Posted in: 20th Century Studios, Disney, Marvel Studios, Movies, Pixar | Tagged: 20th century studios, avatar 2, Avatar: The Way Of Water, disney, marvel, movies, pixar
CinemaCon 2022: Disney Premieres Avatar 2 Footage and More
When you own roughly half the studios in the entire industry, you know that Disney will show up with a lot of stuff for a CinemaCon presentation. And while they did turn up today, they probably brought less than some people expected while also bringing more. They brought a lot of footage for two movies but not a ton for everything else that would be coming out for the rest of the year, which is an interesting way to go about promoting the rest of the theatrical year. They brought out about 20 minutes of Doctor Strange in the Multiverse of Madness and Lightyear, both of which are getting their own first impressions article, but there was also a sizzle reel that had some hints in there. The big one appeared to be just a few frames of Black Panther: Wakanda Forever featuring Shuri and Nakia, but no looks at the suit.
From there, Disney switched gears in a big way to 20th Century Studios and the new David O. Russell film, which is set to come out on November 4th. That is primate real estate for the awards season, which isn't surprising for an O. Russell film. It has a fantastic cast, and we got to see a bit from the trailer during the Disney presentation. For me personally, O. Russell films tend to be hit or misses, so we'll have to see how this one ends up playing out later this year.
We jumped from that to another 20 Century Studios film which is The Bob's Burgers Movie. For a little while, it looked like this one is going to be one that would be lost to the great vault following the Disney/Fox buyout. However, it appears that the movie is finally happening, which is really nice for fans of one of the best-animated shows out on TV right now. The opening scene is a musical number featuring the entire Belcher family doing their absolute best, which is all we want from them at all times.
Finally, Disney ended the show on a bang with Avatar 2 or Avatar: The Way of Water, as the subtitle was revealed. We saw brief teases of footage during the sizzle reel, and after this movie was specifically mentioned by IMAX yesterday and the logo outside of the panel, it seemed obvious that we were going to see something. It was revealed that despite there being four more movies, they are all going to be rather standalone while still telling an overarching story if you place them all together. So it sounds like there won't be some massive cliffhanger at the end of this sequel, and then we have to wait for the third one to roll around. We found out that the first trailer will be only in theaters attached to Doctor Strange in the Multiverse of Madness next week and will be online the week after that, but the 3D glasses they handed to us at the beginning meant that we were going to see the teaser today.
As someone who has had a lot to say about Avatar and the need for all of these sequels, it really is undeniable how beautiful the world that James Cameron and his team have created. This teaser trailer didn't really tell us that much about the story, but it did show off the visuals and the world that we are heading back to in this movie. The 3D looked gorgeous, but as someone with severe eye issues, it remains unclear whether or not there will be any strain. The room seemed very excited at the idea of more Avatar and Avatar: The Way of Water, so maybe the demand really is here even though it has been so long. We'll have to see when the movie drops on December 16th, and with that, Disney closed out their presentation while not covering or showing much from some big movies coming out this year alone. We didn't see anything new from Thor: Love and Thunder or anything about Strange World, which is their fall animated film. The choice to show more footage from two movies instead of smaller chunks of a bunch of films is interesting, to say the least.