Avatar 2 Preview Expected at CinemaCon

CinemaCon has officially kicked off in Las Vegas and though some announcements and previews have already been revealed, the biggest yet may still arrive soon. According to a write-up from The Hollywood Reporter, The Walt Disney Company is expected to offer attendees a first-look at James Cameron’s long in-development sequels to Avatar, the first of which arrives this year. The panel for Disney and its studio subsidiaries is scheduled to take place on Wednesday, and with rumors of a teaser for Avatar 2 being attached to Marvel’s upcoming Doctor Strange in the Multiverse of Madness it seems like the potential for actually seeing something from Avatar 2 could be real, and happening soon.

20th Century Studios President Steve Asbell previously teased that yes, despite all of the delays that have happened, Avatar 2 is going to be released this year. In a previous interview with THR, Asbell had no hesitation about replying in the affirmative when asked about the sequel’s Christmas 2022 release date. He then added, “For real. It’s going to blow people away. You’re not ready for what Jim is doing.” Considering its release date is just eight months away the promotional cycle will undoubtedly need to begin soon for a traditional marketing campaign, so a first look at Avatar 2 is closer than ever.

An official title for Avatar 2 has not been confirmed by the studio but the film is confirmed to feature several returning stars including Sam Worthington, Zoe Saldana, Stepehn Lang, Giovanni Ribisi, Joel David Moore, Dileep Rao, CCH Pounder, Matt Gerald, and Sigourney Weaver. The cast for the sequels will include even more newcomers than returning members though with the likes of Kate Winslet, Cliff Curtis, Edie Falco, Brendan Cowell, Michelle Yeoh, Jemaine Clement, Oona Chaplin, David Thewlis, Vin Diesel, and CJ Jones all set to appear as well.

Cameron’s development of the sequels to his 2009 feature film have been in the works for over a decade, with the director developing four sequels, two of which have been shot and two of which are dependent on the box office success of the other films. 

“We mixed the schedules for 2 and 3 together, based on the types of scenes and the environments,” Cameron confirmed to Variety last year. “I said, let’s just treat it like it’s a six-hour miniseries and we’re only going to go to Frankfurt once. We’re going to shoot all the scenes from 2 and 3 at the same time. That was more or less the motif. Actor availability was an issue as well. Anything that had to be done with a specific actor, we did all the scenes for 2 and 3 together — and a little bit of 4. Because once again, I had to shoot the kids out. They’re allowed to age six years in the middle of the story on page 25 of movie 4. So I needed everything before then, and then everything after, we’ll do later.”  

Avatar 2 is set to arrive on December 16, 2022, with Avatar 3 set to debut two years later on December 20, 2024.