Avatar

James Cameron's Avatar is less a story franchise than a technology mission with a plot attached. The 2009 original rebuilt 3D and performance capture around the moon Pandora and the blue Na'vi, and "The Way of Water" pushed the same obsession underwater, refining the rendering of liquid and motion to a degree few studios attempt. "Fire and Ash" continues the planned run, with "Avatar 4" and "Avatar 5" already mapped out.

The surrounding making-of pieces ("Creating the World of Pandora," "Capturing Avatar," "Fire and Water") double as the franchise's real thesis, documenting the engineering as carefully as the narrative. Whatever you make of the eco-fable storytelling, the craft is the point, and these films keep moving the visual-effects bar that the rest of the industry then chases.

The Avatar franchise spans 1 series, 8 films in the CrossBinge catalog.