Movies AVATAR: THE WAY OF WATER (Dragonlord's Review, post #1)

[Dragonlordxxxxx]

Update: December 14, 2022

Dragonlord’s Brief Review of AVATAR: THE WAY OF WATER (No Spoilers)

Bottom Line: A beautiful visual spectacle that’s worth the price of admission, Avatar: The Way of Water is a solid family adventure film but its formulaic story and Disney-esque vibe prevents it from being a great film.

James Cameron is back with his first directorial feature since 2009’s Avatar. Was it worth the wait? Yes and no. Yes, because the visual effects on this film is absolutely amazing and the visual imagery and landscape are lush and gorgeous. No, because the story is too formulaic, you can practically predict what’s going to happen in each scene. I can even surmise the redemption arc and Gaia arc for two of its major characters in future Avatar sequels. The whole family angle feels too familiar also, like you’ve seen some sort of variation of this in other movies and television shows.

The kids are all likable and not annoying as one might expect in this type of direction. So that’s a big plus. The water scenes are just mesmerizing and the sea creatures are magnificent to behold. The themes of preserving the ecosystem and man’s unbridled greed are still here. In the first film, it’s clear that the Na’vi are inspired by Native Americans. In this sequel, we are introduced to an oceanic clan which obviously draws from the Indigenous Polynesian people. I dug the physical character designs for the reef people and their culture.

All in all, Avatar: The Way of Water is an entertaining adventure film that’s visually stunning but the script is too unexceptional. To its credit, I was captivated all throughout the film that I didn’t really feel the length of its 3 hours and 12 minutes run time. There is no post-credits scene.

RATING: 7/10

 

[Dragonlordxxxxx]

Update: May 9, 2022

First Teaser Trailer for James Cameron's AVATAR: THE WAY OF WATER [Updated with Final Trailer]

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.






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Update: August 7, 2017

Matt Serra Gerald to Return as Corporal Lyle Wainfleet in the AVATAR Sequels

Matt Serra Gerald officially has signed on to 20th Century Fox’s James Cameron Avatar sequels and will reprise his role as Corporal Lyle Wainfleet.

Gerald joins previous Avatar rep players Zoe Saldana, Sam Worthington, Sigourney Weaver, CCH Pounder and Joel David Moore. Cliff Curtis and Oona Chaplin also boarded the sequels this year as newcomers to the cast.

Avatar 2 begins shooting this fall and will open on December 18, 2020. The sequels thereafter will open during the Christmas seasons of 2021, 2024 and 2025. The original 2009 movie remains the highest-grossing film at the global B.O. with $2.79B.

Gerald also has joined the Crackle series The Oath in a recurring role as Kivlinsky, leader of the rival cop gang. The show, which stars Sean Bean, is executive produced by Curtis “50 Cent” Jackson and his G-Unit Film & Television. It is scheduled to debut next year and is currently in production in San Juan, Puerto Rico. Gerald also has a recurring role on Marvel/Netflix’s Daredevil as Melvin Potter.

Gerald can be seen in a raft of the upcoming features: New Line’s Rampage, with Dwayne Johnson (April 20); Netflix’s Will Smith starrer Bright (December); and the Los Angeles Film Festival title Shot Caller, which hits theaters August 18.

Matt Gerald Returning To James Cameron’s ‘Avatar’ World; Boards Crackle’s ‘The Oath’ (Exclusive)
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Update: October 3, 2017

Kate Winslet Reunites with TITANIC Director James Cameron for the AVATAR Universe

Kate Winslet is headed to Pandora. The actress is reuniting with Titanic director James Cameron as he works on his Avatar followups, THR has confirmed. It is unclear how many of the four planned sequels to Cameron's 2009 film Winslet will appear in.

Cameron is currently filming Avatar 2 and 3 concurrently. He plans to shoot 4 and 5 to be simultaneously soon after, plans recently spoke about in last week's THR cover story. The production also recently announced seven young castmembers who are to play a big part in the sequels.

Winslet and Cameron made box office history in 1997 when Titanic hit theaters. It went on to become an unprecedented success, raking in $2.1 billion worldwide to become the top-grossing film of all time. The record stood until Cameron's Avatar dethroned it.

Winslet can soon be seen in theaters in the survival thriller The Mountain Between Us, opposite Idris Elba and opening Thursday. She is also set to topline in Woody Allen's upcoming feature Wonder Wheel for Amazon and due out in December.

