Director James Cameron’s upcoming filmAvatar: The Way of Waterwill be making its highly-anticipated arrival in theaters this December. The sequel to the 2009 hit film will have a runtime of roughly three hours, which Cameron believes many will complain about, but the veteran director remains unfazed about potential ‘whining’ from audiences.
Cameron’s 2009 filmAvatarwas a box office sensation when it stepped onto the cinematic scene. The film generated over $2.84 billion, making it the highest-grossing film of all time worldwide. Cameron is known for his extraordinary work onfilms such asTitanicandThe Terminator, but the Pandora-based film has been his most successful work to date. The originalAvatarhad a runtime of 160 minutes, which at the time felt long, but the sequel looks to push things further.
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“I don’t want anybody whining about length when they sit and binge-watch television for eight hours,” expressed Cameron while speaking with Empire. “I can almost write this part of the review. ‘The agonizingly long three-hour movie….’ It’s like, give me a f*** break.” The runtime forAvatar: The Way of Watershouldn’t be new to audiences, especially with the release of popular films over the years that have eclipsed, or come close to, the supposedly dreaded three-hour mark.
Warner Bros.The Batmanhad a theatrical runtime of 176 minutes, making it the longest soloBatmanfilm to date. The Matt Reeves film, however, was beloved by audiences and quickly became one of the year’s highest-grossing films domestically.Marvel Studios’Avengers: Endgameclocked in with a theatrical runtime of roughly 182 minutes and is regarded as one of the best comic book films ever, sitting only behindAvataron the list of highest-grossing films worldwide.
Overall, films with incredibly long runtimes are not foreign to audiences, which is something Cameron likens to binge-watching a series. “I’ve watched my kids sit and do five one-hour episodes in a row. Here’s the big social paradigm shift that has to happen: it’s okay to get up and go pee,” expresses Cameron. Of course, the fear of missing something important sits in the back of one’s mind when exiting the theater for things such as a bathroom break, but the marathon is one audience’s have run before, and one many will presumably run again onceAvatar 2officially releases.
It’s been nearly 13 years since the release ofAvatarin 2009, creating concern for many that too much time has passed for the sequel to replicate the original’s success. To combat the continuity concern, the 2009 film will be re-released in theaters this September ahead of the sequel. It’ll be interesting to see how the new film performs, but Cameron appears to be unfazed by the sequel’s runtime or the extensive gaps between the original andthe brand-new Pandora adventure.
Avatar: The Way of Waterwill hit theaters on August 02, 2025.
