James Cameron has defended the lengthy runtime of the upcoming Avatar sequel Avatar: The Way of Water.
In an interview with Total Film, Cameron explained how the expanding story, which has an ever-increasing amount of characters in it, needed to be told in a longer runtime – a runtime that totals 3 hours and 10 minutes (credits included). Some have criticiced that length, but Cameron says it's necessary.
"The goal is to tell an extremely compelling story on an emotional basis. I would say the emphasis in the new film is more on character, more on story, more on relationships, more on emotion," Cameron said.
Related: Avatar director James Cameron slates Marvel and DC characters
"We didn’t spend as much time on relationship and emotion in the first film as we do in the second film, and it’s a longer film because there’s more characters to service. There’s more story to service."
The movie also includes a significant time jump. 14 years after the first film, Sam Worthington's Jake and Zoe Saldaña's Neytiri now have an expanding family including five children together. So, the scale of the movie's family story, as well as the obvious scale of Pandora, is bigger than ever.
What to Read Next
"People say, 'Oh my God, a family story from Disney? Just what we want...' This isn’t that kind of family story," Cameron said. "This is a family story like how The Sopranos is a family story."
Related: James Cameron hits out at Avatar trolls who say "nobody gives a shit" about sequel
Previously, Cameron revealed that he fought with film studio 20th Century Fox over the length of the first Avatar.
"The studio felt that the film should be shorter and that there was too much flying around on the ikran – what the humans call the banshees. Well, it turns out that's what the audience loved the most, in terms of our exit polling and data gathering," Cameron said.
"And that's a place where I just drew a line in the sand and said, 'You know what? I made Titanic. This building that we're meeting in right now, this new half-billion dollar complex on your lot? Titanic paid for that, so I get to do this.'"
The runtime of the first movie didn't impact its success, so Cameron will be hoping the same is true of Avatar: The Way of Water.
Avatar: The Way of Water is out in cinemas on December 16.
Best Entertainment and Tech Deals
Coronation Street X Joanie - Gilroy Retro Newton And Ridley Sweatshirt
Reporter, Digital Spy
Jacob is a freelance writer who specialises in narrative TV and film.
He graduated from the University of Roehampton with an MA in Journalism and has written for several publications since, including Gold Derby, Insider, and Screen Daily.
Jacob has covered major events in the world of film and TV, including numerous BAFTA ceremonies and the Cannes Film Festival, while he's also been an awards expert for several publications, including Korea's Arirang. His particular areas of interest include Star Wars, the MCU, the Oscars, and Hugh Grant.