20th Century Fox opens Avatar 2 on Dec. 18, 2020. It will be followed by Avatar 3 in 2021, Avatar 4 in 2024 and Avatar 5 in 2025.

Kate Winslet Reuniting with 'Titanic' Director James Cameron's to Join the 'Avatar' Universe


Note: The previous Avatar thread didn't survive the Sherdog migration.

 

[Dragonlordxxxxx]

Update: June 21, 2017

GAME OF THRONES Actress Oona Chaplin Joins James Cameron's AVATAR Sequels

Game of Thrones' Oona Chaplin is heading to Pandora. The actress will star in James Cameron and 20th Century Fox's four Avatar sequels, it was announced Tuesday during CineEurope in Barcelona.

Zoe Saldana, Sigourney Weaver and Sam Worthington are returning for the follow-ups, which are set to begin hitting theaters in 2020.

Though the plots are being kept under wraps, Chaplin will play Varang, a strong and vibrant central character who spans the entire length of the installments. Cameron said that each of the four sequels will be able to stand alone, but will together create a saga.

Avatar 2 is set to open on Dec. 18, 2020; Avatar 3 on Dec. 17, 2021; Avatar 4 on Dec. 20, 2024; and Avatar 5 on Dec. 19, 2025.

Chaplin, who is the granddaughter of Charlie Chaplin, also starred in the Tom Hardy series Taboo and was seen on the big screen in the romance The Longest Ride.

http://www.hollywoodreporter.com/he...n-1015206?utm_source=t.co&utm_medium=referral

 

[Dragonlordxxxxx]

Update: May 31, 2017

Joel David Moore Returning as Norm Spellman for James Cameron's AVATAR Sequels

Joel David Moore has officially signed on to reprise his role as scientist Norm Spellman in Fox’s upcoming Avatar sequels. The second installment in the James Cameron franchise, which will being shooting next year, is slated to bow in theaters December 18, 2020.

Moore joins other returnees like Zoe Saldana, Sam Worthington and Sigourney Weaver, as well as recently announced newcomer Cliff Curtis.

Not much is on the film’s plot, other than it takes place underwater. Fox has slotted the remaining sequels during the Christmas season of 2021, 2024 and 2025. 2009’s Avatar remains the highest earning film worldwide with a $2.79B gross at the box office.

Moore’s can currently be seen on the big screen in the Jason Bourque-directed thriller Drone and his other film credits include DodgeBall: A True Underdog Story and Oliver Stone’s Savages. He’s currently in development on a drug crime TV series Sunburn.

Joel David Moore to Reprise His Role as Scientist Norm Spellman in James Cameron's 'Avatar' Sequels (Exclusive)
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Update: May 8, 2017

FEAR THE WALKING DEAD's Cliff Curtis to Star in AVATAR Sequels

Deadline has confirmed that Fear the Walking Dead‘s Cliff Curtis is boarding all four of James Cameron’s upcoming Avatar sequels in a lead role.

The New Zealand-born actor will play Tonowari, who is the leader of the Metkayina, the reef people clan (Cameron has said in interviews that the Avatar world in future installments will take place underwater).

Curtis joins returning cast members Zoe Saldana, Sam Worthington and Sigourney Weaver. Production begins at Wellington’s Stone Street Studios next year.

The first of the four sequels is due for release on Dec. 18, 2020, with other sequels to follow during the Christmas season of 2021, 2024 and 2025. Avatar remains the highest grossing film at the worldwide box office with $2.79 billion.

Sources tell us that the Avatar production will work around Curtis’s production on Fear of the Walking Dead. On the AMC show, which returns June 4, the actor plays Travis Manawa.

One of Curtis’ first roles on the big screen was in Jane Champion’s Oscar-winning movie The Piano. Other features include Once Were Warriors, Training Day, Live Free or Die Hard, and The Last Airbender, and TV series Trauma, Gang Related and Missing.

http://deadline.com/2017/05/avatar-sequels-fear-the-walking-dead-cliff-curtis-cast-1202087331/

 

[Dragonlordxxxxx]

Update: April 22, 2017

Four AVATAR Sequels Get Official Release Dates, Beginning in December 2020

James Cameron and 20th Century Fox's four Avatar sequels finally have official release dates.

