Return to Pandora in the First ‘Avatar 2’ Trailer

After literally more than a decade of development, James Cameron’s Avatar sequels are finally coming to theaters. It feels like you could have flown to Pandora in the time it’s taken to get these movies.

The first, Avatar: The Way of Water, is scheduled to open in theaters this holiday season. It is expected to be the first of at least four more Avatar movies, all directed by Cameron. He has been developing the films since almost the moment the original Avatar became one of the biggest movies in history, and he’s been actively shooting the motion capture for several years. The first trailer for The Way of Water debuted in theaters before Doctor Strange in the Multiverse of Madness over the weekend, but now it’s online, so you don’t need to buy a ticket to see it. Take a look:

Yep; it looks like Avatar. And frankly I’m sort of surprised it doesn’t look that much different from the original movie. The first Avatar felt like a huge leap forward in visual effects (and especially in 3D). This teaser feels like a continuation of that story, but if The Way of Water has some kind of epic, mind-blowing technological leap in store for viewers, it’s not in evidence yet.

Here is the film’s official synopsis:

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.

Avatar: The Way of Water is scheduled to open exclusively in theaters on December 16, 2022.