Avatar: The Way of Water Extended Preview Reveals Nine Minutes of Official Footage

Avatar: The Way of Water is making its way to home media with its digital release, and 20th Century Studios is celebrating by doing something that will bring in buyers who haven't seen the film. Vudu has released the first nine minutes of Avatar: The Way of Water for fans who are considering watching the second film in the franchise. Director James Cameron and the studio were planning to keep the second Avatar movie in theaters for as long as possible to build up its box office to record-breaking heights. While Avatar: The Way of Water is being released on home media, there has been no word on its Disney+ release, so fans will have to rent or buy the film to either watch it or rewatch it.

You can check out the first nine minutes of Avatar: The Way of Water below.

Avatar: The Way of Water Has Been a Longtime Coming

Cameron has been developing sequels to his record-breaking film for over a decade. The studio has announced four sequels to Avatar, with two already filmed, and the other two are waiting to see how the first does at the box office. The director shot both sequels back to back due to how the scenes they needed to film for both. About a year ago, Cameron confirmed to Variety why he shot the films this way.

"We mixed the schedules for 2 and 3 together, based on the types of scenes and the environments," Cameron revealed to the trade. "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."

The sequel is confirmed to feature several returning stars that include 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 several 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. Plot details for the sequels are currently unknown.

Avatar: The Way of Water is available on digital download now, with Avatar 3 set to debut in theaters two years later on December 20, 2024.

Will you be buying Avatar: The Way of Water on home media? Let us know in the comments below or by hitting up our writer @NateBrail on Twitter!