D.Silentu
Well-Known Member
Well, the conversational carousel is about to come full circle! Cameron just made comments regarding his commitment to Avatar, stating there are other movies he wants to make before retirement.
-
The new WDWMAGIC iOS app is here!
Stay up to date with the latest Disney news, photos, and discussions right from your iPhone. The app is free to download and gives you quick access to news articles, forums, photo galleries, park hours, weather and Lightning Lane pricing. Learn More -
Welcome to the WDWMAGIC.COM Forums!
Please take a look around, and feel free to sign up and join the community.
News Avatar Experience coming to Disneyland Resort
- Thread starter DCBaker
- Start date
GravityFalls
Active Member
Today's earnings call, right? But not properly since 2024/5?
It's still onthe Upcoming Experiences page though and mentions "drawing inspiration from Avatar: The Way of Water and Avatar: Fire and Ash " so both films now
New & Upcoming Disney Experiences Expansions, Attractions, & More | Disney Experiences
Across every Disney theme park resort worldwide, groundbreaking attractions and lands are taking shape — along with plans to double our cruise fleet, and more.disneyexperiences.com
Can’t speak for everyone but my speculation predated (inspired) Shulls video
Continuously? When was the last time they mentioned the Avatar project?
Eight months ago they mentioned and showed off the Ilu animatronic in a behind the scenes Imagineering video
mickEblu
Well-Known Member
Today's earnings call, right? But not properly since 2024/5?
It's still onthe Upcoming Experiences page though and mentions "drawing inspiration from Avatar: The Way of Water and Avatar: Fire and Ash " so both films now
New & Upcoming Disney Experiences Expansions, Attractions, & More | Disney Experiences
Across every Disney theme park resort worldwide, groundbreaking attractions and lands are taking shape — along with plans to double our cruise fleet, and more.
Yeah I meant Aside from today.
GravityFalls
Active Member
Cameron isn't a reliable source, lol.
A few years ago he implied that "Ghosts of Hiroshima" is his next movie, then later admitted he was manipulating headlines to help his friend out.
“I have ten other projects; that one just sort of hit the headlines because of the book announcement and trying to push the book to a bestseller because the author is a friend of mine,” Cameron tells The Town’s Matt Belloni.
“Doesn’t mean I’m not going to make the film, but I haven’t written the script and it’s not slated right now, and I don’t even have a distribution partner on it. So it’s pretty much a vaporware project right now. I’ve got a couple of other projects that I’ve purchased or optioned or written.”
Disney Irish
Premium Member
6 months ago in February 2026 when Mazloum confirmed that Monsters delayed closure wouldn't affect Avatars timeline.
mickEblu
Well-Known Member
That counts as continuously? It also doesn’t necessarily mean it couldn’t be moved to another location at the resort.
Disney Irish
Premium Member
As I'm not the one who said it so I can't comment on their use of it. But I would say "continuously" in Disney terms, as they usually slow drip out updates. So any project that is mentioned as much as Avatar is when there has been no actual start to construction I would say counts as "continuously".
I give that a very slim possibility at this point. If that was even a possibility at this point I wouldn't have expected Mazloum to have made a statement about Monsters delayed closure not affecting the timeline.
So that is more wishful thinking than anything.
Disney Irish
Premium Member
That sounds more like a tactic to try to get Disney to move on making decisions behind the scenes. Avatar is Cameron's passion project, he isn't giving up on it if he can help it.
mickEblu
Well-Known Member
Hmmm did they actually talk about Avatar on the call or did they just throw up an outdated slide? It’s not like they haven’t made some bizarre oversights and mistakes in the last few years.
DrStarlander
Well-Known Member
At DCA I guess Cars Land, a bug's land, and Hollywood Land. But generically speaking, the internet seems to think Disney has regularly, if not consistently, used the term to describe the areas of the park in its marketing communications. But I don't think the use of the word "land" in the official name means much, we all know New Orleans Square and Bear/Critter/Bayou Country, Toon Town, and SWGE among others are "lands." We now Villains Land will be a land regardless what ten-word name with colons they give it.
