James Cameron's long-gestating Avatar sequel has finally got its title. As announced at the Las Vegas CinemaCon, Avatar 2 is officially named Avatar: The Way of Water. And its first trailer is set to debut with the forthcoming Doctor Strange in the Multiverse of Madness.
Released in 2009, Cameron's initial Avatar rode a crest of interest in its groundbreaking CGI effects, plus a 3D ticket uplift. The end result was the highest-grossing movie of all time, a transporting trip to the planet of Pandora and complete immersion in the indigenous culture known as the Na'Vi.
Avatar: The Way of Water promises to expand our understanding of the multifaceted Na'Vi tribes. A CinemaCon teaser, presented in 3D, purports to have shown the movie's breathtaking aquatic effects, which led Cameron to shoot his motion-capture photography underwater.
“We need to make sure [audiences] have an experience they can’t get anywhere else, and that needs to be exclusively in theaters,” said producer Jon Landau, a longtime collaborator with Cameron.
The cast will be led by returning faces Sam Worthington as Jake Sully, Zoe Saldana as Neytiri, Stephen Lang as Quaritch, and Sigourney Weaver as Grace Augustine. New recruits to the cast include Kate Winslet, reuniting with Cameron after Titanic, and Michelle Yeoh.
After suffering multiple pandemic-related delays, Avatar: The Way of Water is finally scheduled for UK release on 16th December 2022. Stay tuned to the blog for the breakdown of the first trailer.