 6 TV series and 11 movies, with more movies on the way.
The problem is that Avatar is smaller, it focused just on the planet of Pandora. Not that they can’t expand (because they will), but the more room to roam the better.
One of my favorite parts about science fiction movies that Avatar did well was to not overly explain the situation. Children of Men did this well also. There is a lot of interesting future technology; machines, computers, vehicles. But they don’t spend any time to explain or dwell on these advancements. The audience is forced to piece everything together, make the connections and find their own explanations. I love this in movies. It moves everything along, doesn’t slow the movie down to explain fictional scientific processes.
Avatar still has plenty of options with the storyline they have set up now. They can make prequel movies about Jake as a Marine. Perhaps he was injured in a great battle on Earth, or even on another alien planet. They can explore Pandora more, but that could be too similar to the original and end up feeling too recycled.
If it were me, I would have filmed a scene or added some lines to potentially make room for a sequel. Give the Colonel a line about how what Jake is doing on Pandora doesn’t stop humans on other planets. Have Parker mutter something about being able to harvest other planets when he is being marched away. Even though those seem a little cliché and cheesy, they allow for an obvious sequel.
There is no doubt that James Cameron and his crew will be making more Avatar movies, but they will need to really work hard on a solid storyline to take it from a single movie sensation to a potential franchise.
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