Avatar Gets an Upgrade on Disney+

Fans of James Cameron's Avatar franchise were delighted this past week, as the record-breaking Avatar: The Way of Water finally made its way to streaming, debuting on both Disney+ and Max. Little did we know, however, that the arrival of Way of Water would also bring a very significant upgrade to Avatar as well. Alongside the debut of Avatar: The Way of Water, Disney+ gave the original Avatar some significant upgrades.

Beginning on Wednesday, Disney+ made the original Avatar available in the highest definition it has to offer. You can now stream Avatar in 4K Ultra High Definition, with HDR 10 and Dolby Atmos. 

The timing for these changes to the original Avatar makes sense for Disney+, given how many other formats the remasters edition of Avatar has been or is getting released in. Ahead of The Way of Water's release last year, Avatar went back to theaters with its full 4K remaster. The movie will finally be getting a 4K disc as well, hitting shelves this month alongside the new Avatar: The Way of Water 4K disc.

Original Avatar Star Not Returning to the Franchise

Many of the stars of Avatar made their way back for The Way of Water, but Michelle Rodriguez was not among them. In fact, she doesn't ever plan on returning, because she wants to do justice to her character, who died in the first film.

"Dude, when I saw Jim [Cameron] recently, he was like, 'I was thinking, What if Michelle came back? A lot of the other characters came back [in The Way of Water],'" Rodriguez told Vanity Fair. "I was like, "You can't do that—I died as a martyr. Jim, I came back in Resident Evil, I wasn't supposed to. I came back in Machete, I wasn't supposed to. I came back with Letty, I wasn't supposed to. We can't do a fourth, that would be overkill!" I don't understand, it's so weird. I guess they don't know what to do with the girl who doesn't have a boyfriend. "She doesn't have a boyfriend. Should we keep her alive, or kill her?"

Both Avatar movies are now streaming on Disney+. The Way of Water is also streaming on Max.