Franchise Fail: Cameron’s ‘Avatar’ Can’t Move Climate Change Needle

Thee Climate Change movement has taken some direct hits of late.

Activist Greta Thunberg ditched the environment for all things Gaza. Bill Gates, after years of warning the end is nigh, pumped the brakes on Global Warming doom and gloom.

Climate Change had little impact on the 2024 presidential election race, coming up short on the issues voters cared about the most. Otherwise, we’d have our first female president.

Something similar is happening to our North.

California Gov. Gavin Newsom blamed Climate Change for this year’s horrific fires until we learned of the suspect who allegedly created the catastrophe in the first place.

Enter James Cameron.

The Oscar-winner has dedicated more than a decade to a film franchise promoting a healthier environment.

The “Avatar” saga is one long, extended hug for Mother Earth. The environment is near and dear to Cameron’s heart. He’s spoken tirelessly against Climate Change, embraced a vegan lifestyle and hoped the public wouldn’t hold his eco-hypocrisy against him.

It’s why he has spent so many years, and endless Hollywood resources, warning us to heed his Climate Change worries.

No regrets. At least, not yet.

“I’ve justified making ‘Avatar’ movies to myself for the last 20 years, not based on how much money we made, but on the basis that hopefully it can do some good. It can help connect us. It can help connect us to our lost aspect of ourself that connects with nature and respects nature and all those things. … Do I think that movies are the answer to our human problems? No, I think they’re limited because people sometimes just want entertainment and they don’t want to be challenged in that way. I think ‘Avatar’ is a Trojan horse strategy that gets you into a piece of entertainment, but then works on your brain and your heart a little bit in a way.”

That strategy isn’t working, apparently.

“Climate Justice” may become tomorrow’s “Climate Change” movement. For now, the Climate Change cause is struggling to stay relevant.

Al Gore’s breakthrough film, “An Inconvenient Truth,” came out a long 19 years ago.

How could “Avatar,” a movie franchise that has earned north of $5 billion internationally, not move the needle on the issue? Just ask The Critical Drinker.

The cranky critic shared a video essay exploring the “Avatar” franchise’s cultural vacuum. Yes, the movies make millions. The next film in the saga, the Dec. 19 release “Avatar: Fire and Ash,” will be a blockbuster.

Zero doubt.

Yet the saga has no discernible footprint, culturally speaking. We don’t dress up like Jake Sully for Halloween. Comic-Con conventions lack passionate debates about the franchise. We watch the movies and then, minutes later, forget about them.

It’s fascinating. And, chances are, it’ll happen again come Dec. 19. Cameron’s enviro-saga hasn’t changed hearts and minds despite his best efforts.

And, at this rate, it never will.