It is the mark of a top notch piece of art, writing or cinema that we can return to it time and time again and, more than mere enjoyment, find something new and capable of awakening a fresh sense of awe and inspiration within us.
In the overwhelming majority of cases, a movie’s ability to draw us back into it time and time again will be purely subjective. Our tastes differ wildly, and it would be almost impossible to pinpoint a single title which captures the hearts and minds of a significant majority.
Almost, but not impossible, for it appears that, with a rerelease in China in March of this year, director James Cameron has managed to reinstate Avatar’s epoch-making influence over millions of viewers. Read more below.
A Culture of Nostalgia
It is growingly increasingly commonplace for us to see resurgences of those trends, titles and cultural movements which, on reflection, changed the course of creative industries altogether. From fashion, which has long since eponymized what it means to embrace nostalgia, to pivotal game developers like GGPoker, whose success hinges on their ability to reinvent classic games in a way that is fit for discerning, twenty-first century audiences, to cinema, where remakes (most recently, for instance, Ben Wheatley’s Rebecca) positively abound.
In essence, trends are resurfacing with increasing regularity. And, while pop culture has always been flavoured (to varying degrees) by a hint of those trends and audience infatuations that came before it, it seems already as though the 2020s will be heavily influenced by a veritable medley of aesthetics, trends, worlds and characters that first took centre stage in decades (and eras) that came before.
What Happened?
The most notable consequence to come from Cameron re-releasing Avatar to Chinese theatre audiences is, of course, the fact that the movie has once again regained its once epoch-making position at the head of the leader boards.
Little over a month after its initial release back in 2009, the movie supplanted Titanic as the highest grossing film of all time. The award was followed by a long list of other, equally impressive accolades. It was also the fastest movie to gross $1 billion, followed by $1.5 billion, $2 billion, and then culminating in $2.5 billion within three months of its initial release to the international box office.
In 2019, the movie’s longstanding record was put to an end with the release of Avengers: Endgame, which grossed $2.797 billion, and maintained its position at the head of the leader boards until March of this year.
A Hint Toward Future Plans
The news could not come at a better time. For cinema, this signals a resurgence of interest following dwindling box office sales over the course of the past few years. The unrivalled creative use of special effects and world building has effectively recaptured audiences’ interests in the raw power of cinema, and the sheer scope of the genre.
For James Cameron, it puts him in a perfect position to finally continue drawing out the legacy of the initial film. It was recently revealed that Cameron is currently working on multiple sequels, at a projected cost of $1 billion – the first of which is billed for release at the tail end of next year.
Avatar’s release more than a decade ago signalled a significant stride forward for modern cinema. Showcasing the power of special effects that, until that point in time, remained untold to audiences around the world meant that Cameron created a film that would represent a seminal moment for cinema, and it is clear that the legacy made by this movie is only just beginning.
