Blockbuster movies have gotten increasingly longer in recent years, and it's become commonplace for major studio tentpoles to boast three-hour plus runtimes (Avengers: Endgame and The Batman are two recent examples). Marvel Studios has gone down a different route lately, however, as the Doctor Strange sequel and Thor: Love and Thunder are among their shortest movies.
Avatar was a longer movie than most back in 2009 at a whopping 162 minutes, and filmmaker James Cameron is unsurprisingly pulling out all the stops with Avatar: The Way of Water.
In the latest issue of Empire Magazine (via SFFGazette.com), the director made it clear that he doesn't care if people aren't on board with his plans to deliver a sequel that's at least three hours long. "I don't want anybody whining about length when they sit and binge-watch [television] for eight hours," he says. "I can almost write this part of the review. 'The agonisingly long three-hour movie...'"
"It's like, give me a f***ing break," Cameron continued. "I've watched my kids sit and do five one-hour episodes in a row."
It's a fair point in some ways, though it's worth bearing in mind that you can pause a TV show or take a break between episodes! For those who don't want to miss anything, sitting through a three-hour movie can be a bit of a pain...particularly for those with a somewhat weak bladder.
To that, Cameron simply said, "Here's the big social paradigm shift that has to happen: it's okay to get up and go pee." Well, if he says it's okay, we're guessing missing a few minutes of Avatar: The Way of Water won't matter too much.
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 (Jake, Neytiri, and their kids), 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.
To whet audiences' appetites, Disney/20th Century Studios will re-release Avatar in theaters on September 23. As for Avatar: The Way of Water, that arrives in theaters worldwide on December 16.