James Cameron Has Responded To The (Silly) Criticism That ‘Avatar’ Has No ‘Cultural Impact’

A common criticism of Avatar in the 13 years since it came out is that it left no cultural impact, even though it’s the highest-grossing movie of all-time, and there’s Pandora: The World of Avatar at Disney World, to say nothing of the famously dedicated fans. And yet, the debate rages on. James Cameron is aware of the discourse — but he wants everyone to hold their judgement until after Avatar: The Way of Water comes out.

“There’s skepticism in the marketplace around, ‘Oh, did it ever make any real cultural impact’ Can anybody even remember the characters’ names’” Mr. Get the F*ck Out of My Office told the Hollywood Reporter. Jake and Neytiri are no Luke and Leia, but Cameron makes the point that Avatar is only one movie into the franchise; A New Hope, The Empire Strikes Back, and Return of the Jedi were all released between 1977 and 1983, or less than half the time between Avatar and Avatar: The Way of Water.

“When you have extraordinary success, you come back within the next three years. That’s just how the industry works. You come back to the well, and you build that cultural impact over time. Marvel had maybe 26 movies to build out a universe, with the characters cross-pollinating,” he continued (that’s the nicest thing he’s ever said about the MCU). “So it’s an irrelevant argument. We’ll see what happens after this film.”

Avatar: The Way of Water opens on December 16. Do not be the guy who says “that left no cultural impact” right as you leave the theater.