Avatar isn’t done making its movies look even more realistic.
Avatar VFX supervisors Richard Baneham, Eric Saindon, and Daniel Barrett have revealed how Avatar 4 and Avatar 5 will be taking the visual elements of the franchise to even higher levels. One of the biggest strengths of the third movie was its visual effects, with reviews for Avatar: Fire and Ash emphasizing how true-to-life Pandora looked.
Speaking with The Hollywood Reporter, however, the core VFX supervisors for the franchise revealed plans to go beyond the current level of realism for future Avatar installments. They explained how, despite how “photorealistic” the latest movie looks, it only makes sense to try pushing that boundary even further. This means earning a level of detail far exceeding what’s been achieved thus far:
Richard Baneham: The quality of visual effects doesn’t stop developing, but it has hit a level of visual reality that is pretty damn close to photographic. The subject that we’re covering tends not to be real, and it’s hard in that respect, but I think there’s real room for improvement in the process and cleaning up the workflows. I also think [Avatar 4 and 5] have some real interesting challenges from a visual effects standpoint.
Daniel Barrett: The more you learn, the more you sort of learn the little things you don’t know. The detail that you’re chasing becomes smaller and smaller and smaller but in many ways becomes more and more important. So yeah, I think it can get better.
Eric Saindon: If we weren’t pushing for more, most of our artists would get really bored.
The effects of Avatar: Fire and Ash were a notable improvement over the previous two movies, which already touted extremely high-quality VFX for their respective time periods. And yet, given the level of ambition creator James Cameron and his crew have for the upcoming Avatar movies, it seems this quest for improvement is far from over.
As of writing, Avatar 4 is slated for release on December 21, 2029, while Avatar 5 will be coming to theaters December 19, 2031. This multi-year gap between the third and fourth installment will be the second-biggest of the franchise, the first being from 2009 to 2022 between the first and second. This offers ample time for technological improvements.
But there’s no guarantee either film will be happening. According to Cameron, Avatar: Fire and Ash‘s box office must be high enough to justify two more movies. So far, the film has the lowest theatrical gross of any in the franchise. So far, it’s earned $1.441 billion against a budget estimated to have exceeded $500 million.
Even with the uncertainty surrounding the franchise’s future, its VFX heads are determined to make the upcoming installments even better than what already exists. It’s unclear just how much money would be needed to push the boundaries even more, but, given their confident statements, the artistry will find a way to shine through no matter what.
Given how much Avatar has already elevated VFX on the big screen, the fourth and fifth movies will have a high bar to clear if they want to impress. But, with the possibility for more tweaks behind-the-scenes and additional resources afforded to the effects, the final two movies have a chance to blow everything that came before out of the water.
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