Avatar 2, the sequel to the highest-grossing film of all time and the start of a violent franchise, opens December 14th.
Director James Cameron recently fueled the anticipation by saying that the film would make viewers s*** with their mouths open. The first trailer was spectacular, but only a small taste.
ROLLING STONE lists some facts about “Avatar 2 – The Way Of Water” that you must know.
1. New camera
For “Avatar 2” James Cameron and Jon Landau had their own new camera called “Venice” built. She has also been in action for “Avatar 3” (2024).
2. Daunting task for the authors
To cope with the daunting task of tackling multiple sequels at once, Cameron hired a writing team. Featuring Rick Jaffa, Amanda Silver, Josh Friedman and Shane Salerno. They worked on the entire story for a total of seven months, working out every scene. Only then did Cameron assign who would be in charge of which film. According to the director, an important measure: “I knew if I assigned them their scripts in advance, they would switch off every time we talked about the other film.”
3. Expensive, expensive, expensive
The Avatar sequels will total over $1 billion.
4. 13 fucking years
By the time Avatar 2 hits theaters, it will have been a total of 13 years since the premiere of the first part. Since the sequel was announced shortly thereafter in 2009 and preliminary work was done, the sequel will definitely make film history. The film has one of the longest development times of all time. Avatar 2 was originally supposed to launch in 2015. There are several reasons why it was so delayed. For one thing, Cameron was looking for the right technique. In addition, he wanted to push through several sequels, which would then be twisted in the style of “Lord of the Rings”.
5. James Horner was originally supposed to do the film music
Film composer James Horner and director James Cameron have worked together several times in the past (“Aliens”, “Titanic”, of course “Avatar”). Actually, the Oscar winner should also be there for the sequel to the fantasy hit. He was also firmly planned – but died in 2015. Simon Franglen then took over for him. He is still quite unknown as a film composer, but he has already worked with Horner on the music team for “Titanic” and “Avatar”. His first major score was for The Magnificent Seven (2016).
6. Hold your breath
According to James Cameron, Kate Winslet did all her underwater stunts herself. The actress reportedly broke Tom Cruise’s dive record by allowing herself to be filmed underwater for a good seven minutes. After the scene, she left the set exhausted but happy, according to producer Jon Landau.
7. Edward Norton turned down role
Edward Norton was approached by James Cameron for Avatar 2. But the actor had one condition: he wanted to play a Na’vi instead of a human. That did not work. Cameron, apparently a fan of Norton, eventually cast him as Nova in Alita: Battle Angel (2019), which he produced.
8. James Cameron can do a sequel (but kept his hands off it for a long time)
In fact, Avatar 2 is the first sequel to a Cameron film since Terminator 2. At least that would be a good omen. In the list of the best sequels, the action hit with Arnold Schwarzenegger is always at the top.
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