Avatar 2 Is Officially Titled Avatar: The Way Of Water, Trailer To Play With Doctor Strange 2 [CinemaCon 2022]
No one could have anticipated the monumental success that would follow James Cameron's 2009 sci-fi epic, "Avatar." No one, that is, other than James Cameron. That film still reigns supreme as the highest-grossing movie of all time, and the highly-anticipated series of sequels are on the horizon. Now, "Avatar 2" has been given an official title.
The news broke at this year's CinemaCon, confirming that the rumors are true, and "Avatar 2" will now be known as "Avatar: The Way of Water." The film is set over a decade after the events of the first film, but will revisit the Sully family (Jake, Neytiri, and their children) as they continue to fight to stay alive, keep their people safe, and figure out a way to overcome the tragedies they experience. Zoe Saldana, Sam Worthington, Sigourney Weaver, Stephen Lang, Cliff Curtis, Joel David Moore, CCH Pounder, Edie Falco, Jemaine Clement, Giovanni Ribisi, and Kate Winslet all star in the continuation of Cameron's epic on the planet Pandora.
The title update wasn't the only "Avatar" announcement made at CinemaCon, as the teaser trailer was also screened in 3D for the very first time. In an official press statement, the studio claimed the teaser "drew highly enthusiastic responses from the CinemaCon audience," but according to our sources on the ground floor, that description may have been slightly exaggerated. Nevertheless, those wanting to see the teaser trailer for themselves will soon have an opportunity to do so, but there's a catch. The trailer for "Avatar: The Way of Water" will play exclusively in theaters before screenings of Marvel Studios' "Doctor Strange in the Multiverse of Madness" beginning on May 6, 2022, before being made available online a week later.
Capturing lightning in a bottle for a second time
We're unsure if the first "Avatar" will end up with a subtitle of its own, similar to how "Star Wars" was re-named "Star Wars: A New Hope" once the franchise moved full speed ahead. But we do know that 20th Century Studios will be re-releasing "Avatar" in theaters on September 23, 2022. It's been over a decade since it first debuted and all of our memories have been utterly destroyed by the last two-and-a-half years, so a quick refresher on the first film definitely couldn't hurt.
"Avatar" star Zoe Saldana is also being honored by CinemaCon with the "Star of the Year" award during the "Big Screen Achievement Award" ceremony on Thursday, April 28, with her starring performances in both "Avatar: The Way of the Water" and "Amsterdam" both due out later this year.
"Avatar: The Way of Water" will debut in theaters on December 16, 2022.