Avatar: The Way of Water and Runtimes

After a thirteen-year break in the franchise, James Cameron’s long-awaited sequel to Avatar is set to hit cinemas in December this year. As the first of three other sequels, the film has promised to be a theatrical experience never seen before. But for some, the recently announced runtime of the film has already put off prospective audiences. Currently at a whopping three hours and ten minutes, Avatar: The Way of Water is set to be Cameron’s second longest film ever, falling just behind Titanic.

For me, whilst I enjoyed Avatar after first watching it, I never saw it as a franchise with potentially multiple instalments. The storyline was fairly simple to follow, the dialogue interesting, and the characters were relatively easy to care about. Even the ending seemed pretty final to me, and it was not until last year that I was even aware about a sequel, let alone an entire series.

The worldbuilding is truly the greatest strength of the film and, with any luck, the sequel should be equally as beautiful

But the real draw of Avatar, at least in my eyes, are the visual effects. As a child, the imagery of an entire new world with jungles and oceans and strange animals was enough to keep me entertained for hours, and I mean literally hours. Even today, I believe that the design and imagination behind the film is still one of the best I can remember. The worldbuilding is truly the greatest strength of the film and, with any luck, the sequel should be equally as beautiful.

My only concern is the story. For something like Avatar, I could potentially get behind one or two new films in the franchise with a runtime of over three hours. A trilogy of longer films is workable and have proven to be a success in the past. But the prospect of five films all potentially running for over three hours each seems impractical and almost unbearable. The storylines need to develop further and become far more complicated for the franchise to bear any weight, especially after the conclusion of the first film.

Three-hour long films might be a thing of the past

But even if the plot of the franchise drastically improves, I can still see many people avoiding the film altogether. A lot has changed since 2009 when Avatar was first released, and streaming services such as Disney+ have mastered the art of twenty-minute episodes. More people are now choosing to skip films altogether in favour of a short series, or even simply TikTok. Three-hour long films might be a thing of the past.

More importantly, in 2009, Avatar was seen as a ground-breaking for its visual effects – something that so many films now emulate. Its unique selling point might no longer be so unique, especially with films such as Interstellar, Life of Pi and the entire Marvel Cinematic Universe. Cameron’s plan in the first place was to wait until technology was able to fulfil his vision for the film, and I cannot help but wonder if he has left it too late.

That is not to say that Avatar: The Way of Water is not going to be successful. I will still watch it even if the three hours become gruelling. Either way, I am excited to see what Cameron has in store for this sequel, but will keep my expectations realistic.