‘Avatar’ Sequel Coming to Disney+ Next Month!

In 2009, director James Cameron took viewers on an incredible journey to the exomoon Pandora in the film Avatar. There, they were introduced to the Na’vi, a peaceful people whose planet was being invaded by humans in their quest to mine the rare mineral Unobtanium. The humans threaten the Na’vi and their way of life, and they must fight to save their home. The film starred Sam Worthington as Jake Sully, Zoe Saldana as Neytiri, Sigourney Weaver as Dr. Grace Augustine, and Stephen Lang as Colonel Miles Quaritch. The movie was a massive hit and is still the most successful movies of all time.

Even before Avatar premiered, Cameron said that he wanted to make sequel films. Less than one year after Avatar was released, it was announced that two sequels were in the works. Fans knew that the films would take a while, and Cameron confirmed that the sequel would come out in 2014. However, as we know, that didn’t happen. The film faced a number of delays, but finally, after almost 10 years, the highly-anticipated sequel — Avatar: The Way of Water — hit theaters.

Not long before The Way of Water came out, many were worried that people had gotten over their love of Avatar and moved on. Cameron even said that, if the sequel wasn’t successful, they would end the franchise after the third film, which was nearly complete. Thankfully, Cameron had nothing to worry about, as The Way of Water was a hit. The film was actually so popular that it ranks as the third most successful film of all time. Avatar: The Way of Water, in terms of box office numbers, falls just behind the original Avatar and Avengers: Endgame.

When movie theaters started opening up after the COVID-19 shutdown, many Disney movies were only in theaters for 45 days before their Disney+ streaming debut. Avatar: The Way of Water premiered in theaters on December 16, 2022, and many wondered how long before the 3-hour film would premiere on Disney+. Well, now, we have to wonder no longer!

Disney has finally announced that The Way of Water will be available to stream on both Disney+ and HBO Max on June 7.

If you are wondering why HBO Max will also stream the Disney-owned movie, there’s a simple answer. Disney purchased 20th Century Fox in 2019, which gave them the rights to the Avatar franchise. However, 20th Century had already entered into an agreement with HBO. That agreement gave HBO first streaming rights. In order to get around the agreement, Disney did send some 20th Century films straight to Hulu. However, there was no way that would work with Avatar: The Way of Water.

The agreement between 20th Century and HBO ended in late 2022. So, it is unlikely that Disney+ will have to share streaming debuts with HBO in the future.