James Cameron’s next film is already breaking records, and it hasn’t even come out yet. The first trailer for Cameron’s highly anticipatedAvatar: The Way Of The Waterpremiered online on May 9th after playing exclusively in theaters beforeDoctor Strange In The Multiverse Of Madness.
Avatar: The Way Of The Waterfollows returning protagonist Jake Sully (Sam Worthington), who along with Na’vi Neytiri (Zoe Saldaña), will go to great lengths to keep their family safe. Other returning cast members include actress Sigourney Weaver as Dr. Grace Augustine and Stephen Lang as Colonel Miles Quaritch, and other big-name newcomers include theFast Saga’s Vin Dieseland Kate Winslet.
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The Hollywood Reporter notes that within the first 24-hours, the short teaser forAvatar: The Way Of The Waterracked up over 148-million views online, which is more than the trailers for all therecentStar Warsfilms, includingStar Wars: The Rise of Skywalker, whichalso played exclusively in theaters before premiering online. This number doesn’t even include all the audiences across the globe who are seeing theAvatar 2trailer on the big screen beforeDoctor Strange in the Multiverse of Madness, which opened to an enormous $187 million domestically and nearly $450 million overseas.
The firstAvatarfilm was released in 2009 and remains the top-grossing film of all time, with $2.84 billion in worldwide box-office earnings. The film even beat records previously held by Cameron’s 1997 historical epic,Titanic.The firstAvatarremained the highest-grossing film worldwide for nearly a decade until it was overtaken byAvengers: Endgamein 2019, before a 2021 Chinese re-release sawAvatarclimb back to number one. The originalAvatarwill be re-released in theatres on September 23rd with restored pictures and sound before the sequel’s December release.
Despite being released nearly 13-years after the original film,Avatar: The Way Of The Wateris clearly generating a lot of hype. Fans have been sharing clips on social media, awestruck by the impressive visual effects of the new film. While the originalAvataris sometimes considered overrated by some film lovers, it’s undeniably an impressive technical achievement. As a filmmaker, Cameron is known for pushing the boundaries of new cinematic technology in films such asTitanicandThe Terminatorfranchise. However, with four massiveAvatarsequels in the works, he may be preoccupied with a single franchise for the next few decades.
Avatar: The Way of Waterwill premiere in theatres on December 16th, 2022.
