When the first Avatar film was released in 2009, people flocked to the theaters as the movie unveils its 3D version. Back then, 3D technology in films was fairly new and people are still excited about it. As time files, things change. Some may even think that 3D is dead but not for James Cameron. Speaking with Slash Film, Avatar director James Cameron defends using 3D technology and pointing out how much it influenced today’s cinema, “I think it had an impact on how films were presented that’s now just sort of accepted and part of the zeitgeist and how it’s done.” Cameron reiterated that 3D isn’t dead, it has just been accepted, “3D appears to most people to sort of be ‘over.’ But it’s really not over. It’s just been accepted. It’s just now a part of your choices when you go to the theater to see a big blockbuster movie. I liken it to color.” Comparing 3D films into colored movies, Cameron said, “When color films first came out, it was a big deal. People would go to see movies because they were in color. I think around the time of Avatar, people used to go to see movies because they were in 3D.”
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Cameron used Avatar as an example on how 3D shaped modern films, “Avatar won the best cinematography with a 3D digital camera. No digital camera had ever won the best cinematography Oscar before.” During Disney’s D23 Expo over the weekend, Avatar: The Way of Water has been previewed to the attendees of the event handing them out some 3D glasses and showing some clips for the highly anticipated sequel in 3D.
After more than a decade, the sequel to what once was the highest-grossing film of all time is finally arriving to theaters with Avatar: The Way of Water featuring a new perspective on Pandora. Avatar: The Way of Water will jump ten years after the first Avatar film and will feature the family of Jake and Neytiri, their children, Neteyam, Lo’ak, and Tuktirey, and their adopted kids, Spider, a human, and Kiri, a teenage Na’vi. Will you see Avatar: The Way of Water in 3D? It premieres in theaters on December 16, 2022. In preparation for the upcoming sequel, Avatar will be having a re-release in theaters in 4K High Dynamic Range on September 23.