Disney premiered the official title and 3D teaser trailer today for the long-awaited sequel to the top grossing film of all time, Avatar, at CinemaCon, the annual gathering of movie theater owners in Las Vegas. The official name for the epci sci-fi follow-up is Avatar: The Way of Water, Deadline is reporting.
The movie is set to be distributed internationally on December 14 and in North America on December 16 by 20th Century Studios, after it was originally set to be released in 2014. Disney ultimately inherited the franchise after acquiring 20th Century Fox in 2019, and finally secured the official distribution date for the end of this year.
Jon Landau, who produced the adventure drama with co-writer-director James Cameron, traveled from New Zealand to Las Vega to make the Disney presentation at CinemaCon this year. During the presentation, he said: “One of the strengths of Jim Cameron’s scripts is they are always universal and relatable themes that he weaves into them.
“At the center of each of the four sequels will be the Sully family.
Each story will be a stand-alone and each will come to its own conclusion,” the Oscar-winning producer continued. There will be a “fulfilling resolution to each film, but when looked at as a whole the journey across all four will create a larger epic saga.”
“The journey across all four movies will create a connected saga,” Landau added. “To achieve our goals, we need a strong partnership with you and the studio … an end-to-end community.”
Cameron addressed the audience at Disney’s Cinemacon presentation in a pre-recorded video, as he’s still in Wellington, New Zealand putting the final touches on Avatar: The Way of Water. He expressed sympathy about the industry’s hardships during the pandemic, especially in terms of exhibition.
The Academy Award-winning filmmaker told the theater owners in attendance, “I just want you to hear it from me: Jon and I are here to work with you. The best way is by delivering content that is a must-see experience at the cinema.”
Cameron also said he was “hard at work putting the final touches on the film,” whose budget totals $250 million. He added that the sequel is “pushing limits even farther with high frame rate, higher resolution 3D and greater reality in our visual effects. I wanted our return to Pandora to be something really special. Every shot is designed for the biggest screen, highest resolution and most immersive 3D available. I think we pulled it off.”
Avatar: The Way of Water‘s trailer will run exclusively in theaters before screenings of Marvel’s Doctor Strange in the Multiverse pf Madness, which is set to open in theaters on May 4 internationally and May 6 domestically. The Avatar follow-up’s trailer will then be released online a week later.
Disney has released the following logline for Avatar: The Way of Water: Set more than a decade after the events of the first movie, Jake Sully (Sam Worthington) lives with his newfound family formed on the planet of Pandora. Once a familiar threat returns to finish what was previously started, Jake must work with Neytiri (Zoe Saldana) and the army of the Na’vi race to protect their planet.
As Cameron has always promised, the trailer shows that the upcoming drama takes place in and around the ocean. It’s also revealed in the trailer that Sully and Neytiri have children, and he declares that their family is their fortress.
The follow-up’s trailer local tribe of Na’vi interacting with various species, including flying fish bird creatures and whales. The alien people are also shown battling each other in a guns vs. arrows fight.
It was also revealed that Disney will rerelease the original Avatar on September 23 around the world with remastered audio and sound. The rerelease comes after the film already earned $2.8 billion at the global box office.
Besides Worthington and Saldana, Avatar: The Way of Water also stars Sigourney Weaver, Kate Winslet, Michelle Yeoh, Edie Falco, Stephen Lang, Giovanni Ribisi, Oona Chaplin and Jermaine Clement.