Zoe Saldana is heading the way of water…
The first full official trailer for James Cameron’s Avatar: The Way of Water, starring the 44-year-old Puerto Rican and Dominican American actress, has been released.
Disney will begin the overseas rollout of the sequel to the highest-grossing film ever on December 14 with its U.S. release set for December 16.
The Way of Water is set more than a decade after the events of the first Avatar film. It follows the Sully family (Jake, Neytiri [Saldana] 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 as they fight for their home on Pandora. Brimming with stunning visuals and new creatures, the trailer also features a callback to the original movie with the signature Na’vi line: “I see you.”
The sequel stars Sam Worthington, Saldana, Sigourney Weaver, Kate Winslet, Michelle Yeoh, Edie Falco, Stephen Lang, Giovanni Ribisi, Oona Chaplin, Jermaine Clement and more.
Disney previously previewed a teaser trailer at CinemaCon in April before playing it exclusively in theaters on Doctor Strange in the Multiverse of Madness, and then put it online in May.
The studio, Cameron and producer Jon Landau have been making the rounds with footage from the film, screening during June’s CineEurope conference in Barcelona and at D23 in September as well as for executives from China Film Group (a release there is still unconfirmed).
Disney also released a remastered 4K HDR version of the original film in September to set the table for the sequel, and included sneak footage tagged onto the end.
Sources indicate The Way of Water will clock in at more than three hours, but no exact final run-time has been decided. The original was two hours and 41 minutes.
In total, four sequels are planned. Said Landau in Vegas, “The journey across all four movies will create a connected saga.”
Said Cameron at the time, the new films are “pushing limits even farther with high frame rate, higher resolution 3D and greater reality in our visual effects. I wanted our return to Pandora to be something really special. Every shot is designed for the biggest screen, highest resolution and most immersive 3D available. I think we pulled it off.”