It's Time to Say Goodbye to Pretending We're not looking forward to a new avatar.
During Disney's presentation to the movie theatre business at CinemaCon in Las Vegas on Wednesday, there were a few more apparent things to be excited about. Lightyear, Marvel's Doctor Strange and the Multiverse of Madness, and even a massive, star-studded David O. Russell film are all likely bets for the upcoming Oscar season.
But nothing appeared to equal the initial footage from Avatar: The Way of Water—the now officially named, officially existent sequel to Avatar, a.k.a. the biggest movie of 2009 and, for a moment, the largest movie of all time—in terms of good, old-fashioned excitement. Director James Cameron promised that he had "set out to test the limits of what cinema can do" while appearing on video from New Zealand, where he is deep in post-production, and reaffirmed his commitment to showing the film in digital 3D, a format he pioneered with the original film's release 13 years ago. What exactly did they show in the footage? According to reports from within the room, it was bright and nearly completely devoid of chatter. But, more importantly, we'll all find out next week when the teaser premieres exclusively in front of the new Doctor Strange film before going live online the following week. However, the one you see at your local cinema may not be the same as the one you see when the new Avatar releases in December. The head of the National Association of Theater Owners, John Fithian, promised on Tuesday that The Way of Water will have the most versions of any film ever made: "We're talking about high resolution, high frame rates, 3D, IMAX, PLF, multiple sound systems, and in 160 different languages."
For those of us who remember the initial wave of Avatar excitement, there's something eerily similar going on here: a room full of people having rare early access to video that blew them away, and a feeling of skepticism progressively eroding as speculation grows that this time Cameron has the goods. But here's the thing: there's only one rule to follow: James Cameron always delivers.
This is the guy who directed three films that were each among the most costly films ever produced at the time, and all three became megahits. This is the guy who overcame Titanic's widespread pre-release pessimism by using a strategy he likened to "the martial art of aikido, where you use the opponent's own momentum against them to take them down." This is the guy who has earned much more money than he needs to spend the rest of his life on underwater excursions; instead, he created another film, and he claims there will be two more after this one. In other words, he is a guy who has earned our respect.
It's easy to see why some are skeptical about Avatar: The Way of Water. It's been much too long since the first Avatar film was released; there aren't nearly enough real Avatar fans; and the movie business has evolved dramatically since 2009. However, there was a lot of doubt around the first Avatar, to the point that it was incorporated into the anticipation. Fox hosted an event dubbed "Avatar Day" in August of that year, when it exhibited comprehensive material that sold the film considerably better than a trailer could. I was there, and I swear it occurred. I wrote at the time, "It was clever of Cameron to begin on this long-term courting endeavor, drawing in viewers piece by bit until we're entirely on board with huge blue cat people." And we were genuinely on board, even if it's gotten all too easy to pretend we weren't since then. According to on-the-ground reports, the tone at CinemaCon this week is upbeat, with a strong feeling that people are returning to cinemas after a two-year hiatus. Cameron could not have chosen a better time to return, promising a spectacle unlike anything you can see at home.
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