The year was 2009…
- Barack Obama was sworn into office as the 44th President of The United. States.
- Glee and Modern Family both aired their first episodes.
- Facebook launched the desktop browser game FarmVille in June. Within a year, the game had over 83 million monthly users.
- Michael Jackson, “The King of Pop,” dies after receiving an improper mix of sedatives given by his personal physician.
- Taylor Swift, the winner of the VMA’s “Best Female Video” award, is infamously interrupted by rapper Kanye West during her acceptance speech. “Yo, Taylor, I’m really happy for you, I’mma let you finish, but Beyoncé had one of the best videos of all time!”
- “Boom Boom Pow” and “I Got A Feeling” propelled The Black Eyed Peas to 26 weeks of chart-topping musical domination.
- Jersey Shore premiered on MTV, becoming the de facto headquarters for “Gym, tan, laundry.”
And we can’t forget to mention…
James Cameron’s “remake” of Pocahontas (some of you must remember the opinions at the time) debuts on December 18.
Just over one month later, the film became the highest-grossing movie in history.
Although Avengers: Endgame dethroned the reigning film in July 2019, a re-release in China in March 2021 re-established Avatar as the highest-grossing movie in history.
Let’s recap if you don’t remember (we can’t blame you; the film came out nearly 13 years ago).
A paraplegic marine named Jake Sully is sent to the planet Pandora on a mission to help the humans mine a valuable mineral called unobtanium. Jake soon learns that the Avatar Program, which allows him to control a Pandora Avatar, is part of a much larger scheme that could threaten the planet’s very existence. With the help of the planet’s indigenous people known as the Na’vi, Jake manages to stage a monumental cease-and-desist for his fellow human soldiers.
Long story short, his mind is transferred from his human body to his Na’vi Avatar body; he wins the short-term military conflict between the Na’vi and the humans and sends the survivors back to Earth.
So, with all of this mentioned, Cameron’s sequel, Avatar: The Way of Water, is being released in two days – December 16, 2022.
Variety has estimated that pre-ticket sales have already topped $38 million. Some reports have the film making upwards of $350 million internationally by this time next week.
While press reviews have been coming out, many agreeing that Avatar: The Way Of Water is even better than the original, we still pose the question: do movie-goers still care about the Avatar franchise?
Only time will tell.
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