The third film in the “Avatar” series, which will hit cinemas this month, is hoping to extend the success of one of the highest-grossing franchises in history with another environment-themed visual thriller.
“Avatar: Fire and Ash”, directed by James Cameron 16 years after he first enthralled fans with his blue-colored Na’vi people, will release in major markets from December 17 ahead of the holiday season.
The Mangkwan are led by Varang, played by Oona Chaplin, granddaughter of Charlie Chaplin.
She reveals a darker side of the Na’vi, until now portrayed as virtuous and living in total harmony with nature, in contrast to money-obsessed humans who are intent on looting their resources.
An ecological fable
Once again, the inhabitants of Pandora must resist the “sky people”, the humans of the Resources Development Administration, who are preparing a new offensive.
The RDA wants to hunt the Tulkuns, gigantic and sentient marine creatures, to extract amrita from their brains — a substance of immense commercial value.
The original “Avatar” story was written by Cameron in 1995 and “was very environmental in its messaging, much more nakedly so than the more subsequent stories,” said the director.
Cameron “really rips off the veil of any mystery about the way this corporation is going about killing” the Tulkuns, Weaver told the press conference.
She draws a parallel with our own world, where we “feel the emergency rising in our world because the ocean is really suffering, and we won’t be able to live without the ocean,” she added.
Artificial intelligence
Filming for the second and third “Avatar” films took place between 2017 and 2018 over 18 months, well before the rise of generative artificial intelligence.
Another two installments are in production to be released later this decade.
“I’m not negative about generative AI. I just wanted to point out we don’t use it on the ‘Avatar’ films. We don’t replace actors,” Cameron told U.S. website ComicBook.com.
The director has defended his “performance capture” technique, which he devised and which sees actors movements captured and then transferred on to the features of the Na’vi on screen.
