James Cameron to Miss Avatar: The Way of Water Premiere After Testing Positive For COVID-19

James Cameron will reportedly not attend Monday’s Los Angeles premiere of Avatar: The Way of Water, after he has contracted COVID-19. The news was broken in a report from Variety on Monday afternoon, which indicated that the director is asymptomatic and feeling well. According to the reporting, Cameron will continue to appear virtually as part of The Way of Water‘s publicity tour, ahead of the film’s theatrical debut this coming weekend. Cameron did appear at The Way of Water‘s world premiere in London earlier this month, where the film was met with a largely-warm response from critics and other attendees.

Avatar: The Way of Water will be the long-awaited follow-up to Cameron’s 2009 Avatar, which has the distinction of being the highest-grossing film of all time. It is one of several sequels that Cameron has planned for the franchise.

“The goal is to tell an extremely compelling story on an emotional basis,” Cameron previously shared with Total Film about The Way of Water. “I would say the emphasis in the new film is more on character, more on story, more on relationships, more on emotion. We didn’t spend as much time on relationship and emotion in the first film as we do in the second film, and it’s a longer film, because there’s more characters to service. There’s more story to service.”

What is Avatar 2 about?

Set more than a decade after the events of the first film, Avatar: The Way of Water begins to tell the story of the Sully family, the trouble that follows them, the lengths they go to keep each other safe, the battles they fight to stay alive, and the tragedies they endure. The film will see the return of Sam Worthington, Zoe Saldana, Giovanni Ribisi, Sigourney Weaver, Stephen Lang, Joel David Moore, Dileep Rao, CCH Pounder, and Matt Gerald. New cast members include Kate Winslet, Cliff Curtis, Edie Falco, Brendan Cowell, Michelle Yeoh, Jemaine Clement, Oona Chaplin, David Thewlis, and CJ Jones.

Are you excited for Avatar: The Way of Water? Share your thoughts with us in the comments below!

Avatar: The Way of Water is currently scheduled to be released exclusively in theaters on December 16th.