They are: December 18, 2020, December 17, 2021, December 20, 2024 and December 19, 2025. So far, Avatar has those dates to itself, although Star Wars saga films are becoming a staple at Christmas every other year.

The Avatar news was announced on the movie's official Facebook page Saturday morning, along with a picture of Cameron and crew.

"Great to be working with the best team in the business! Avatar takes flight as we begin concurrent production on four sequels," Cameron said in the post.

A year ago, Cameron first revealed there would be four Avatar sequels, instead of the previously planned three, at CinemaCon, the annual gathering of theaters. At the time, his goal was to release Avatar 2 over Christmas 2018, and then a new film in 2020, 2022 and 2023.

It became clear, however, that the schedule wouldn't be met when Fox never officially dated the films.

Cameron said each of the four sequels will be able to stand alone, but will together create a saga.

The original 2009 film earned $2.8 billion worldwide and remains the top-grossing film of all time at the global box office.

http://www.hollywoodreporter.com/ne...-release-dates-beginning-december-2020-996555
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Update: April 3, 2017

Sigourney Weaver Says James Cameron's AVATAR 2 to Begin Shooting This Fall

Production on the Avatar sequel is set to begin in the fall, according to Sigourney Weaver.

“We’re starting!” the actress excitedly told The Hollywood Reporter at a screening of The Assignment, held Monday night at New York City’s Whitby Hotel. “We’re starting training, and we’re starting — hmm, I probably can’t say anything. We will be actually shooting it by the fall.”

James Cameron has previously noted that the scripts of all four Avatar films are completed, and stars Sam Worthington and Zoe Saldana are also set to return alongside Weaver. But fans were disappointed to hear that the second film would not be ready for a 2018 release date. Though the sequel to the 2009 sci-fi blockbuster, which grossed $2.7 billion at the global box office, had not officially been dated, it was expected for Christmas 2018.

Yet Weaver reassures that audiences’ patience will be rewarded in time.

“I’m telling you, these scripts are so amazing, I’m not worried about [disappointing fans] at all,” she told THR. “Am I worried about how we’re going to bring them to life? Yes, because they’re so ambitious. They’re so worth it. They're well worth waiting for. I’m not worried about that at all. We’re trying to get it done as quickly as possible.”

James Cameron's 'Avatar 2' to Begin Shooting This Fall, Says Sigourney Weaver
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Update: April 19, 2016

How James Cameron's Four AVATAR Sequels Plan Is Going Over in China

The release of James Cameron's Avatar was a defining moment for the Chinese film industry, effectively kick-starting the box-office boom era that continues in the country to this day. Avatar set a single-day box-office record of $5 million on the Monday it opened, and soon captivated the nation to earn an unprecedented $204 million.

For a generation of Chinese filmgoers, Avatar was the event picture bar none. So, when James Cameron announced at CinemaCon last week that he was making four Avatar sequels, with release dates staggered from Christmas 2018 to 2023, the news inevitably made a splash in the Middle Kingdom.

"This is fantastic news," said Jimmy Wu, chairman and CEO of Lumiere Pavilions, a prestige movie theater chain with cinemas spread across 30 Chinese cities. "We love what Avatar brought to us — quality 3D helped us establish [our business]."

Many Chinese commentators on social media platform Weibo expressed excitement mixed with a little impatience.

"When I think about Avatar, everything becomes good and all my worries are gone," posted Huang Jiaxin, adding: "I still remember how amazing the effects of the first one were. I look forward to parts two, three, four and five."

"Oh my god, when the fourth one comes out, I will be 32," wrote user Zicongyujianni sj, noting that she was just graduating high school when she saw the first Avatar film. "I might watch it with my future son," she added.

"I'm not sure if I will live until 2023," joked Weibo user Cheng Siju. "How old is James Cameron?" asked another user. "I wish him longevity for Avatar."

How James Cameron's Four 'Avatar' Sequels Plan Is Going Over in China

 

[Dragonlordxxxxx]

Update: April 28, 2016

James Cameron Plans to Shoot All Four AVATAR Sequels Simultaneously

James Cameron recently announced at CinemaCon that four different Avatar sequels are on the way between now and 2023. Today, in a new interview with Famous Monsters of Filmland, Cameron reveals the plan isn’t to shoot all four films back to back. Instead, he’ll shoot four Avatar sequels at once!

