Avatar 2 is so powerful that just 20 minutes brought Zoe Saldaña to tears

Zoe Saldaña has seen 20 minutes of Avatar 2 – and it reportedly moved her to tears. 

"I can get choked up just talking about it," Saldaña said of the sequel in an interview with Kevin McCarthy (via People). "I was able to see just 20 minutes of the second installment, right before the year ended, last year. And I was speechless. I was moved to tears."

The first Avatar movie came out back in 2009, so the sequel is long-awaited. The series stars Sam Worthington as Jake Sully, a former Marine turned Na'vi and Saldana as Na'vi princess Neytiri, alongside big names including Sigourney Weaver, Kate Winslet, and Edie Falco. 

The sequel is set to explore the underwater world of the fictional planet Pandora and will focus on the Sully family – several years have elapsed and Jake and Neytiri are now parents. 

"[Director James Cameron] was finally able to crack that challenge – that whole thing that you can’t imitate water, virtually, through performance capture," Saldaña added. "That was just a challenge that he had taken upon himself, and it took him years, and he did it. He did it. It’s powerful, it’s compelling."

Producer Jon Landau revealed the first official plot details to Total Film last year: the Sullys’ idyllic life is disrupted when the RDA mining operation returns to Pandora, forcing Jake to take the family to "what is perceived as a safe harbor" at the reef, but new problems await there.

Avatar 2 arrives on the big screen on December 16 (with three more sequels set to follow every other year until 2028). In the meantime, check out our list of the other upcoming movie release dates to get excited about in 2022.