After over a decade of false starts, pushed release dates, and assurances that the technologically innovative leaps would justify the delays, Avatar: The Way of Water is now mere months away from release. Released in 2009, James Cameron's original Avatar became the highest-grossing film of all time (a title it still retains, despite Avengers: Endgame eclipsing it for a few months) and left a monolithic impact on the movie theater experience as audiences know it. Now, when movie theaters are at their lowest and audiences seem more reluctant than ever to go out to the theater more than a handful of times per year, can Avatar 2 save movie theaters?
James Cameron Makes Movies for the Theater
James Cameron and his longtime producing partner, John Landau, are certainly placing all their chips on that answer being a resounding 'yes.' Speaking at a recent CinemaCon event to theater owners, Cameron said, "I know it's been rough on the exhibition community these last two years. I've been making movies for 40 years, and I've never seen anything like this, not even close to threatening the business that I've dedicated my life to. I just want you to hear it from me that Jon and I are here to work with you."
This integration of the theatrical experience into the very bones of Avatar: The Way of Water has already become apparent in the film's marketing. The debut trailer for the film will premiere in front of opening weekend showings of Doctor Strange in the Multiverse of Madness and will not be made available online until a full week later. This is undoubtedly clever synergy for Disney, as Doctor Strange and Avatar both stand to only flourish commercially as a result, but it's also indicative of Cameron's mantra moving forward: theatrical is king.
This makes sense, given that Cameron has three more Avatar sequels on the way. If these films are going to recoup the billions of dollars spent on making them, they need the theatrical distribution model just as much as the model needs them. While streaming has become an increasingly popular alternative to theatrical release in the wake of the pandemic, there is no situation in which even a same-day streaming release results in anywhere near the amount of profit needed to justify Cameron and Landau's venture here. But James Cameron is a madman who doesn't fail.
Avatar Was More Than 3D, It Was an Experience
In the early 1950s, as televisions became an increasingly common addition to the American household, cinemas turned to all kinds of gimmickry to attempt to convince audiences to come out to the theater. Chief among them was 3D, and essentially, Cameron utilized the technology 50 years later for the exact same purpose in 2009. The release of Avatar not only repopularized 3D and led to a deluge of other films using it, but it was also a fundamentally irreplaceable theatrical experience. Much has been made over Avatar's apparent lack of an impression in the pop-cultural consciousness in the years since its release, but this is for the same reason audiences flocked to it in the theater: it offered a transportive viewing experience that could not be replicated at home.
Now, Cameron is looking to do it all over again. According to Cameron, Avatar: The Way of Water looks to push "those limits even farther, with 3D with high dynamic range, with high frame rate, higher resolution and a much greater reality in our visual effects." The president of the National Association of Theatre Owners, John Fithian, even went so far as to say that Avatar: The Way of Water will be exhibited in more versions (IMAX, high frame rate, etc.) than any other film "in the history of movies."
Can Avatar 2 Succeed?
Disney, Landau, and Cameron all have a lot riding on the success of Avatar 2. But movie theaters have perhaps even more at risk. If Avatar: The Way of Water does huge business and reignites not only audiences' passion for going to the theater but also an active interest in the new forms of technology it brings with it, it could do wonders for movie theaters around the globe.
It seems odd to position James Cameron, one of the most profitable and successful directors in film history, as an underdog here, but he most certainly is. In an entertainment landscape increasingly dominated by IP and made-by-committee blockbusters, Cameron is betting everything on a series of sincerely auteur-driven sequels to his original film and trying to save the industry he loves in the process. Here's hoping that Avatar: The Way of Water sees the madman succeed once more.
Avatar: The Way of Water arrives in theaters on December 16, 2022.