It seems like a lifetime ago since the confirmation that there would be sequels to James Cameron‘s 2009 phenomenon Avatar. Now, more than a decade later and the release date of the first sequel approaching, Avatar 2 has officially received its title. The anticipated return to Pandora will be called Avatar: The Way of Water.
The announcement comes from CinemaCon where the new name was revealed at the Walt Disney Studios panel, which also revealed that a teaser trailer will be attached to theatrical screenings of the upcoming Doctor Strange in the Multiverse of Madness.
While filming for Avatar 2 began in 2017, the details surrounding the film have been kept fairly quiet. It has been known for some time that the setting of the film will be oceanic thanks to set photos posted by Cameron in December 2020, though it was through an interview with the film’s producer Jon Landau that we learned that Jake and Neytiri (both characters being reprised by Sam Worthington and Zoe Saldana, respectively) traveling to the oceanic safe haven as the RDA mining operations threaten Pandora again.
The original Avatar was a film that struck the cultural zeitgeist in a way that few other films had ever done before. As it stands right now, the film has a worldwide gross of over $2.8 billion, sitting atop the mountain as the highest-grossing film of all time, though Avengers: Endgame surpassed it for a time following the Marvel powerhouse film. While Avatar 2 was originally announced shortly after the monolithic success of the original Avatar in 2009, three additional sequels in the franchise in 2016, all of which are being developed simultaneously with Avatar 2. By that time, the original release date in 2015 had been pushed back to 2016. In the years that followed, the film suffered further delays, including ones brought on by the COVID-19 pandemic, which has now landed the current release date to the end of this year on December 16, 2022. Aside from Worthington and Saldana, Avatar 2 will see the return of Sigourney Weaver, Stephen Lang, Giovanni Ribisi, Joel David Moore, CCH Pounder, and Matt Gerald. Newcomers to the franchise will include Kate Winslet, Edie Falco, Brendan Cowell, and Michelle Yeoh in live-action roles.
Avatar: The Way of Water is set to hit theaters on December 16, 2022. Check out the title card down below:
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