It is not totally unexpected that the trailer for James Cameron’s Avatar: The Way of Water, a sequel that has been over ten years in the making, would attract an astounding number of views. However, the sheer number of views for the first 24-hours since its release shows just how much fans of the first film are eager to jump back into the mystical world of Pandora.
The trailer was first presented exclusively in theaters over the weekend, before going online on Monday, May 9. According to The Hollywood Reporter, within a day the video had amassed 148.6 million views, with 23 million coming from China alone. This means that the trailer has collected more views in a single day than all the recent Star Wars movies. As a comparison, Rise of Skywalker was viewed a total of 112.4 million times in the first 24-hours, being tens of millions of views short of Cameron’s upcoming sci-fi sequel.
The number of views across social media and YouTube does not include the millions of people who got to watch the teaser trailer on the silver screen prior to watching the highly anticipated Doctor Strange in the Multiverse of Madness, which opened to $187 domestically and $450 million overseas.
The trailer shows more of the Earth-like moon of Pandora and the amazing exotic creatures that inhabit it, which enraptured fans over ten years ago. Although it does not make clear what the exact plot is going to be, as those details have been tightly under wraps as of now, we do know that the movie will see the return of Sam Worthington as Jake Sully and Zoe Saldaña as Na’vi Neytiri. Other cast members who are returning for the second installment are Sigourney Weaver and Stephen Lang. In addition, the sequel will introduce to the fictional world of Pandora Michelle Yeoh, Edie Falco, Oona Chaplin, Vin Diesel, and Kate Winslet, who will all be taking on major roles.
The 2009 Avatar still holds the title of the top-grossing film ever made, with a global box office of $2.84 billion. Similarly to Cameron’s Titanic before it, a restored version of the original Avatar is planned for rerelease in theaters on September 23.
Avatar: The Way of Water premieres in theaters on December 16, 2022.