Avatar: The Way of Water will finally arrive (on December 16), 13 years after the first movie ignited a box-office storm and prompted discussions of whether motion-capture-and-CGI-boosted performances should be Oscar eligible. This event will have followed several years of head-scratching reactions about why one of the reported sequel titles happens to be The Seed Bearer, but here we are. Cameron has long-promised that Avatar II will blow audiences away to the point where they will “sh*t yourself with your mouth wide open,” so that’s something to look forward to experiencing. In 3D, no less.
There’s more to anticipate with Cameron’s return to Pandora. The cast (which includes several lead returning members) stars Sam Worthington, Zoe Saldana, Sigourney Weaver, Stephen Lang, along with Kate Winslet, Jemaine Clement, Edie Falco, Cliff Curtis, Joel David Moore, and CCH Pounder. Also expect plenty of breath-holding action, given that Saldana competed with her fellow cast members in a relevant competition and only landed in third place after maintaining a five-minute stint. That’s nuts, but Kate Winslet actually bested Tom Cruise with her record. No thank you.
The movie promises more stunning visuals, which you can see in the below trailer.
Be warned that this film arrives with a reported runtime of over 3 hours. Audiences may grumble if this is an accurate factoid, given that the first movie remains the highest grossing movie in cinematic history. And as with the first film, characters will plop their consciousness into an Avatar, meaning that they’ll be maneuvering from within a Na’vi body. Here are more details via the film’s synopsis:
Set more than a decade after the events of the first film, Avatar: The Way of Water begins to tell the story of the Sully family (Jake, Neytiri, and their kids), the trouble that follows them, the lengths they go to keep each other safe, the battles they fight to stay alive, and the tragedies they endure.
Avatar: The Way Of Water arrives on December 16.