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Tag: The Way of Water

  • Sam Worthington Teases Jake Sully’s Journey in ‘Avatar 2’

    Sam Worthington Teases Jake Sully’s Journey in ‘Avatar 2’

    Avatar: The Way of Water is just around the corner and we’re anxiously waiting for our chance to see what director James Cameron has in store for us. We’ll see the return of franchise stars Sam Worthington, Zoe Saldana, Stephen Lang, and more on the big screen, as we venture out into Pandora one more time (and many more trips already planned for the future).

    In the official press event for the Avatar sequel, Sam Worthington got a chance to tease the journey that Jake Sully will go on in Way of Water. The man gave up his humanity to live with the love of its life, Neytiri. Now that he has his newly found family, he’s going to have to face his biggest challenge yet: trying to keep them together.

    Well I think in the first one, you know, he says it in the voice over: “‘Open your eyes.” I think he’s opened his eyes to love, and the love of culture, the love of the planet and the love of Neytiri. I think in this one it’s the natural extension of that, they have a family, and it’s, to be honest, about the protection of that love and that world and that culture. I always saw it as the simplest form, you know, and his, his partner in crime is a very fiery person. He just tries to be the earth, and we just happen to have a lot of water.

    Sam Worthington

    Avatar has always been about love at its core, especially with its environmental message having a strong focus. Now that we’re moving away from the forest, we’re going to see how a new environment affects Jake and his family’s normal life. The trailers also tease that a new conflict is on the horizon, which means that his journey isn’t going to be an easy one.

  • SNL is the Reason ‘Avatar’ Changed its Logo and Font

    SNL is the Reason ‘Avatar’ Changed its Logo and Font

    Have you ever wondered why James Cameron‘s Avatar suddenly changed its logo and font? At the time, there was the righteous assumption that perhaps it was mainly done with Disney’s usual knack of marketing its projects but it seems that it was more a reaction to a joke by Saturday Night Live. Yes, you read that correctly, the SNL sketch starring Ryan Gosling jokingly referring to the font as Papyrus is one of the reasons.

    Producer Jon Landau got a chance to talk to Entertainment Weekly, where he reflected on the joke and even went on to highlight that the correct font wasn’t actually Papyrus but Toruk. It seems the fact that it had a very plain logo, the SNL sketch in combination with people questioning its actual cultural relevance inspired the need to establish a logo that screamed Avatar.

    When we realized that the movie was going to expand into a franchise and we’d have other IPs, we went out and created our own font that we’re now using, and we call it Toruk, and it’s available for people to use. But the Papyrus font is a fun thing, and I also love the fact that… it was certainly several years after the movie came out, and I guess it illustrated to people who were questioning Avatar’s cultural relevance that it was still part of the culture.

    Jon Landau

    Even with The Way of Water set to make a massive opening box office, and a secured but rare China release, the discussions are still making the rounds on how relevant this franchise truly is. The first film has the heavy burden of having to make $2B to be considered a success but there’s also the dead market at the moment that could drag it down. For now, we have to see what’ll happen once it releases next week.

    Source: Entertainment Weekly

  • ‘Avatar 2’ Eyeing $650M Domestic Run, Unlikely to Dehtrone ‘Top Gun Maverick’

    ‘Avatar 2’ Eyeing $650M Domestic Run, Unlikely to Dehtrone ‘Top Gun Maverick’

    While there have been many discussions surrounding the slow recovery of the box office since the pandemic started back in 2020, there have been some massive successes even through these unpredictable times. Spider-Man: No Way Home and Top Gun: Maverick went on to break far past any expectations set on the projects, and there has been a lot of hope that Avatar: The Way of Water would do exactly the same later this year. It’s the first sequel to James Cameron‘s passion project from 2009. While the film is set to make a big splash in the box office, it may not surpass its predecessor.

    Variety’s early predictions based on Cinelytic believe that The Way of Water is likely to make around $650M but likely won’t come near the first Avatar‘s $772M. The reasonings are quite simple. A lot has happened since that film was released and we’ve seen quite a few CG-heavy worlds being created. So, it’s no longer as unique as it once was, as we’ve entered an era inspired by the technology that was established through that film’s release.

    If it does end up going below $700M, it’ll also remain in the second spot for 2022, as Top Gun: Maverick managed to pass the $700M mark not too long ago and still continues to have a strong staying power at the box office. Black Panther Wakanda Forever was predicted to not even make it past the $500M mark but early projections for the Top Gun sequel also had it set for a lower $300M box office run. At this rate, there are a lot of unpredictable elements at play and we’ll have to see how the rest of the year turns out with very little hitting the market moving forward.

