'Avatar: The Way of Water': Everything to know about James Cameron's sci-fi epic
'Avatar: The Way of Water' releases on December 16, 2022.
James Cameron's 'Avatar: The Way of Water' will release next month. The epic sequel to 2009's 'Avatar' brings moviegoers back to Pandora, the Earth-like habitable extrasolar moon from the Alpha Centauri System. The original is the highest-grossing movie of all time in terms of worldwide returns, and Cameron had more story to tell in the franchise -- thus a sequel was inevitable. We are getting at least three more sequels. There was a significant delay between the first and the second movie. 'The Way of Water' comes out after 13 years. Here's everything we need to know about the film:
Creative team
Cameron returns to direct 'The Way of Water'. He has also penned the screenplay with Rick Jaffa and Amanda Silver. The original film received praise for many things, buts its script, written solely by Cameron, was criticised for simplistic elements and themes. This presumably is why Cameron got Jaffa and Silver this time. There are few directors who can even come close to Cameron when it comes to big-screen spectacle so we can be sure the film will satisfy in terms of visuals at least.
The story and plot details are scarce right now. But we do know the film will continue the story of the Sully family (Jake, Neytiri, and their children) as they encounter new challenges and undergo fresh adventures. Cameron has challenged the fans of the franchise to guess the plot. While speaking to IGN, he said, "I guarantee you, you won’t be able to predict it. What people hate the most is to go and see a movie and say ‘oh… predictable.’ This is not predictable, I don’t think. I defy anybody to predict where this story goes.”
He added, “We follow [Jake and Neytiri] forward in time, 15 years to where they have a family of pre-teens and teenagers. More of a family dynamic. It’s not a Hallmark, Disney family dynamic. It’s a very dysfunctional family dynamic, but ultimately there’s a core there that they all draw their strength from. I think that’s the thing that’s fundamentally different from the first one.”
Cast
'Avatar: The Way of Water' brings back Sam Worthington, Zoe Saldaña, Stephen Lang, Joel David Moore, CCH Pounder, Giovanni Ribisi, Dileep Rao, and Matt Gerald from the first movie. Sigourney Weaver also returns, but in a different role. Kate Winslet, Cliff Curtis, Edie Falco, Jemaine Clement, Michelle Yeoh, Brendan Cowell, Oona Chaplin, CJ Jones, and Vin Diesel join the cast.
Runtime
The runtime of ‘Avatar: The Way of Water’ has reportedly been revealed, and it is pretty daunting. Sources told The Hollywood Reporter that James Cameron's return to the big screen and the sequel to his blockbuster 2009 film 'Avatar' will run for three hours and 10 minutes -- or 190 minutes. The original was also pretty intimidating at 162 minutes of runtime. This is not exactly unusual for Cameron, as his 1997 film 'Titanic' ran for 195 minutes. Also, long runtimes do not seem to affect box office returns of his movies, and he manages to hold the attention of the audiences for those huge runtimes.
Release
'Avatar: The Way of Water' releases on December 16, 2022.