But I agree with the point you are making about marketing and why different words other than land would be used, particularly to sound more innovative and modern or convey some other quality.
Personally, when I heard Avatar was going to be an "experience" I saw it in glass-half-empty terms. That's because I wasn't excited about the IP and Disney has a long history of short-changing efforts at DCA. So my interpretation was "oh great, not even a land."
But the more I think about it, I think the word "experience" is what makes sense when something defies or spans categories. A restaurant is a restaurant, a show is a show, a restaurant that includes a show while you eat is an experience. And it got me thinking: is it possible that having seen Rise that James Cameron said "yes, let's do another park project but it has to be the new best thing Disney has ever done." If it was going to be innovative and multi-phased, would they have described it as an "attraction" or the area as a "land"? I think both words would have sold it short if the experience was truly special. If it was really something remarkable the word experience makes sense. That's my glass-half-full interpretation. I have no expectations, just some thoughts. But, yes, trying to discern meaning in Disney's statements and actions is bound to hurt the brain.
mickEblu
Well-Known Member
Were they calling Rise an “experience” during development or is that just something we started saying after it opened?
Disney Irish
Premium Member
I could be wrong, but this is the first time they have used this particular slide. So that would be really unusual if created a slide for the Earnings Call and it have wrong or outdated information about upcoming projects.
As for any mention during the earnings call, no there was no direct mention of Avatar. However to be fair they didn't mention any current or future Parks project on the call. So its not like they specifically didn't talk about this one, they didn't talk about any of them. So I wouldn't read too much into that.
However I do expect an update at D23, and that will hopefully finally put all of this to rest.
mickEblu
Well-Known Member
Oh ok thanks for clarifying. I had assumed earlier that there was maybe some mention of it.
DrStarlander
Well-Known Member
Looking back they used the word "experience" for Rise, as well as attraction, but they also use the word experience for all sorts of attractions.
I still think it could possibly suggest this is more than a straightforward attraction, but that could just be me moving into a new phase of grief.
mickEblu
Well-Known Member
Looking back they used the word "experience" for Rise, as well as attraction, but they also use the word experience for all sorts of attractions.
Maybe. It’s not impossible. But I’d put my money on it being for the reason I suggested earlier.
I do think “experience” is a fitting term for Rise. Would something like that make the Avatar attraction feel unique to you. Or no because we already have Rise?
D.Silentu
Well-Known Member
As far as I can tell his comments are fresh. Whether they amount to anything or not, they will surely give the anti-Avatar crowd a shot of adrenaline.
mickEblu
Well-Known Member
Hahah right. I was asking if the talked about Avatar on the quarterly earnings call though. Which Irish has since answered.
DrStarlander
Well-Known Member
I'd respect Rise-level ambition employed with a different theme/IP. But it wouldn't feel unique if it was quite similar to Rise. Though it would still deserve the word "experience" in the way I think the word is most meaningful.
Disney Vault
Well-Known Member
I always figured they said experience instead of land because it will be a sub land of Hollywood land. Its the only way the location and transition will make sense.
Disney Irish
Premium Member
Well I looked into this further, this appears to be from an IGN article, where they take a lot of liberties with what Cameron has said and conflate much of it. Cameron's actual comments that all this was based on is from his Canadian Lifetime Achievement Award interview indicates that he actually isn't done with Avatar, yes he has other stories he wants to tell but his comments on Avatar is specifically "that is not even a story that is finished yet". The only question is if he will write and/or direct them himself versus letting others do some of those roles. So that doesn't sound like he is done with Avatar, or that 4 and 5 are at risk of not being finished. It should also be noted that the scripts for 4 and 5 are already handed into Disney, and some of 4 has already been shot, so there is that too.
Here is the actual interview -