    Source: Variety

  • James Cameron Reveals Runtime for ‘Avatar: The Way of Water’

    James Cameron Reveals Runtime for ‘Avatar: The Way of Water’

    Audiences should prepare for another long-form entry in the return to the Avatar franchise at the end of this year. Avatar: The Way of Water is currently slated to have a run-time of around three hours according to director James Cameron. This comes after the original 2009 film held a run-time of approximately two hours and forty minutes. And with this gargantuan length to the project, Cameron has been very opinionated in being firmly antagonistic towards those who feel negative about this.

    I don’t want anybody whining about length when they sit and binge-watch [television] for eight hours. I can almost write this part of the review. ‘The agonizingly long three-hour movie…’ It’s like, give me a fucking break. I’ve watched my kids sit and do five one-hour episodes in a row. Here’s the big social paradigm shift that has to happen: it’s okay to get up and go pee.

    James Cameron

    And despite the original film being the highest-grossing of all time (unadjusted for inflation) having earned $2.84 billion at the box office, James Cameron also has gone out of his way to be vocal in his ardent disdain towards those who generally have a negative perception of the original Avatar film.

    The trolls will have it that nobody gives a shit and they can’t remember the characters’ names or one damn thing that happened in the movie. Then they see the movie again and go, ‘Oh, okay, excuse me, let me just shut the fuck up right now.’ So I’m not worried about that.

    James Cameron

    Ultimately, it remains to be seen whether or not Avatar: The Way of Water will successfully shut down the “trolls” or if Cameron is simply just providing more ammunition for those that disagree with his perspective.

    Avatar: The Way of Water opens in theaters on December 16, 2022, and stars the likes of Sam Worthington, Zoe Saldana, Sigourney Weaver and Kate Winslet.

    Source: Variety 

  • ‘Avatar’ 4 and 5 Might Not be Directed by James Cameron

    ‘Avatar’ 4 and 5 Might Not be Directed by James Cameron

    The Avatar franchise is preparing to go full force in terms of expanding its presence on the cinematic landscape. Following more than a decade since the 2009 release of the original film, director James Cameron is bringing his vision back to the big screen with Avatar: The Way of Water releasing in December of this year. The sequel will be followed by another, untitled sequel scheduled for 2024. This is all part of Cameron’s lofty vision of creating a multi-film saga set in the same universe. 

    Though the team behind the franchise is hopeful for being able to produce the conclusion of this saga in the near future with fourth and fifth films being produced together, it may not be James Cameron helming these two installments. When speaking with Empire about the imminent release of Avatar: The Way of Water, the renowned director discussed the possibility that he might pass the reigns to another filmmaker for the next two-film chapter.

    The Avatar films themselves are kind of all-consuming. I’ve got some other things I’m developing as well that are exciting. I think eventually over time – I don’t know if that’s after three or after four – I’ll want to pass the baton to a director that I trust to take over, so I can go do some other stuff that I’m also interested in. Or maybe not. I don’t know.

    James Cameron

    This feels like a surprising revelation based on how passionately James Cameron has spoken about and worked in the world of Avatar. Especially with it being the hypothetical end of the franchise, it’s hard to not see Cameron be the one to direct this conclusion. Even if he does step away from the director’s chair, Cameron would remain greatly passionate for what these films mean to him and would very likely still have large amounts of control over this world.

    Everything I need to say about family, about sustainability, about climate, about the natural world, the themes that are important to me in real life and in my cinematic life, I can say on this canvas. I got more excited as I went along. Movie four is a corker. It’s a motherfucker. I actually hope I get to make it. But it depends on market forces. Three is in the can so it’s coming out regardless. I really hope that we get to make four and five because it’s one big story, ultimately.

    James Cameron

    Avatar: The Way of Water stars Sam Worthington, Zoe Saldana, Kate Winslet, and Sigourney Weaver. The film is slated to open exclusively in theaters on December 16, 2022.

    Source: Empire Online 

  • ‘Avatar 2’ Gets a Title, First Footage to Release With ‘Doctor Strange in the Multiverse of Madness’

    ‘Avatar 2’ Gets a Title, First Footage to Release With ‘Doctor Strange in the Multiverse of Madness’

    It’s been a long wait since any of the Avatar sequels picked up any momentum. While we did get some BTS pictures not too long ago, we still knew surprisingly very little about the project. Luckily, Disney went all out during the CinemaCon panel for this year and revealed that the next entry will be titled Avatar: The Way of Water. Not only that, but we’ll also get our first look at the same footage the attendees did alongside the theatrical release of Doctor Strange in the Multiverse of Madness. So, it looks like we won’t have to wait that much longer until we get our first look at the franchise’s grand return.

    The title also further highlights the fact that the franchise is focusing more and more on exploring the different worlds of Pandora. We’ve seen quite a lot of water tanks as part of the production on this series and with The Way of Water as the title, it does open up the question how exactly they will balance the story with the world-building. While the first film had some impressive visuals, it did suffer a bit when it came to the story elements that was a bit bare bones throughout. So, here’s hoping that the exploration of Pandora’s depths doesn’t come at the cost of a compelling storyline to tie it all together.

    Source: Twitter