Avatar: The Way Of Water Trailer First-Day Views Blew Even Recent Star Wars Films, Well, Out Of The Water

Never doubt James Cameron. That is generally good life advice. The Oscar-winning director has time and time again defied expectations and delivered huge successes with his films. From "The Abyss," to "Aliens," "Terminator 2: Judgement Day," "Titanic" and, of course, the first "Avatar," Cameron knows how to deliver crowd-pleasers, and he's really good at follow-ups to successful movies. 

Case in point, the very brief yet still stunning trailer for "Avatar: The Way of Water." Previously teased at CinemaCon before being unleashed to theatergoers with "Doctor Strange in the Multiverse of Madness," the trailer is finally available for you to watch and rewatch dozens of times until its December release. While we can't really predict whether the film will be as successful at the box office as its record-setting predecessor, it seems Cameron still has it, and the teaser has made quite an impact online.

In the first 24 hours after its online release, the teaser of "Avatar: The Way of Water" gathered 148.6 million views, according to The Hollywood Reporter, with 23 million of those views coming from China alone.

That's enough to surpass the number of views of the recent "Star Wars" films ("Rise of Skywalker" reached 112.4 million), which is appropriate since many reviews of the first "Avatar" compared it to the experience of seeing the very first "Star Wars" film in theaters.

Even though this film (and its predecessor) had a really long journey to the big screen, the excitement is there for the return of the biggest action hero of the 21st century: Jake Sully. Sure, plenty of those views may be sarcastic, or confused people thinking it was related to "Avatar: The Last Airbender," or people wanted a reminder of what the hell this franchise is about since it's been 13 years since the last movie.

Whatever the case may be, the teaser is still stunning. I dare say it is more exciting than anything in "Doctor Strange 2," which the teaser accompanies in theaters. From gorgeous visuals, to the promise of expanded lore we have no previous knowledge about makes "Avatar" the most fascinating and exciting current franchise. Welcome back, James Cameron, don't take too long for the next one.

"Avatar: The Way of Water" arrives on December 16, 2022.

Here's the movie's vague plot description:

Set more than a decade after the events of the first film, "Avatar: The Way of Water" 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. Directed by James Cameron and produced by Cameron and Jon Landau, the film stars Zoe Saldana, Sam Worthington, Sigourney Weaver, Stephen Lang, Cliff Curtis, Joel David Moore, CCH Pounder, Edie Falco, Jemaine Clement and Kate Winslet.