Avatar: The way of the water has finally been released in theaters. 13 years after the first movie broke box office records and became the highest-grossing movie of all time, Avatar: The way of the water has finally brought audiences back to Pandora. For many, it felt like this day would never come as news of avatar sequels have been buzzing around since the release of the first movie.
avatar sequels were announced soon after, but also faced constant announcements and delays, with the movie always seeming to be forever out of reach. The delays to Avatar: The way of the water had become a meme online, with multiple posts about how Avatar: The way of the water would have been released on this or that particular day.
Several franchises had been dropped avatars ahead of its late December release date and became a huge success, taking advantage of the sequel’s absence. Of Avatar: The way of the water finally out, look back at the long journey it took to get here, all the different release dates the movie had and what movies came in to take their place.
December 2014 and 2015
The first release date for Avatar: The way of the water (just called avatar2) was originally reported for December 2014 and announced in October 2010, just 10 months after the first film opened in theaters. It was at this point that Cameron intended not to make it alone avatar2 but also avatar3 and that the films would be filmed back to back and released a year apart.
In 2013 it was clear avatar2 would not hit theaters in 2014, and Cameron hoped to have the film in theaters by December 2015, likely December 18, to release six years from the date of the original film. In 2014, it was confirmed that Cameron would not be developing alone avatar2 and 3 but also avatar4 and 5 and rented a writer’s room to draft the sequels. Because of this and the fact that Disney had set it up Star Wars: The Force Awakens for release on December 18, 2015, Avatar: The way of the water got a new release date of December 16.
December 2016 and 2017
The movie that would become Avatar: The way of the water was delayed two more times, first in 2016 and then in 2017. While no official reason was given, it seemed Cameron was focused on developing the story for the sequels and also pushing the visual effects technology. Principal photography of the motion capture elements wouldn’t begin until August 2017, not showing just how long Avatar: The way of the water was in development, but how long it actually took to film.
Both December release dates have been taken by Disney for their new batch Star Wars movies with Rogue One: A Star Wars Story opening on December 16, 2016 and Star Wars: The Last Jedi on December 15, 2017. Star Wars had become a December franchise, and Disney didn’t seem to want to let go of the release date. However, in 2017, Disney already started the purchase process of 20th Century Fox, which was completed in 2019, giving them control over the avatar franchise, and the studio would definitely make room for it.
December 2018
In April 2016, James Cameron officially announced the release date for Avatar: The way of the water for December 2018, with the first sequel for December 2020 and the next two openings in December 2022 and December 2023 respectively.
In March 2017, Cameron subsequently confirmed that Avatar: The way of the water would not make it to the 2018 release date due to the extensive visual effects process and filming schedule. Disney had chosen to release them Star Wars movie for the year, Solo: A Star Wars Story, in the summer, leaving the holiday season wide open. A slew of high-profile movies released during the 2018 holiday season, including Disney’s Mary Poppins returnsParamount Pictures’ BumblebeeSony Pictures’ Spider-Man: Into the Spider-Verseand Warner Bros. Aquarius.
December 18, 2020
Avatar: The way of the water was then scheduled for release on December 18, 2020, as it would not fill the holiday release slot left vacant due to the lack of Star Wars movies that would end the Skywalker Saga Star Wars: The Rise of Skywalker on December 19, 2019 and no future movies have been announced yet. In 2019, the film was delayed for another year, back to 2021. Had the film kept its 2020 release date, it would still have been delayed due to the COVID-19 pandemic.
December 17, 2021
Disney and 20th Century Studios set Avatar: The way of the water for release on December 17, 2021, hoping once again to fill the void left on their release schedule Star Wars movie. However, the COVID-19 pandemic delayed the filming of the movie, and Avatar: The way of the water was pushed back one last time to December 16, 2022, when it would finally be released 13 years after the first film.
That December 17, 2021 release date would eventually go Spider-Man: no way home, which was the first movie after the COVID-19 pandemic to gross $1 billion and helped show audiences were willing to go back to the movies. It helped pave the way for Avatar: The way of the water big big return.
Disney currently has avatar3 scheduled for release on December 20, 2024, and is almost ready. avatar4 and avatar5 are both in development and have release dates for December 18, 2026 and December 22, 2028, respectively.