It’s been thirteen years since the original Avatar hit our screens, and people are still talking about it today. It’s easy to see why – Avatar was the first of its kind, blending the latest motion capture technology with industry-leading CGI, world class animation, and a story which was instantly relatable covering numerous topics that are highly relevant to the status of our world.
Avatar showed the damage that poor relation between races can cause, highlighted the danger posed by destroying natural habitats for the sake of greed, and showed just how damaging our colonial past would be if it were to be repeated against a new and unknown race of beings. The story hit home to viewers in almost every country around the world – it was a must-see movie, and as a result, became the highest-grossing film of all time.
The Next Chapter
For many years, James Cameron publicly stated that the story of Avatar had already been told and there would be little need for him to create a second iteration of the franchise. For the longest time, many felt that he was right, but now, thirteen years later, the world is a very different place. The interactions between the nations of our planet are deteriorating at an alarming rate, and Cameron obviously believes now is the time to expand on the Avatar story to show us once more just how dangerous the path we are taking might be.
Not everybody agreed with Cameron, however; thousands of fans created their own fan-fiction versions of a potential Avatar follow-up. Some of these homemade efforts used a combination of stock video, scenes from the original film, and exceptionally high-quality homemade animation to produce several convincing continuations of Avatar’s story and message. These were valiant efforts and deserve much praise, but fans still craved an official follow-up from Cameron. Finally, their prayers have been answered.
Avatar 2: The Trailer
On May 12th, 2022, the trailer for the second Avatar movie was finally revealed. Almost 150 million people watched this trailer within hours of it appearing on platforms such as YouTube, Facebook, Twitter, and Disney+. That’s an incredible number of interested fans for what was little more than a teaser trailer, putting to bed any doubts that Cameron might have had that nobody would be interested in watching his Avatar sequel.
The message from everyone who has watched the Avatar 2 trailer could not be clearer: Get ready to be dazzled and amazed, as this thought-provoking movie proves that Cameron & Avatar are back with a bang: ready to blow your mind for a second time.
The current plan has expanded further than anyone could have imagined, too: Cameron is now planning to create no less than four more Avatar films – it seems that the director has well and truly changed his mind regarding the story that the original film told.
Can Avatar 2 Meet the Hype?
Avatar 2: The Way of Water has already been shown to theatrical exhibitors at the recent CinemaCon convention. One viewer stated that it was “a spectacle of such awe-inspiring immensity that it could only ever realistically be rivalled by the second coming of Christ”. That’s quite the statement and is guaranteed to whip up a frenzy amongst fans who are chomping at the bit to find out what story the new movie will tell.
Variety Magazine was also quick to applaud Cameron’s work, stating that Avatar 2 will immerse viewers in several reasons across the dazzling landscapes of Pandora, utilising the ultimate in computer graphics technology. The original Avatar was best seen in 3D, but 3D has nearly disappeared from cinemas now. Many wondered if Cameron would follow the herd and drop the 3D element with Avatar 2, but it turns out that this is not the case – get ready to don those specs once again if you intend on watching this film on the silver screen.
Questions still remain about whether the final film can live up to the enormous hype that has been whipped up by the CinemaCon trailer – it’s sure to be an extended length picture, so Cameron is going to need to have created something truly special if it is to keep viewers entertained for close to three hours. We have every confidence that this first sequel will be every bit as good as the original movie – but three more? Cameron might just be pushing his luck with that idea, but then again, Harry Potter proved that it is possible to tell an epic story across many films. James has set himself a mammoth task, and we can’t wait to see if he will pull it off.
