Avatar: The Way Of Water Trailer: Mount Your Banshees For Another Trip To Pandora

"Avatar: The Way of Water" is only the third non-documentary film James Cameron has made in the last 25 years, but the first two — "Titanic" and the original "Avatar" — happen to rank as the #1 and #3 highest-grossing movies of all time. So, there's that. With "The Way of Water," Cameron is hoping for a threepeat, or at least a movie that will be profitable enough to merit one to three more sequels.

As Cameron himself has acknowledged, "The question is: how many people give a s*** now" about "Avatar?" Does the culture at large still care enough about him, the N'avi, unobtainium, Jake Sully, and movies, in general, to turn out in droves at the multiplex for "The Way of Water?"

The official synopsis for "The Way of Water" promises a sequel "set more than a decade after the events of the first film," which "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."

The key phrase there is "begins to tell the story." "The Way of Water" is one of four planned sequels (with Cameron having a contingency plan that could end the series as a trilogy if this one's not successful enough). And indeed, the first teaser for "The Way of Water" took a hopeful cue from another long-running franchise, "Fast & Furious," with its sentiments of #family as a "fortress."

We'll find out how much of a fortress "Avatar" still is come mid-December. In the meantime, there's this new trailer, timed to the commencement of ticket sales for "The Way of Water." Dive into the watery depths of it below.

Forget "the legendary floating mountains of Pandora," as a xenoanthropologist named Norm once called them. "The Way of Water" will explore the oceanic side of Pandora, which promises to be even more floaty, like the sewers of Derry, Maine. The Na'vi, they "all float down here. You'll float, too."

Or not? Glean what you can from this new trailer, folks. If we're being honest, the movie news cycle moves so quickly and even big news gets buried so fast now that I completely missed the first full trailer for "The Way of Water" earlier this month. Or maybe I saw that it dropped, but didn't care enough to watch it, and then just plum forgot about it. I'm not sure if that's a hint to how other moviegoers might respond to "The Way of Water," or if it's just indicative of my own willful ignorance of all things "Avatar"-related.

Filmed in native 3D, the first "Avatar" was supposed to be the blockbuster that changed everything, making movies more immersive and interactive, and for a time, it did set off a muddy wave of post-converted 3D films. People likened it to a theme park ride, not unlike how Martin Scorsese has characterized superhero movies, and personally, I think "Avatar" makes a better theme park land at Disney World than an enduring film classic worthy of multiple sequels. I would sooner revisit Pandora – The World of Avatar in Florida than rewatch the first "Avatar" or devote another three hours of my life to watching its sequel.

But that's just me! And I'm probably very much in the minority. "Don't bet against James Cameron," yada, yada.

"Avatar: The Way of Water" is in theaters only on December 16, 2022.