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James Cameron: Korea is the benchmark for global success

James Cameron: Korea is the benchmark for global success

Posted December. 10, 2022 07:26,   

Updated December. 10, 2022 07:26

한국어

“Korea is very important to us as a lot of Korean audiences watched Avatar in 2009. I hope our success in Korea leads to global success.”

This is what James Cameron, the director of the film said about why he chose Korea to hold the film’s first world premiere. “Avatar: The Way of Water" will hit theaters in Korea on Dec. 14, making it the first country in the world to screen Avatar’s long-awaited sequel.

A press conference at a hotel in Yeongdeungpo-gu, Seoul was joined by Director James Cameron and Producer John Landau as well as cast members of "Avatar: The Way of Water," Sam Worthington, Zoe Saldana, Sigourney Weaver, and Stephen Lang. John Landau said that he “focused on giving the sensation of running to make the audiences feel as if they are running together with the characters on the screen.” Sigourney Weaver said that “as soon as the film starts, audiences will feel like they also became members of the family, which is amazing.” Weaver will be playing a teenage Na'vi named Kiri, an adoptee of Jake Sully (Sam Worthington) and Neytiri (Zoe Saldana).

The sequel will focus on the ocean, unlike Avatar 1, which featured the forests of Pandora. Cameron said he wanted to show humans destroying the environment and exploiting natural resources. He added, “It isn’t a movie to preach, instead it is a movie that makes people feel.”

As the first film attracted 13.6 million audiences in Korea and maintained the number one box office spot globally, the sequel is expected to be a mega-hit. However, some concern that the film's three-hour-and-12-minute runtime could be a stumbling block. However, the director confidently said, "I never had anyone complain about getting more for the same rights. If you got more of anything for the same amount of money, you wouldn't complain.”


Hyo-Ju Son hjson@donga.com