With less than a month left in the year, there’s a chance James Cameron’s Avatar: The Way of Water will snake Top Gun: Maverick’s crown for the biggest movie of 2022 (at least based on the first reactions).
13 years and US$250 million later, what is currently Hollywood’s most expensive film ever has dazzled entertainment journalists fortunate enough to get a feature-length preview weeks before it hits cinemas.
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And while criticisms of the long-awaited sequel have been near-identical to what we heard about the first franchise instalment – i.e. weak story, 2D characters – there’s been nothing but high praise for Cameron’s visual efforts.
The triumphant return to Pandora has been labelled everything from “mind-blowing,” “breath-taking,” to regular old “stunning”; many going as far as ranking Avatar 2 above the original.
Check out what’s being said right now…
Avatar: The Way of Water First Reactions
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A Multi-Billion-Dollar Sigh Of Relief?
It’s a good thing the sequel will (ostensibly) resonate with audiences. Because based on what James Cameron mentioned just last month, Avatar: The Way of Water – which he himself labelled “the worst business case in movie history” – will have to rake in a whole lot of cash just to escape box office flop territory.
“Very fucking expensive,” was the only answer Cameron was willing to offer when prompted about the production budget by GQ Magazine.
“You have to be the third or fourth highest-grossing film in history. That’s your threshold. That’s your break-even.”
“I like difficult. I’m attracted by difficult. Difficult is a fucking magnet for me. I go straight to difficult.”
“And I think it probably goes back to this idea that there are lots of smart, really gifted, really talented filmmakers out there that just can’t do the difficult stuff. So that gives me a tactical edge to do something nobody else has ever seen, because the really gifted people don’t fucking want to do it.”
Hailing the return of Australia’s own Sam Worthington and Zoe Saldana, James Cameron’s Avatar: The Way Of Water has officially reserved December 16th of 2022 for its release date, giving blockbusters from rival studios ample warning to steer clear.
