50 Fun Facts About Avatar 2: the Way of Water

Who directed Avatar: The Way of Water?

Cameron co-wrote it with Rick Jaffa and Amanda Silver, and produced through his company Lightstorm Entertainment.

How many years after the events of the first film is The Way of Water set?

Long enough for Jake and Neytiri to have teenage sons.

Which reef-dwelling clan gives Jake's family refuge?

Their chief Tonowari is played by New Zealand actor Cliff Curtis.

What are the Sully family's two sons called?

Neteyam is the eldest; Lo'ak is the troublemaker who bonds with a Tulkun.

Kiri, the Sullys' adopted daughter, was born from the inert avatar of which character?

Sigourney Weaver plays both Grace and the teenage Kiri.

Which actress plays the teenage Kiri?

Weaver was nearly 70 when she performed the role of a 14-year-old.

Miles 'Spider' Socorro is the human son of which character?

Quaritch's recombinant recognises the boy as his son and tries to win him over.

Quaritch returns in the sequel in what form?

Stephen Lang says Cameron always intended Quaritch to come back, even while shooting the first film.

Payakan, who saves Lo'ak, is what kind of creature?

Tulkun are whale-like, highly intelligent, and sworn to pacifism, which is why Payakan was exiled.

Why was Payakan exiled by the others of his kind?

Attacking anyone violates the Tulkun vow of pacifism.

Which Sully child is killed during the climactic battle?

He is fatally shot while rescuing Lo'ak, Tsireya and Spider.

What medical condition do Norm and Max diagnose Kiri with after her vision at the Spirit Tree?

They warn she could die if she links with the Spirit Tree again.

Who plays Ronal, the pregnant wife of the reef clan's chief?

It reunited Winslet with Cameron 25 years after Titanic.

Which Sopranos star plays General Frances Ardmore, commander of the RDA's interests?

She joined in a live-action role alongside Brendan Cowell and Jemaine Clement.

Which Flight of the Conchords star plays marine biologist Dr. Ian Garvin?

Marc Maron also auditioned for the part.

Who plays Tonowari, the reef clan's chief?

He was one of 46 New Zealand cast members hired for the production.

Which actor from the first film announced in 2015 that she would NOT be returning for the sequel?

Her character Trudy Chacón died in the first film; Weaver and Lang returned despite theirs dying too.

Which actor turned down an undisclosed role in the film?

Marc Maron auditioned but lost out to Jemaine Clement.

Preliminary shooting began in August 2017 in which California city?

Production moved to Wellington, New Zealand the following month.

Which country hosted the sequels' live-action filming and much of the visual effects work?

The government deal required a world premiere in Wellington and at least NZ$500 million spent locally.

Roughly how long did the actress playing Ronal hold her breath in one underwater scene, a film-shoot record?

She beat the record Tom Cruise set on Mission: Impossible – Rogue Nation.

Why couldn't the cast use scuba gear during underwater motion capture?

Infrared light also failed underwater, so the system had to switch to ultraviolet.

Which VFX house spent a year and a half building a new underwater motion capture system for the film?

Its VFX producer called it the biggest project the company had ever taken on, at nearly 3.3 billion thread hours.

Some scenes were shot at a higher frame rate than the standard 24 fps. What rate?

The faster rate keeps fast-moving objects clearly visible, especially in 3D.

Which film was shot simultaneously with The Way of Water?

By September 2020, 95% of the third film had been shot as well.

Cameron wrote and then threw out a 130-page script for the sequel. What was it titled?

He felt it lacked the spiritual component of the original; it later became a comic book series.

Which real-world tragedy led Cameron to cut about ten minutes of gunplay from the film?

The cuts came during editing in New Zealand, where the shootings had taken place.

James Horner, who scored the first Avatar, died in 2015. Who composed the sequel's score?

Franglen had worked with Cameron and Horner as a producer and arranger on Titanic and Avatar.

Which artist performed the film's original song 'Nothing Is Lost (You Give Me Strength)'?

Swedish House Mafia co-produced it with Franglen.

Zoe Saldaña performs a vocal piece with the composer in the film. What is it titled?

It plays during Neytiri's mourning.

Where did the world premiere take place on December 6, 2022?

The US release followed on December 16.

Which studio released The Way of Water in the US, unlike the first film's release by Fox?

Disney acquired 21st Century Fox's entertainment assets in 2019.

Roughly how much did the film gross worldwide in its first theatrical run?

That made it the highest-grossing film of 2022 and third-highest of all time.

For how many consecutive weekends did the film stay at number one at the US box office?

That was the longest run of any film since the original Avatar.

What was the film's domestic (US and Canada) opening weekend?

Nearly double the original's $77 million opening, though below some projections.

Which Academy Award did The Way of Water win at the 95th Oscars?

It was nominated in all four of those categories.

The Way of Water is the first of how many planned Avatar sequels?

Cameron announced at CinemaCon 2016 that all four would be filmed simultaneously.

Which comedian-actor auditioned for the role of Dr. Ian Garvin?

Clement's Dr. Ian Garvin is a marine biologist working for the whaler Scoresby.

Which cast member's infant son filmed a cameo as the Sullys' eldest boy as a baby?

Moore plays Norm Spellman; his son Oliver appears briefly.

Which cloud company did Weta use to manage the enormous data load?

ILM assisted Weta with some of the visual effects work.

According to Cameron's water breakdown, roughly what share of The Way of Water is set in or on water?

Fire and Ash was to be about 30% water, and the fourth and fifth films 15%.

Which country's government gave the Avatar sequels more than NZ$140m through its Screen Production Grant?

The disclosure in July 2022 sparked a political row about film subsidies.

Which carmaker unveiled a Vision AVTR concept car inspired by the film at CES 2020?

The car appeared nearly three years before the film did.

Who is expelled from Pandora in the first film, then cameos as Selfridge in the sequel?

He is signed for all four sequels, with a bigger role promised in Fire and Ash.

Who plays Captain Mick Scoresby, the hunter of the whale-like Tulkun?

The Australian actor's character employs marine biologist Ian Garvin, played by Jemaine Clement.

Which actress plays Tsireya, the Metkayina daughter Lo'ak befriends?

Filip Geljo plays her brother Aonung, whose hunting-trip prank strands Lo'ak in dangerous waters.

How many Academy Award nominations did The Way of Water receive at the 95th Oscars?

They included Best Picture; the first Avatar had drawn nine nominations thirteen years earlier.

Which cinematographer, a Cameron veteran of True Lies and Titanic, shot the Avatar sequels?

Mauro Fiore had shot the first Avatar and won the Oscar for it.

On which two streaming services was The Way of Water released on June 7, 2023?

Physical media followed on June 20, and a 3D 4K high-frame-rate version later arrived on Disney+ for Apple's visionOS.

What was the estimated budget range that made The Way of Water one of the most expensive films ever?

Deadline still ranked it first among 2022's 'Most Valuable Blockbusters' once box office and home media were counted.