Cameron Takes Preemptive Strike at Avatar 'Trolls'

Director doesn't want to hear whining about running time, forgotten characters
By Arden Dier,  Newser Staff
Posted Jul 5, 2022 3:25 PM CDT
James Cameron Hits Back at Avatar 'Trolls'
James Cameron, director of the upcoming film "Avatar: The Way of the Water," appears in a taped segment to discuss the film during the Walt Disney Studios presentation at CinemaCon 2022 at Caesars Palace in Las Vegas on April 27, 2022.   (AP Photo/Chris Pizzello)

The running time of the upcoming Avatar sequel hasn't yet be revealed, but you can expect it to be long. After all, director James Cameron "hasn't made a movie under two-hours-long since The Terminator" of 1984, reports Slashfilm. Avatar itself was 2 hours and 40 minutes long. In an interview with Empire, Cameron suggests Avatar: The Way of Water will be even longer, but he doesn't want to hear any complaining. "I can almost write this part of the review. 'The agonizingly long three-hour movie...' It's like, give me a f---ing break," says the director. "I don't want anybody whining about length when they sit and binge-watch [TV] for eight hours."

The comparison doesn't quite work, according to Tom Pritchard of Tom's Guide, who argues Cameron is "wildly out of touch." "If you're binge-watching a TV show over the course of a day, you always have the option to pause the thing," he writes. But "perhaps Cameron can give us a rundown of points where it's safe to pee?" Cameron might not be in the mood for criticism in general. "The trolls will have it that nobody gives a s--- and they can't remember the characters' names or one damn thing that happened in [2009's Avatar]," he tells Empire, referring to recent social media posts. "Then they see the movie again and go, 'Oh, okay, excuse me, let me just shut the f--- up right now.' So I'm not worried about that."

There's certainly "a lot of pressure" on the follow-up to the highest-grossing film of all time, Cameron says, per CBR. "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? … I thought about it for a good two years before we finally made a deal." Empire's new issue—dedicated to the movie sequel and featuring exclusive interviews with the director and actors including Sam Worthington, Zoe Saldaña, Sigourney Weaver, and Kate Winslet—is out on Thursday. The film, the first in a series of Avatar sequels, is to be released Dec. 16. (The 72-year-old Weaver plays a teenager in the upcoming film.)

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