The first teaser trailer for James Cameron’s long-awaited sequel, Avatar: The Way of Water, garners more views in its first day online than any of Disney’s Star Wars films. When Avatar was released in theaters over a decade ago, the pop culture phenomenon pushed the boundaries of CGI and 3D and became the top-grossing film of all time with $2.84 billion worldwide. The first of Cameron’s three Avatar sequels, Avatar 2, subtitled The Way of Water, will finally continue the story of Jake Sully (Sam Worthington), the Na’vi princess Neytiri (Zoe Saldaña), and their family later this year.
In addition to Worthington and Saldaña, The Way of Water features returning cast members Sigourney Weaver as Dr. Grace Augustine, Stephen Lang as Colonel Miles Quaritch, Giovanni Ribisi as Parker Selfridge alongside newcomers like Kate Winslet, Vin Diesel, and Cliff Curtis. During CinemaCon 2022, Disney showed the first footage for the sequel, screening it only for those in attendance. The following week, the Avatar: The Way of Water trailer premiered ahead of Doctor Strange in the Multiverse of Madness, and that same teaser later dropped online after playing in theaters over the weekend.
According to Disney (via THR), The Way of Water’s teaser trailer racked up 148.6 million views in its first 24 hours, 23 million of which came from China. Those numbers are higher than those attached to the trailers for any of Disney's recent Star Wars films, including The Rise of Skywalker (112.4 million), which also premiered its teaser in theaters before dropping it online. The trailers for F9: The Fast Saga (202.7), Black Widow (116.8), and Incredibles 2 (113.1) followed the same release pattern.
In 2014, the first teaser trailer for The Force Awakens was viewed 55 million times in its first 24 hours online. At the time, Star Wars fans hadn’t visited a galaxy far, far away in live-action since 2005’s Revenge of the Sith. Similarly, it’s been 13 years since audiences have seen Pandora, but millions of people who saw The Way of Water’s teaser on the big screen ahead of Multiverse of Madness seem to have gone home and watched it again online. As was the case with Star Wars, anticipation for Avatar’s follow-up has resulted in sky-high expectations.
The Way of Water visits the underwater worlds of Pandora, and Cameron had to create new tech to film these no doubt impressive scenes. The original Avatar pushed the boundaries of moviemaking technology, and the sequel looks to take motion capture, CGI, and 3D to the next level. The Way of Water’s first trailer contains next-to-no dialogue, and leans on music and stunning visuals to show audiences what Cameron has been working on all this time. That said, two of his sequels have already been filmed, with The Way of Water releasing on December 16, 2022, and the second currently set for release on December 20, 2024. With only one trailer released so far, the immense interest in Avatar: The Way of Water's first look sets up another mega-hit for Cameron.
Source: THR
