Avatar: The Way of Water is now available to stream as video-on-demand. James Cameron’s much-delayed sequel is now available for purchase on Apple TV and YouTube, arriving almost four months after its theatrical release on December 16. On YouTube/ Google Play Movies, Avatar 2 starts at Rs. 690 for the SD (standard definition) version, while the 1080p full-HD version is available for Rs. 850. Meanwhile, on Apple TV, the Oscar-nominated film is available in Ultra-HD Dolby Vision/ Atmos at Rs. 590. There’s only English language audio present in both cases, albeit the Apple TV version comes with additional Spanish subtitles. Both have the base theatrical runtime of 3 hours, 12 minutes.
Since its release Avatar: The Way of Water has been smashing box office records, currently at the no. 3 position among the highest-grossing films of all time. Cameron’s sci-fi sequel has collected $2.3 billion (about Rs. 19,000 crore) at the global box office, dethroning his own 1997 disaster romance movie Titanic, which earned $2.2 billion (about Rs. 18,129 crore) through multiple re-releases.
It also earned a Best Picture nomination at the Oscars, in addition to deservedly winning the award for Best Visual Effects. Currently, there is no word on a streaming release on subscription services, although it is expected to release on Disney+ and Disney+ Hotstar. Normally, Disney sets a minimum 45-day timeline before a theatrical release heads over to streaming. However, with Avatar 2 still performing strongly in theatres, the wait will be a little longer.
Set 15 years after the events of the first film, Avatar: The Way of Water sees Jake Sully (Sam Worthington) and Neytiri (Zoe Saldaña) as parents to five kids, making a living in the lush forest of the exotic moon planet Pandora. When trouble resurfaces in the form of ‘Sky People’ led by a resurrected Recombinant Colonel Miles Quaritch (Stephen Lang), the family is forced to flee and seek help from the coast-dwelling Metkayina clan, who teach them new ways to fight and help prepare for the oncoming battle. As for Avatar 3, Cameron alluded that it will introduce the ‘Ash People’ representative of the fire culture, and in the process portray the Na’vi from a different, not-so-good angle.
Back in February, Cameron conducted a ‘scientific study’ to end the 25-year-long Titanic debate of whether Jack could have fit and survived on the door/ raft with Rose. In the National Geographic special, the filmmaker is seen working with a team of scientists to recreate the scene and test four unique scenarios where Jack climbed onto the floating door with Rose. In one of the tests, Jack actually managed to survive the freezing cold by balancing in a specific position, though Cameron remains adamant that it isn’t entirely conclusive.
“He stabilized. He got into a place where if we projected that out, he just might’ve made it until the lifeboat got there,” he said in the special. “Jack might’ve lived, but there’s a lot of variables. I think his thought process was, ‘I’m not gonna do one thing that jeopardises her’, and that’s 100 percent in character.”
Avatar: The Way of Water is now available as VOD on YouTube, Google Play Movies, and Apple TV. It is also playing in theatres worldwide, with India receiving additional dubs in English, Hindi, Kannada, Malayalam, Tamil, and Telugu.