Avatar 2’s marketing is now hilariously mocking fan criticisms with memes. The original Avatar was of course a massive hit when it came out in 2009, grossing a then-record $2.79 billion at the worldwide box office (a total that was surpassed just this year by Avengers: Endgame with $2.796 billion). But despite the film’s huge popularity when it came out, Avatar now finds itself an object of mockery more often than respect.
Why exactly Avatar has become a film people love to hate is hard to pin down, but displays of disdain for the movie are picking up again now that James Cameron is at work on his planned four sequels. Avatar haters naturally are wondering why the world even needs four more movies when it’s seemingly impossible to find anyone who will admit to liking the original film. Cameron himself just seems to love the world he created in the first movie, and plans on expanding that world into new realms for the sequels, including an underwater kingdom on Pandora, while continuing to explore many of the same environmental themes he introduced in the first movie.
Clearly, someone working on Avatar 2’s marketing campaign has been paying attention to prevailing fan complaints about the movies, as the film’s official Twitter account has now started firing back at folks using memes. See the social media hijinks in the space below:
The second exchange of course is a reference to one of the internet’s favorite Avatar-related issues, the movie’s infamous “Papyrus” font, which was famously mocked by Ryan Gosling on SNL (and wisely dropped for the sequels). The fact that both exchanges see the Avatar account coming back at fans, in a strictly good-natured way of course, at least makes it seem like people on Cameron’s team are keeping up with pop culture and are good sports. Of course, Cameron himself is not a man who is widely thought of as a good sport (just ask anyone who’s ever brought up the famous Titanic door controversy), so it’s unlikely he is in any way involved with such social media back-and-forth. At any rate, Cameron is far too busy not only producing his Avatar sequels but also getting set to roll out Terminator: Dark Fate.
It remains to be seen how eager fans will actually be to return to Pandora when Avatar 2 comes out, but for now, it seems the film has a lot of negative perception to overcome. At the end of the day, fun social media interaction with fans probably doesn’t do a whole lot to dispel such negativity, but it never hurts to engage as long as things don’t get testy. Of course, the biggest mistake of all would be to count out Cameron himself, after all the times he’s defied the odds and delivered huge hits when so many experts predicted he would crash and burn.
More: Every Upcoming Avatar Movie (2021-2027)
Source: Avatar/Twitter, Lincoln Michel/Twitter
- Avatar 2 Release Date: 2022-12-16 Avatar 3 Release Date: 2024-12-20 Avatar 4 Release Date: 2026-12-18 Avatar 5 Release Date: 2028-12-22