Avatar 2

A look inside James Cameron’s upcoming ‘Avatar 2’. Image via Twitter @officialavatar

‘Avatar 2’: First look at James Cameron’s long-awaited sequel [photos]

After being delayed for years, ‘Avatar 2’ finally has a release date. From an underwater world to family life, there is plenty to expect!

Avatar 2

A look inside James Cameron’s upcoming ‘Avatar 2’. Image via Twitter @officialavatar

The long-awaited fantasy film, Avatar 2 hits cinemas in December 2022 and the first look offers fans a glimpse at Jake and Neytiri’s family life, with their adopted human son Spider. Canadian filmmaker James Cameron is going all out for this sequel and insisted on filming underwater.

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‘AVATAR 2’

Avatar 2 is the first of four sequels that director James Cameron has planned for the Avatar franchise. The film follows Jake (Sam Worthington) and Neytiri’s (Zoe Saldana) family life on planet Pandora. When a threat returns to the planet, Jake and Neytiri must do everything in their power to protect their home. 

Jake and Neytiri have three kids and their fourth happens to be a human child named Spider played by Jack Champion. Producer Jon Landau told Empire that Jake took Spider in but Neytiri sees him as one of the people who destroyed her home. 

TAKE A LOOK AT SPIDER HERE

American actor Stephen Lang will be back as Colonel Miles Quaritch. Other actors set to return are Sigourney Weaver and Carol Christine Hilaria Pounder and Matt Gerald. New faces include Kate Winslet, Michelle Yeoh and Cliff Curtis.

FILMING ‘AVATAR 2’

Being a lover of the ocean, James Cameron, who also directed Titanic, saw the perfect opportunity to put his love of the ocean and his love of filmmaking together. Filming Avatar 2 did come with a few challenges but the production team made it work. 

James Cameron, his team of star directors and producers filmed some footage underwater in a tank that was built specifically for the Avatar sequels. Thereafter, the footage was animated by Oscar-winning visual artists Weta Digital

“My colleagues within the production really lobbied heavily for us to do it ‘dry for wet’, hanging people on wires.” 

(“Dry for wet” is a film technique where smoke and lighting effects are used to make it look like the scene is underwater).

“I said it’s not going to work. It’s not going to look real. I even let them run a test, where we captured ‘dry for wet’ and then we captured in water, a crude level of our in-water capture. And it wasn’t even close,” Cameron told Entertainment Weekly

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WHAT TO EXPECT

Celebrated director James Cameron said the only reason Avatar 2 is happening is because the first film “made so much damn money”. 

“The sequels are a story about family and the lengths parents will go through to keep that family together and keep them safe,” Jon Landau told Entertainment Weekly. 

Avatar 2 is set to hit cinemas on 16 December 2022.