The next “Avatar” movie will triple the running time and is rumored to be released on Disney+
Photo credit: 20th Century Studios
Disney has found great success with theirs avatar movies. Walt Disney World’s Animal Kingdom opened Pandora: The World of avatar in 2017 and Disneyland recently announced plans to bring a similar experience to California.
A feat of CGI technology, the first avatar (2009) still holds the title for the highest-grossing film of all time, according to Box Office Mojo. The sequel 2022, Avatar: The Way of Water, is currently the third highest grossing film. Both films have substantial running times, with the first lasting over two and a half hours and the sequel over three hours. The third part of avatar Franchise is already in development and is said to triple the running time of the first two films.
Director James Cameron has hinted at the epic proportions that the next film will bring, noting that new Na’vi tribes and characters will be introduced and Pandora will be explored in even more detail than before. The latest rumor about the project is that it will have a nine-hour Director’s Cut runtime. While the theatrical cut will likely be much shorter, similar to the three hours of the first two parts, the film will be released as a limited series on Disney+.
Hollywood insider Jeff Sneider has claimed that Cameron has a plan for the huge film and wants visual effects to be completed throughout the run. While reducing the effort to just a three-hour theatrical cut wouldn’t make sense, releasing the entire nine hours as a limited series would allow Cameron to tell the entire planned story and give audiences triple the content.
Disney+ has created a number of original series for the streaming platform, mostly focused on the MCU and War of stars, seeing mostly positive feedback from fans. It would be a smart move by Disney to further incorporate this tactic and offer a more detailed version of a film they would be familiar with. The third film is scheduled for release in December 2024, with a fourth film planned for 2026 and a fifth in 2028.
