And here I thought this gorgeous, hypotonic teaser for Avatar: The Way Of Water was supposed to be in theaters only for a week. So either I misheard or Disney lost their nerve, since it just popped up online early this morning. To be fair, most “only in theaters” trailer debuts like Chris Nolan’s Dark Knight sequels premiered in legit versions on Sunday night or Monday after their “only in theaters” debuts, and around $449 million worth of global moviegoers already saw this teaser as it was intended before theatrical showings of Doctor Strange in the Multiverse of Madness.
Moreover, this is very much an announcement teaser, offering the mere idea of a return trip to James Cameron’s Avatar sans any explicit plot details or character reveals. Like the earliest teasers for The Dark Knight Rises, Aladdin or Tenet (which remained in theaters only for all of summer 2019), this tease might have been “disappointingly brief” had it debuted during a football game with countless fans constantly refreshing their Twitter feed waiting for it to drop. But as the last trailer following the expected previews for Thor: Love and Thunder, Top Gun: Maverick, Minions and Lightyear, it did its job.
I saw the tease at Cinemacon and then twice on Friday both in a Dolby theater (before my noon showing of Petite Maman) and in my local AMC’s biggest non-premium auditorium (which happened to be closing out their pre-Doctor Strange 2 trailer reel right as Petite Maman ended). Seeing it in a Dolby theater was an ideal circumstance, and yes it looked gorgeous in 2-D and sans any higher frame-rate presentation. But the second time offered an unexpected treat. I was (briefly) sitting next to a few adults who had no idea the teaser was coming, and their reaction was a delight to observe.
They reacted with warm shock and had grins on their faces for the entire 115-second runtime, happy that we were returning to Pandora 13 years later. That’s why this trailer premiered in theaters attached to showings of one of the biggest movies of the year, the surprise factor. If you aren’t perpetually online and don’t pay constant attention to this stuff, you might not have known what was coming. To quote Chris Nolan’s best movie, it was the look on their faces, as well as a reminder that general audiences liked and still like Cameron’s $2.8 billion-grossing, Oscar-winning blockbuster.
While I don’t necessarily expect Avatar: The Way Of Water to absolutely replicate the first film’s $760 million domestic/$2.847 billion global gross, there’s no reason not to expect it to be the biggest global earner of 2022. Even a 50% drop would give this flick $1.4 billion. That’s presuming A) it’s not another modern sci-fi/fantasy classic and B) China doesn’t treat it like Avengers: Endgame ($620 million in 2019). After all, Avatar earned $205 million in 2010 in 10% of the theaters eventually available for the Avengers finale, and a 2021 reissue earned $55 million (enough to snatch the global crown back from the MCU).
However, there are four Avatar sequels heading our way, which means Avatar: The Way Of Water needs to be good enough to get audiences excited about the prospect of three more over the next several years. If not, while I’m sure Avatar 2 will be a massive hit I cannot say the same for Avatar 3, Avatar 4 and Avatar 5. We’ve seen with Fantastic Beasts what can happen when a planned five-film franchise doesn’t deliver, and the only reason I’m not more cynical about this planned five-part franchise is because James Cameron has more than earned our benefit of the doubt.
Avatar: The Way of Water opens theatrically on December 16, 2021. Meanwhile, Avatar will be remastered and return theaters in on September 23, meaning my kids who had expressed interest in rewatching it (they saw and loved it in early 2018) can hopefully resist the urge to throw in the Blu-ray or hit “play” on Disney+ for a few more months. Fun fact: If Avatar can earn an additional $153 million worldwide, it’ll become the first $3 billion-grosser in history. As always, we’ll see but, as always, I believe in James Cameron.
Jake Sully in 20th Century Studios’ AVATAR: THE WAY OF WATER. Photo courtesy of 20th Century Studios. ©2022 20th Century Studios. All Rights Reserved.
Courtesy of 20th Century Studios
(L-R): Ronal, Tonowari, and the Metkayina clan in 20th Century Studios’ AVATAR: THE WAY OF WATER. Photo courtesy of 20th Century Studios. © 2022 20th Century Studios. All Rights Reserved.
Courtesy of 20th Century Studios
Neytiri in 20th Century Studios’ AVATAR: THE WAY OF WATER. Photo courtesy of 20th Century Studios. © 2022 20th Century Studios. All Rights Reserved.
Courtesy of 20th Century Studios
Ronal in 20th Century Studios’ AVATAR 2. Photo courtesy of 20th Century Studios. © 2022 20th Century Studios. All Rights Reserved.
Courtesy of 20th Century Studios
(L-R): Lo’ak and a tulkun in 20th Century Studios’ AVATAR: THE WAY OF WATER. Photo courtesy of 20th Century Studios. © 2022 20th Century Studios. All Rights Reserved.
Courtesy of 20th Century Studios
(L-R): Spider and Kiri in 20th Century Studios’ AVATAR: THE WAY OF WATER. Photo courtesy of 20th Century Studios. © 2022 20th Century Studios. All Rights Reserved.
Courtesy of 20th Century Studios
(L-R): Lo’ak and Kiri in 20th Century Studios’ AVATAR: THE WAY OF WATER. Photo courtesy of 20th Century Studios. © 2022 20th Century Studios. All Rights Reserved.
Courtesy of 20th Century Studios
(L-R): Neytiri and Jake Sully in 20th Century Studios’ AVATAR: THE WAY OF WATER. Photo courtesy of 20th Century Studios. © 2022 20th Century Studios. All Rights Reserved.
Courtesy of 20th Century Studios
Source: https://www.forbes.com/sites/scottmendelson/2022/05/09/why-the-avatar-the-way-of-water-trailer-debuted-in-theaters-first/