13 years later, the sequel to the biggest box office hit of all time is finally almost here.
Released in cinemas in December 2009, James Cameron's sci-fi epic Avatar went on to make $2.847 billion at the global box office, still unmatched to this day.
Cameron hasn't directed another movie since then, diving deeper into the worlds he created in Avatar, to the point when it almost felt like a sequel might actually never arrive.
In the 13 years since then, the movie's production company 20th Century Fox was sold off to Disney, who now hold the rights to Avatar, and on Wednesday night in Las Vegas, as part of Cinema Con, the studio revealed its upcoming slate of big movies, including footage from Lightyear, the Doctor Strange Sequel, the Bobs' Burgers movie... and yes, finally, the first footage from
Avatar: The Way Of Water.
The scenes showed that the story has also picked up over a decade after the events of the first movie, with Jake Sully (Sam Worthington) and Neytiri (Zoe Saldana) protecting their young family, with footage showing the blue ocean worlds of Pandora, with scenes taking place both above and below the surface.
The sequel will see Sigourney Weaver and Stephen Lang return to their roles from the original - which... definitely requires some answers, considering what happened to them - and they'll be joined by new cast additions Kate Winslet and Vin Diesel.
According to reports, the footage shown at Cinema Con astonished audiences, and could actually see the return of 3D screenings worldwide.
It was reported that the first trailer for Avatar: The Way Of Water will screen in front of Doctor Strange In The Multiverse Of Madness - JOE has reached out to Disney Ireland representatives to confirm that will also be the case here - before being made available to watch online a little while after that Marvel's release date.
Avatar: The Way Of Water is scheduled to arrive in Irish cinemas on 16 December 2022, with Avatar 3 already scheduled for December 2024, Avatar 4 for December 2026 and Avatar 5 for December 2028.
Ahead of that, the original Avatar will be getting a remastered re-release in cinemas, with a tentative release some time this Autumn.
Main image via Avatar: The Way Of Water IMDb page
