Since the online release of the new Avatar 2 trailer, the viewer count has not stopped ticking. In fact, Avatar: The Way of the Water trailer brought in an incredible 148 million viewers in its first day, which is pretty damn impressive. James Cameron’s new sci-fi movie is clearly something people are interested in, yet the project still has its detractors.
The first Avatar movie broke box-office records upon its release in 2009, thanks mainly to its innovations in the field of 3D filmmaking. Although the 2000s movie eventually lost its place at the top of the box-office rankings to Avengers: Endgame, a brief re-release of the fantasy movie helped it reclaim the title as the highest grossing movie of all time.
Now, Cameron’s long-awaited sequel, which has been 13 years in the making, is making waves yet again. Despite the massive surge in clicks for the Avatar 2 trailer, critics and movie-goers are seemingly as divided as ever. So, is Avatar: The Way of the Water actually going to be as good as some people are saying?
The Avatar 2 trailer originally launched exclusively in theatres, and many who saw the clip on the big screen were lavishing praise on the footage. That buzz has seemingly continued since the trailer dropped online, with the kind of numbers that eclipse the likes of Star Wars trailers.
However, the 148 million (23 million of which came from China alone) is not enough to top the might of the Fast and Furious franchise, with Fast 9 sitting pretty at over 200 million views in its first 24 hours.
We’re sure James Cameron isn’t too concerned with trailer views though. The bigger picture is all about how Avatar 2 will be received upon release, and whether it can be another box-office behemoth for the filmmaker, who also has Titanic in third place in the highest grossing movies of all time.
The Avatar franchise has its fair share of sceptics though, with many movie fans retrospectively panning the original movie as forgettable and boring, despite its stunning visuals. Twitter user Alex Baze tweeted that he “will fucking lose it if anything in Avatar 2 requires us to remember anything in Avatar 1.”
I will fucking lose it if anything in Avatar 2 requires us to remember anything in Avatar 1.
— Alex Baze (@bazecraze) May 10, 2022
This is going to become my religion. https://t.co/nkWH94onHy
— Cameron Frew (@FrewFilm) May 9, 2022
On the other side of the fence, Avatar: The Way of the Water has plenty of positives to be found on social media. Film critic Cameron Frew is clearly excited, claiming “This is going to become my religion,” in a tweet including the trailer.
Whether this new instalment in the alien romance movie franchise is any good or not, ultimately remains to be seen. The trailers do look technically astounding, but story is king! We will just have to wait for the Avatar 2 release date on December 22, 2022, to find out.