Report: Disney Could Pivot Away From Avatar at California Adventure

Reports that future Avatar films may be in jeopardy are starting to ripple beyond the box office. According to Drew Taylor of TheWrap, uncertainty around the fourth and fifth installments could be impacting Disney’s plans for a Pandora-themed experience at Disney California Adventure.

Last year’s Avatar: Fire and Ash, the third installment in the Avatar series, underwhelmed at the box office, grossing $1.4 billion. It’s a massive number, just not by James Cameron standards. By comparison, the original Avatar cleared $2.9 billion nearly 17 years ago.

It’s also worth noting that Zootopia 2 outperformed Fire and Ash at the box office, pulling in over $1.8 billion. That’ll matter in a moment.

The revenue only tells part of the story. Sure, Disney would have preferred more people had watched in theaters (and more than once, like they did with the original), but that didn’t happen.

So Disney has to come at it from the other side by reining in production costs. If the remaining films do move forward, expect them to be shorter to reduce the number of visual effects shots. Fire and Ash’s 195-minute runtime reportedly required more than 3,000 of them. Shorter films would help control spending while still allowing Disney to charge the same per ticket.

Back to the parks, this doesn’t feel like an IP problem. Avatar moviegoer apathy doesn’t equate to theme park enjoyment. After all, Animal Kingdom’s Pandora is incredibly popular, even among those who’ve never seen the movies. Yes, Joe Rohde and his Imagineering team built something special in Florida, but the source material is strong. I have faith WDI would knock a Pandora-themed boat attraction out of the water.

So this may not be about fan interest. Like Cameron’s films, an Avatar attraction would be expensive to build and maintain. According to TheWrap, Disneyland’s operations team may prefer replacing DCA’s Hollywood Land with Shanghai Disneyland’s Zootopia: Hot Pursuit, instead. The trackless system is already in use on Mickey & Minnie’s Runaway Railway, and it avoids the added cost of a water treatment facility.

There’s also a thematic fit. Zootopia’s skyline fits California Adventure much more than Pandora would. The park’s myriad IPs are a far cry from the California-centric vibe it debuted with, but a Pandora world would be the most jarring of them all.

Whatever Disney decides to do in Disney California Adventure, we’ll likely hear more at D23: The Ultimate Disney Fan Event this August.