Avatar 2 concept art

The Avatar sequels are coming. Slowly but surely, the four follow-on movies from the formerly highest-grossing movie of all time are making their way to cinemas. Not this year. Not next year. But December 2022.

Today, the official Avatar Twitter released four new pieces of concept art for James Cameron‘s long awaited sequel, Avatar 2 (that’s probably not the official title). Details on the plot remain scarce beyond the story involving the kids of Jake Sully (Sam Worthington) and Neytiri (Zoe Saldana), but Cameron has been hard at work on the film for a long time now trying to push the visual effects while remaining true to his vision of 3D filmmaking even though Hollywood has largely abandoned 3D.

Avatar 2 concept art 

These pieces of concept art don’t really tell us anything new about the story, but they do tell us that the sequel will take us to new places in Pandora, which is to be expected. Sequels typically go bigger and take viewers to new settings, and Cameron is very proud of the entirely new planet he created (when I went to review the original Avatarback in 2009, every critic was handed a book detailing the flora and fauna of Pandora).

As you would expect from the name, it looks like a robotic crab that's able to retract its arms to float around in the sea. We've already seen hints at underwater creatures to come, and now it looks like they'll be facing off against a human threat once again.

Cameron previously teased that the Avatar sequels (of which there are four coming to cinemas between 2022 and 2028) will be “spending quite a bit of time on the water, around the water, in the water.” The first Avatar 2 concept art also showcased the beautiful new fauna and flora we can expect to see on our second trip to Pandora.

Disney has just announced numerous changes to its upcoming release calendar in the months and years ahead due to the pandemic, and that includes pushing back every one of James Cameron’s four Avatar sequels. They were previously slated to begin a year from this Christmas; instead the sequels will not begin to roll out in theaters until at least December of 2022. 

The question I continue to come back to (and really the only question that matters until we get something more tangible on the plot) is whether audiences are eager to return to the world of Avatar. I know it’s unwise to bet against Cameron after he won big with both Titanic and Avatar, but I don’t buy the argument that Avatar is somehow more precious because it hasn’t been continued on with books and TV shows and other franchise tie-ins that we expect for major blockbuster sagas. While I’m sure it’s convenient that the movie is just the movie, I don’t know if Avatar is the same kind of enduring pop culture myth. The original Avatar was huge, but with the sequel coming 12 years later, I’m not sure there’s the urgency to return to Pandora.

Avatar 2 concept art