Three years after its original release, Avatar: The Way of Water is returning to US cinemas today, and director James Cameron thinks it's a "pretty good ride" after rewatching it himself.
"I usually have a moratorium of a couple of years where I just don't want to think about it," he told Variety ahead of the re-release of the Avatar sequel, admitting he doesn't like to rewatch his own movies too soon. "There's a certain point when you've been away from where you could start to be more of an audience and less of a picky filmmaker."
With The Way of Water, however, Cameron had to break his own rule, as he needed to revisit his latest work during the production of the upcoming Avatar: Fire and Ash, which is releasing in cinemas in December.
"We're going through the finish of the VFX now [on Fire and Ash] – we have been, really, for the last two years, but we're really coming down to the wire now," he explained. "And I want to be thematically consistent about the way music was used and underscore during dialogue scenes and things like that. So I have rewatched it. It's a pretty good ride, I have to say!"
The Way of Water marked the highly anticipated return to Pandora thirteen years after the original Avatar. The story saw Jake Sully and Neytiri's family seeking refuge with the aquatic Metkayina clan after humans destroyed their home.
One year after the events of the Avatar: The Way of Water ending, Fire and Ash will follow the protagonists as they grapple with grief after Neteyam's death and are forced to deal with an aggressive Na'vi tribe called the Ash People.
The cast includes returning actors Sam Worthington, Zoe Saldaña, Sigourney Weaver, Stephen Lang, and Kate Winslet, with Game of Thrones star Oona Chaplin debuting as Varang.
Avatar: Fire and Ash hits theaters on December 19, 2025. Avatar 4 is set to hit theaters in 2029. For more, check out our list of the most exciting upcoming movies in 2025 and beyond, or, skip ahead to our complete list of movie release dates.
