While the public still has a few more days to go until the well-received Avatar: The Way of Water hits theaters, tonight marks the Los Angeles premiere of James Cameron’s long-awaited sequel, which is one of 2022’s remaining movies. Unfortunately, Cameron himself will not be attending this major event thanks to COVID, but he has a practical attitude about missing out on the Way of Water festivities.
Nearly three years after the COVID-19 pandemic changed the world as we know it, the virus continues to be an ongoing concern. James Cameron now finds himself dealing with COVID, which he revealed in a statement to Deadline, saying:
I am in LA, just back from Tokyo, and I managed to pick up Covid on the plane, so I’m isolated and can’t go to my own premiere tonight. The number of people I’ve told over the years, ‘ah, we’ll catch up and I’ll see you at the premiere…well, I guess not. Man proposes, and God disposes.
A Disney representative added that James Cameron tested positive for COVID “as part of a routine testing cadence,” but he is “feeling fine.” And while the filmmaker will not be at the Avatar: The Way of Water Los Angeles premiere, he will continue to promote the movie virtually. Cameron previously attended Avatar: The Way of Water’s London premiere on December 6.
It’s a shame James Cameron won’t be able to attend the Los Angeles premiere of Avatar: The Way of Water, but at least he’s dealing with it relatively well. Sometimes things happen that are beyond our control, and we just need to roll with the punches. It would have been unwise for Cameron to try to power through this illness, go to the Way of Water premiere and risk infecting a lot of people. Those people he’s planned to catch up with at the LA event will just have to wait longer for their reunion.
Avatar: The Way of Water’s impending arrival wraps up a journey that began in 2010, when it was confirmed after the original Avatar’s release that this cinematic saga would continue. The sequel sees Sam Worthington’s Jake Sully, Zoe Saldaña Neytiri and their children embarking to new corners of the world of Pandora and facing the remerged threat of Stephen Lang’s Colonel Miles Quaritch, who’s been brought back by the RDA corporation through a Recon avatar. Three more sequels are slated to come out between 2024 and 2028, and Cameron has even thought about handing the reins off to someone else for Avatar 6 and 7.
Avatar: The Way of Water opens wide to the public on December 16. If you’re looking further into the future, be sure to read through the lineup of 2023 movie releases.