“It’s really all one big production,” says Cameron. “It’s more the way you would shoot a miniseries. So we’ll be shooting across all [four films] simultaneously. So Monday I might be doing a scene from Movie Four, and Tuesday I’m doing a scene from Movie One… We’re working across, essentially, eight hours of story. It’s going to be a big challenge to keep it all fixed in our minds, exactly where we are, across that story arc at any given point… It’s a saga. It’s like doing all three ‘Godfather’ films at the same time.”

The first Avatar sequel is slated to arrive December of 2018, with the second to follow in 2020, the third in 2022, and the final Avatar sequel finally arriving in 2023. Production on the first Avatar sequel is set to begin in New Zealand, and was previously reported that production would begin this month.

“I don’t want to land on the same [release] date as one of the ‘Star Wars’ sequels. That wouldn’t be fair to them,” Cameron laughs. “No, that’s just good business. I don’t want to go head-to-head with ‘Star Wars’. That would be stupid. And hopefully they won’t want to go head-to-head with us.”

James Cameron Not Planning to Shoot Four 'Avatar' Sequels Back-to-Back But to Film Them All at Once
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Update: April 14, 2016

James Cameron Announces 4 AVATAR Sequels, Plans to Release One Film a Year

Fox ended its Thursday CinemaCon presentation with a surprise guest: James Cameron. He announced that there will be four Avatar sequels. "We have decided to embark on a truly massive cinematic process," he said. He had previously planned for three sequels.

Cameron said as he was planning the three sequels, he found it limiting. "We began to bump up against the limitations for our art form," he said, explaining that he decided he would need more sequels to tell the whole story.

He said each of the four sequels will be able to stand alone, but will together create a saga. His goal is to release Avatar 2 at Christmas 2018, and then one each year after that.

"I've been working the last couple of years with a team of four top screenwriters," he said, "to design the world of Avatar going forward: The characters, the creatures, the environment, the new cultures."

"So far, the art I'm seeing, is in pure imagination, really far beyond the first film," he said. "It's going to be a true epic saga."

CinemaCon: James Cameron Announces Four 'Avatar' Sequels, Plans to Release One Film Each Year Starting Christmas 2018


Note: The previous Avatar thread didn't survive the Sherdog migration.

 

[Dragonlordxxxxx]

Update: September 27, 2017

First Look at the Next Generation Cast for James Cameron's AVATAR 2

Ready to get your first look at the cast of Avatar 2? The first of four sequels to James Cameron’s game-changing blockbuster won’t hit theaters until 2020. But EW has the exclusive intel on the troupe of young actors who will join stars Sam Worthington and Zoe Saldana on Pandora.

The forest-dwelling offspring of Avatar‘s human–turned–Na’vi hero (Sam Worthington) and his fiery love interest, Neytiri (Zoe Saldana), will play a crucial role in the long-long-long-awaited follow-ups to the 2009 blockbuster, the first of which began filming on Sept. 25 (and are officially called The Avatar Sequels, by the way).

The young actors playing Sully’s family are revealed here for the first time, along with the children from another Na’vi clan, called the Metkayina, who dwell on giant oceanic atoll reefs under the rule of a leader named Tonowari (Cliff Curtis of Fear the Walking Dead).

Of course, in the above photo, you’ll have to use your imagination a bit to picture the cast in CG character as lanky blue cat-eyed Na’vi. That is, with one exception — Javier “Spider” Socorro (played by 12-year-old Jack Champion, who is seated in the above photo with dark hair). Spider is a human teenager born at the Hell’s Gate military complex, a crucial location in the first film.

According to executive producer Jon Landau, the kids of Avatar 2 represent the biggest focus shift from the original movie. “We never had this youthful element before, and that brings a different kind of energy to the film,” he says. “They represent the future generation of Pandora and play a very significant role — not just in this movie but throughout all the movies.”

Director James Cameron has famously spent years working on the scripts for the four Avatar sequels. The first is scheduled to hit theaters on Dec. 18, 2020. That hiatus is nearly as long as the 12 years between Cameron’s Titanic and Avatar — and the filmmaker proved skeptics wrong once Avatar passed Titanic as the highest-grossing film of all time. Landau remarks that Avatar 2 will silence any doubters who dismissed the first title as a one-time 3-D sensation.

“Nobody is watching Avatar [on home video] or waiting in four-hour lines at Disney’s World of Avatar or going to the sold-out Cirque du Soleil shows because of the film’s 3-D,” he points out. “People respond because of the movie’s characters, themes, and emotions—and we have all that again. When the cast read what Jim Cameron wrote, it hit them with even greater resonance than the first movie.”

