Avatar: The Way of Water is a visually arresting spectacle that critics are calling director James Cameron’s most personal film. Only billion-dollar profits can satisfy the makers.
Nì’i’a! At last!
Set on Pandora’s lush moon, this science adventure raised the bar for special effects and broke records. With its re-releases, *Avatar* has grossed over €2.7 billion on the big screen. That’s more than any other film.
But when viewers have been asked over the years for their memories of *Avatar*, the results have been slim. While it’s easy to name Marvel superheroes and Star Wars characters, many people can’t remember the names of any *Avatar* characters.
How did something so forgettable become so big? And how is it possible that *The Way of Water* is now predicted to be the biggest film of the year?
We called one of the few who never forgot Avatar.
Three hours on a foreign planet
Wright may be familiar to some from the HBO Max documentary series *How to With John Wilson*. It includes a visit to a Kelutral event, where a lecture on the Na’vi language is given, the meaning of Avatar is discussed, and a movie is watched with 3D cakes.
There are blue candies, blue lollipops and blueberries. There are a handful of participants.
Wright saw *Avatar* on the big screen when he was 14 years old in December 2009. The moon of Pandora was such a fascinating place that he wanted to live there.
Wright, who describes himself as a dreamer, went to see Avatar in the theater seven more times.
– It was the first film that, after seeing it, I genuinely felt as if I had spent three hours on an alien planet.
“Tsun oeng pivlltxe nìNa’vi nì’aw”
Let’s summarize the plot of *Avatar* briefly. In the 21st century, a giant company mines precious smart metal on Pandora, which is inhabited by three-meter human-like na’vi. In order to gain more information about the planet, scientists infiltrate the Na’vi with loaner bodies called avatars.
After seeing *Avatar*, Seth Wright wanted to immerse himself deeper into its world. It required effort, because there was not the same kind of rich fan culture around the film as, say, Star Wars.
He found others like him online and began learning the Na’vi language. There was no ready-made dictionary or grammar, so fans developed them based on lines heard in the film.
– There are about 2300 root words in the language. By changing and modifying them, you can call anything na’vi at any time, Wright says.
So could we make this interview na’vi?
– Srane, tsun oeng pivlltxe nìNa’vi nì’aw. (“Yes, we could just speak Na’vi.”)
Pandora is the main character in Avatar
Wright is not surprised that many viewers have forgotten the characters of *Avatar*. He admits that the characters are one-dimensional archetypes and the plot formulaic.
However, in his opinion, those who criticize them are focusing on the wrong thing.
– Did you remember the names of the characters before watching *Avatar* again, Wright asks.
No, I admit.
– But did you remember Pandora? Right.
According to Wright, Pandora is the real protagonist of *Avatar*. He fell in love with Pandora in 2009, and Pandora is what has made him dedicate a large part of his life to *Avatar*.
James Cameron and his working groups seem to think the same. The trailers for *The Way of Water* tell almost nothing about the plot or the characters. This is exceptional for big entertainment films.
Instead, Pandora and its new underwater worlds are carefully presented. The assumption is that it is they who will bring viewers to the cinemas from tomorrow.
Cameron has always been a master at creating experiences. Such as *Terminator* (1984) and *Terminator 2* (1991), *Abyss* (1989) and Titanic (1997). To enable experiences, he has advanced computer effects and 3D and motion capture technology.
The development work has slowed down the completion of the films. In the 2000s, Cameron has made one feature film, one documentary and some TV projects.
*Avatar: The Way of Water* was supposed to come out already in 2014, but the project dragged on and on. The number of sequels swelled from one to four, and Cameron realized that the underwater scenes required technology that did not yet exist.
*The Way of Water* has an estimated budget of up to 400 million dollars. Cameron has calculated that the film needs to be at least the fourth highest grossing film of all time in order to turn a profit.
The first signals are at least promising.
“Cameron’s most sensitive film”
In Finland, the film was shown to journalists on Tuesday morning in a 3D IMAX screening.
It is a three-hour spectacle that expands the story told in the first part in new directions. The dialogue is still clichéd in some places, but Cameron’s visual storytelling is so effective that it hardly bothers.
Technically, *The Way of Water* is incredible. The special effects are great, the digital characters move more realistically than anywhere before. In addition to the traditional version, the film is shown as an HFR version, where one second holds 48 frames instead of 24. The end result is sharper, similar to, for example, sports broadcasts.
There is no need to say much about the plot, because the world of the film is much more important. The underwater images create a recognizable visual look for *The Way of Water* that stands out from the first part.
*The Way of Water* is a film about families. In addition, it deals with animal rights exceptionally directly for a Hollywood film. There are intelligent species living on our planet, which we treat badly. Cameron has been a vegan for ten years.
New generations of fans awakening
*Avatar* fan Seth Wright estimates that only a few dozen people speak Na’via. The fan community is small primarily because they haven’t been offered any content for over a decade.
It’s happening now though. The third film of the *Avatar* saga has already been filmed, and the premiere is announced for Christmas 2024. The fourth part has already been filmed. Cameron has plans, at least until the downtime.
Either in 2023 or 2024, a big video game *Avatar: Frontiers of Pandora* will also be released.
Wright believes that a whole new generation of fans will soon discover the world of Avatar. The number of visitors to Kelutral’s online community has multiplied this fall.
– Now that more content is coming, people are starting to wake up and remember what kind of experience Pandora is.