One week since its official worldwide release, blockbuster Avatar: The Way of Water has earned $555 million from the global box office (according to Box Office Mojo statistics).
Avatar: The Way of Water is both a continuation of Avatar (2009) and a blockbuster that opens a new era on screen for this brand.
According to IndieWire, James Cameron spent two years in Australia helping design a special diving device called the Deepsea Challenger.
While cultivating the idea for the Avatar sequel series, James Cameron and Jon Landau also participated in producing another big-budget film project, Alita: Battle Angel (2019) with director Robert Rodriguez.
During the pre-production phase for Avatar, James Cameron and 20th Century Fox (now renamed 20th Century Studios after being acquired by Disney) had a fierce argument over whether to cut or omit the Jake (Sam Worthington) scene.
Coming to The Way of Water, even though 90% of the film takes place in the coastal area, James Cameron still takes the time to bring the audience back to the forests of Pandora at night, but under a new light.
Sharing with IndieWire, James Cameron said he has built a large group of screenwriters to come up with ideas for the Avatar sequels.
In Avatar: The Way of Water, Jake’s parenting methods are somewhat militaristic and rigid.
However, Jake is not the only character that James Cameron has given part of his personality to.
James Cameron’s filmmaking career is associated with `strong female` characters on screen.
Avatar: The Way of Water went into production in 2017, but it will take until 2022 to hit theaters.
Before The Way of Water was released, the press often reported on the advanced underwater filming technologies used in the film.
The reason why audiences have to wait so long to see Avatar: The Way of Water in theaters is partly due to the outbreak of the Covid-19 pandemic worldwide.
`There are very few scenes that are 100% real on film. So every time we shoot scenes with human characters – for example, Jack Champion’s Spider or the Tulkun hunting party – it has to be real footage; everything is real.
Spider and Kiri are two characters with special fates, many of which remind of the director’s own childhood (Photo: Disney)
Talking about the underwater world in the film, the challenge for the director and the film crew was to create a realistic, lively space, making the viewer feel like they are truly submerged under the ocean.
Viewers watching Avatar: The Way of Water expressed surprise when they learned that the 14-year-old character Kiri in the film was played by actress Sigourney Weaver, who was about to turn 70 (at the time the film was recorded).
Talking about this decision, James Cameron shared: `With this technology, we can think of the possibility that an actor can play a character of any age, any gender or race, right?