‘The Way of Water’ could take on a whole new meaning if you don’t time your pee break properly for James Cameron’s sequel.
A Chinese outlet is reporting that “Avatar 2: The Way of Water” will clock in at a whopping 190 minutes. This would beat Damien Chazelle’s “Babylon” by two minutes. “Black Panther: Wakanda Forever” is “only” 161 minutes.
The first “Avatar” clocked in at 162 minutes. The ambition for the sequel seems to have been kicked up a notch. Hopefully, it doesn’t feel like 190 minutes. I’m reminded of an old Roger Ebert quote, one of his great ones; “No good movie is too long and no bad movie is short enough”.
Some are already wondering which of the two late-year blockbusters might get Best Picture nominated: ‘The Way of the Water’ or ‘Wakanda Forever.’ Why can’t both? It’s been a weak year for Oscar bait and the Academy desperately wants popular movies to be part of their ceremony because … RATINGS.
As it stands, ‘The Way of Water’ could easily compete in VFX, Cinematography, Production Design, and Sound. The top-tier categories (Picture, Director) will almost certainly depend on the critical reaction the film gets when it is released on December 16th.
NOTE: I sent 20th Century an email this late afternoon asking to confirm Way of the Water’s 190 minute runtime. They have yet to reply, but I’ll hopefully get an email back from them tomorrow. Stay tuned for confirmation.