A full 13 years after “Avatar – Aufbruch nach Pandora” the wait finally came to an end last December for the highly anticipated, oft-delayed sequel: “Avatar 2: The Way Of Water” was released in cinemas worldwide just in time for Christmas and turned in an impressive performance as expected Victory at the box office. While the second Pandora adventure is still on the agenda in numerous cinemas, three months after its theatrical release, there is finally the first official information about the home cinema premiere:
“Avatar 2” will be released – at least in the US – on March 28, 2023 digitally or in streaming. This was just done with a video on the 20th Century Studio YouTube channel and confirmed on the official Avatar Twitter channel.
A “worldwide” publication is not specifically addressed. Nevertheless, we currently assume that March 28 is the international date – and therefore also applies to Germany. So far, no separate message about the local market has been played on the German channels, but that says nothing yet. We have asked Disney Germany directly and will keep you posted!
Later on Disney+?
What’s also exciting about the announcement is that there’s talk of a “digital release.” Usually this means publishing as video-on-demand.
While other Disney movies such as “Thor: Love And Thunder”, “Doctor Strange In The Multiverse Of Madness” or “The Menu” landed directly on its own streaming platform Disney+ just a few weeks after its theatrical release, before they were released some time later on DVD, Blu-ray, 4K Blu-ray and also as VOD, it seems that with the exceptional movie “Avatar 2” one is now pursuing an exceptional strategy in the home theater as well.
Since a streaming premiere date has already been revealed, but not yet for Disney+, there’s a lot to suggest that “Avatar: The Way Of Water” will initially only be available on VOD providers like iTunes or Amazon Prime Video. It is not yet known when the sci-fi fantasy blockbuster will also be available as a Disney + subscription. While this will only be a matter of time, it is now quite conceivable that the VOD launch will get some exclusive buffer.
Although “exclusive” is only partially true in this case, because “Avatar 2” is still on the big screen (and given its continued success, it will probably be for a while yet). As long as you have the opportunity to see the film on a (preferably) large screen, we recommend that you use it.
Despite: It is very gratifying that they have also come up with something for the start of streaming in order to offer added value to everyone who may have seen the film (x times) in the cinema:
Much, much more Pandora than in the cinema
What’s also unusual about the announcement of the streaming start is that it not only revealed an appointment, but also promised “more than three hours of never-before-seen extras.” If you buy “Avatar 2” digitally, you get not only the movie, but also a lot of previously unreleased bonus material.
Whether there will also be a “stripped down” version without extras for those who are generally less comfortable with those extras remains to be seen. It is also unknown what the physical home theater evaluation of the film will look like. Collectors of lovingly crafted editions (like the author of this article) can probably hope for a review packed with additional content given the current news, even if it’s not yet certain when it will finally be in stores…