Avatar: The Way of Water, the movie we have been waiting for all year, came out on December 16, of 2022 with much anticipation from viewers all around the world.
The first film of Avatar was released in 2009 indicating that people have waited over thirteen years for Avatar: The Way Of Water to be released. Theaters all over the world are streaming Avatar: The Way Of Water and most of the audience is even watching the film twice.All of the viewers are wondering, what took filmmakers so long to release this important sequel?
With thirteen years passing after the first release of the film you would expect the audience to have a negative reaction, but that’s not the case. Both films are as successful with the sequel having a 77% rating. Many of the viewers preferred to watch the film in either 3D or 4D for a greater experience giving them the illusion of being in the Metkayina’s reefs and Pandora. The film being watched in standard, 3D and 4D in theaters gave it a lot of success not only in the U.S but countries internationally.
Avatar: The Way Of Water being broadcasted internationally has gained a lot of popular​​ity and success but many wonder how much money has the film made since being released? With only U.S streams, the film has made over 1.42 billion dollars, almost being as near as what the first Avatar made during its release. Countries outside of the U.S like France making 129.8 million and China making 229.7 million dollars from its officials released day till today. (Time) With this film making all of this money right now just imagine when it hits streaming platforms like Amazon Prime, Disney plus and Hulu. Once again being a successful film it can perhaps lead to other sequels being released even though it might take another few years for them to be officially released.
In the latest Avatar movie, the audience is placed sixteen years after the Na’vi attacked back against the military invasion on Pandora, Jake Sully lives as the chief of the Omatikaya clan, as he builds and raises a family with Neytiri, which includes their sons Neteyam and Lo’ak, youngest daughter Tuk, and adopted children Kiri who was born from Dr.Grace Augustine’s inert avatar and Spider, the Pandora-raised human son of Colonel Miles Quaritch. The Sulley family endures danger, battles to death, and tragedy all throughout the film. The family was displaced from their home and fled to the Metkayina’s waterworld, which caused some tribal disagreements.

The cast of Avatar:The Way of Water includes many talented actors who really put their all into filming. Big names like Sam Worthington, as Jake Sully, a former human, who befriended the Na’vi after becoming a member of the Avatar program, he eventually left his human body permanently to become part of the Na’vi and became the chief of the Omatikaya. Zoe Zaldana as Neytiri, the daughter of the previous clan chief and Jake’s mate. Sigourney Weaver as Kiri, the fourteen year old daughter of Dr.Grace Augustine’s Na’vi avatar who was adopted by Jake and Neytiri. Stephen Lang as Colonel Miles Quaritch, a human military officer who led the military to invading and creating conflict with Pandora. Cliff Curtis as Tonowari, the chief of the Metkayina clan. Kate Winslet as Ronal, Tonowari’s wife and member of the Metkayina clan, is pregnant.

Some might ask what makes the film so impactful? Avatar:The Way of Water made sure to tackle many issues like the threats on the environment including animal life and nature brought on by humans. A heavily implied issue is environmentalism. It was definitely shown in the first film’s storyline, but given even more attention in the second film about the effects of destruction on Pandora’s land. The film captivates a beautiful scenery and engaging story while conveying the relationship between people and nature, sort of creating a parallel between the two.
Tenth grade English teacher, Mr.Nevarez at Animo Pat Brown gave his opinion of the film and thoughts about possible sequels being released. Mr.Nevarez replied “the movie was great overall, I watched it in 3D so I thought it looked really nice and I think the special effects really kind of drive the movie. But also the story is really nice. It’s really eye opening, it’s just very powerful/practical when you start thinking about what these things mean in the real world so overall I think I really enjoyed it even though it was very long.” When asking about possible sequels Mr.Nevarez mentioned “first of all this movie took like years to come out after the sequel so I am excited. At the same time I’m not like waiting for it because I know it’s gonna be another few years till it comes out. I am also a bit concerned because when you see the movie this one skips fifteen years forward so it makes me wonder if the other movies are gonna be a lot of years forward or what is that kind of gonna look like.”

Assistant principal, Mr.Caraballo at Animo Pat Brown also gave us his opinion on the film and possible sequences being released. Mr. Caraballo stated “I think it was a really good movie, it was pretty long. I liked it and the story of the movie, how somebody has to be taking care of other people that they don’t actually know, how they embrace them, getting used to them, and getting to know their way of living.” On possible sequels Mr.Caraballo stated “I love it, my kids are big fans of avatar, it is amazing to see that they are deciding to do more movies cause at the end I know that the guy doesn’t die, so I want to see how they bring it but I think that the story was more entertaining than the first one so I am really hoping that the next ones are equally as entertaining and engaging and probably contextual to our times.”

The actors of Avatar: The Way of Water had to adapt to acting underwater. So how did Cameron pull directing a film that needed to be shot underwater in 3D? In order to keep any strange lighting from messing with the underwater cameras, the surface of the 900,000 gallon tank was covered with small white balls. The white balls had a purpose of eliminating any light reflections that might show up on camera. The actors were not able to use scuba gear because of the facial performance capture camera. The scuba gear would have covered their faces and would have created too much noise for Cameron’s liking so the only solution was that the actors just had to hold their breath. Underwater specialists were hired to teach the cast how to hold their breath for a long period of time. During training, Kate Winslet and Sigourney Weaver were able to hold their breath for about six to seven minutes underwater. Avatar: The Way of Water is one of the most expensive films ever made, with an estimated budget of $350-460 million.

Avatar: The Way of Water was directed and produced by the Canadian filmmaker James Cameron, some of his other films include Titanic, Terminator 2: Judgment Day, True Lies, along with many more films. As Cameron was still working on Titanic, he announced that Avatar would be his next film. The new Avatar film was inspired by Cameron’s fascination with the ocean.

In 2006, James Cameron stated that he would like to make sequels if Avatar was successful. The Way of Water is one of the four sequels of Avatar. In an interview with Jimmy Fallon on The Tonight Show, Worthington said that “about 80,90 percent” of Avatar 3 had been shot already. He also stated that “a few scenes”of Avatar 4 had also been shot already, due to the child actors aging out. “I think it’s very emotional,” Cameron said of the sequel. “I think it’s more emotional than the first film. I think it focuses more on character and relationship dynamics than the first film did, but it definitely delivers on the spectacle.” (CNN Entertainment) The third film has been rumored to have the title Avatar:The Seed Bearer while the fourth being titled, Avatar:The Tulkun Rider.