James Cameron Has Concerns About ‘Avatar: The Way of Water’ Runtime

James Cameron is expressing concern over this December’s highly anticipated release of Avatar: The Way of Water. The long-awaited sequel to the 2009 sci-fi epic is going to have a pretty long run time, which Cameron realizes may not go over well.

However, the Titanic director points out that audiences spend hours binge-watching television. So should runtime even be something that is criticized? Cameron doesn’t think so.

Avatar: The Way of Water Runtime Will Be Long

“I don’t want anybody whining about length when they sit and binge-watch (television) for eight hours… I can almost write this part of the review. ‘The agonizingly long three-hour movie…’ It’s like, give me a f****** break. I’ve watched my kids sit and do five one-hour episodes in a row.” Cameron says to Empire Magazine.

It’s clear by the language that Cameron uses that he’s already annoyed with the idea of the film’s runtime being a talking point. The original Avatar, which is the highest-grossing film of all time, clocked in at 160 minutes. Yet, Avatar: The Way of Water‘s runtime is currently coming in around three hours.

The Shift that Needs to Happen with ‘Avatar: The Way of Water’

“If we did 20% or 30% less because the market simply doesn’t exist anymore, that would be bad,” Cameron continues. “Here’s the big social paradigm shift that has to happen: it’s okay to get up and go pee.”

Cameron also notes that he had questioned whether or not creating an Avatar sequel was the right move to make. 

“I had to think long and hard whether I even wanted to make another ‘Avatar’ film, because it was kind of ours to lose,” Cameron confesses. “When you’ve done something that’s been that transcendent in terms of success, do you really want to go try and do that again? There’s a lot of pressure on it. I thought about it for a good two years before we finally made a deal.”

Avatar: The Way of Water hits theaters on December 16, 2022! Are you excited for the highly anticipated sequel? Sound off in our comment section below!