Disney Forced Into Massive Delays With Its Blockbuster Franchise

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The iconic entrance gate, featuring the stylized logo of the Walt Disney Company with a Mickey Mouse silhouette, is set against a clear blue sky.

Credit: Disney

The Walt Disney Company is home to many exciting intellectual properties that are beloved by fans.

Walt Disney World Resort, Disneyland Resort, Disneyland Paris, and many other Disney Parks & Resorts are located all across the world, but those aren’t the only offerings that the company offers its fans. Walt Disney Animation, Disney Pixar, Lucasfilms– which includes properties like Star Wars and Indiana Jones–, Disney+, and 20th Century Studios are just some of the properties that Disney also owns and produces many movies and exclusive streaming series each and every year.

mickey mouse in front of cinderella castle
Credit: Disney

One of the most popular blockbusters that Disney fans have been waiting to see for quite some time is none other than Avatar 2: The Way of Water.

The film, which was released earlier this month, has surpassed $850 million at the box office world wide, garnering more than $90 million in the U.S. over the Holiday weekend, and is expected to top $1 billion.

However, the sequel didn’t come without its fair share of delays.

Kiri (Sigourney Weaver) in 'Avatar: The Way of Water' (2022). Credit: Disney
Credit: 2oth Century Studios

Producer Jon Landau recently shared in a panel that there was “no way” the film could have been done five years ago because of the time it took the creative team to produce what he called “the ultimate cinematic experience.”

“I think that what we’re able to present up on the screen today, we couldn’t have done five years ago[…] It took this time to create what I believe is currently the ultimate cinematic experience,” he said. “Why did it take the time? First, Jim took two years to dive [into] the Mariana trench after the last sequels. Then he came back and spent a year writing 1500 pages of story notes.”

Jake Sully (Sam Worthington) and his son in Avatar: The Way of Water
Credit: 20th Century Studios

Director James Cameron has also spoken on the delays that the sequel faced in production, and there has been no guarantee from Cameron or the creative team around Avatar that these delays won’t be faced, at least in some capacity, when attempting to make Avatar 3, Avatar 4, and Avatar 5 in the future.

Avatar: The Way of Water (2022) was released in theaters last weekend. The long-awaited sequel allows fans to revisit Pandora, which they’ve only been able to do through Disney’s Animal Kingdom for the last six years. Sam Worthington’s first adventure as Jake Sully ended with him joining the Na’vi with Zoe Saldana’s Neytiri, the local aliens on Pandora.

What do you think of these delays that Avatar faced and may continue to face in the future? Let us know in the comments!

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