Avatar 2: First look at sequel's next generation cast and exclusive new details

 

[Dragonlordxxxxx]

Update: August 8, 2017

Stephen Lang's Colonel Quartich to Play the Main Villain in All Four AVATAR Sequels

James Cameron is not someone who does things by halves. The man who rebuilt the Titanic is currently hard at work on four sequels to Avatar, the first of which won't land until 2020. However, there are a few things about the upcoming sequels that fans will find familiar, not least of all the principal villain. Warning: Spoilers ahead.

It's long been confirmed that Stephen Lang's Colonel Quartich would return (despite taking a pair of four-foot arrows in the chest), but talking to Empire in our September issue, Cameron reveals that Quaritch won't be relegated to a supporting role or appear solely in flashbacks. Rather, he will continue to menace Jake, Neytiri and the other Na'vi throughout all five movies as the saga's main antagonist.

"The interesting conceit of the Avatar sequels is it’s pretty much the same characters," he says. "There are new characters and a lot of new settings and creatures, so I’m taking characters you know and putting them in unfamiliar places and moving them on this greater journey. But it’s not a whole bunch of new characters every time. There’s not a new villain every time, which is interesting. Same guy. Same motherfucker through all four movies. He is so good and he just gets better. I know Stephen Lang is gonna knock this out of the park."

Was Quaritch's body smuggled off-world by the departing Selfridge? Will he return more machine than man? Or, after being skewered deep within the Pandoran forest, might he himself end up transposed into an Avatar body, bringing a blue-skinned, eight-foot Na'vi Quaritch to bear on our heroes? The mind boggles.

Cameron's mammoth undertaking, shooting four sequels back-to-back is not only ambitious, it's a feat of scheduling that Stephen Lang himself described as "a Mongoian clusterfuck". Cameron's inspiration for said clusterfuck? One Peter Jackson.

"I said 'It’s your fault I’m doing this, motherfucker!'" He recalls. "It’s one big story. But I would say a little bit different from The Lord Of The Rings, which you knew was a trilogy and that allowed you to accept a sort of truncated ending for movies one and two and then a fulfilment. This is a greater narrative broken up into four complete stories.

James Cameron Reveals Avatar Sequel Details; Colonel Quartich Will Be the Main Antagonist in All Four Sequels

 

[Fox by the Sea]

one trillion usd boxoffice.

 

[Tamriel Terror]

4? dear god.

 

[mushishi]

Do we want this? Battle Angel Alita will never be made.

 

[BisexualMMA]

What the fuck, man.

That's the problem with quirky geniuses. They just do what interests them, whether anyone else likes it or not.

Can't JC just wait and see how Avatar 2 does before chaining himself to the franchise for life?

I have no idea why a guy who has only made two movies in the same world once suddenly wants to make five Avatars.

 

[RollSonnenRoll]

Wouldn't be shocked if part 2 doesn't meet box office expectations and this whole idea is scrapped.

 

[Fox by the Sea]

i think he's making all 4 at once. like the hobbit was done. and afterwards partitioned into 4 chunks. i imagine the actual acting will not be the biggest part of the movie.

a 4 part trilogy, as it is the case with most series now.

 

[BisexualMMA]

i think he's making all 4 at once. like the hobbit was done. and afterwards partitioned into 4 chunks. i imagine the actual acting will not be the biggest part of the movie.

a 4 part trilogy, as it is the case with most series now.

Well... Sounds crazy to me, but at the same time...he has never been wrong before.

 

[Fox by the Sea]

Well... Sounds crazy to me, but at the same time...he has never been wrong before.

i just wish he'd to Rendezvous with Rama or At the mountains of madness.
him or somebody. not michael bay.
that crazy del Toro maybe

something.

 

[mushishi]

i just wish he'd to Rendezvous with Rama or At the mountains of madness.
him or somebody. not michael bay.
that crazy del Toro maybe

something.

Rama would be awesome to see in theaters. I loved that book; the other 3 weren't too great.

 

[bdthrill]

It's James Cameron you guys. The movies are going to be good. Stop worrying

 

[Jermei]

Epic ambition to make 4 sequels but Cameron always delivers. I expect them all to be good.

 

[LATEXXX COMMANDO]

4? Whew.