Avatar is back after 13 years – but will the sequel live up to the original?

Published

3 years ago

December 7, 2022

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Thirteen years on, James Cameron’s mega-budget Avatar sequel opens in cinemas next week, hoping to illicit that same appetite in cinemagoers for the 3D magic of the first.

While the medium has fallen out of favour, it remains Cameron’s preferred choice of viewing.

But not only will cinemagoers need 3D glasses – coming in at a whopping three hours and 10 minutes, it also requires stamina.

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With production costs totalling around £285m (up there with the most expensive films ever made), to make it worth Disney’s while, the epic has to at least end up making it into the top five highest grossing movies of all time.

To do so, it needs audiences to want to see it more than once, which perhaps isn’t too unreasonable when you factor in that a huge amount of the money generated in both of Cameron’s previous blockbusters – Titanic and the first Avatar – came from cinemagoers paying to see the film’s multiple times.

But in a cost of living crisis do we have the cash now?

The film sees Sam Worthington return to the role of Na’vi leader Jake Sully and is rooted around the family he now has with warrior Neytiri, played by Zoe Saldana.

“The movie’s mighty,” Worthington told Sky News.

“It’s a mighty film, and very heart-wrenching.

“We all went through a pandemic together as a whole world, and that’s a connection that we all have to each other… and it’s about us being connected as individuals – I think that’s very important to relate to and really take to heart.”

Thanks to the magic of motion capture, Sigourney Weaver returns, playing Jake Sulley’s adoptive teenage daughter.

“It’s an experience so immersive and also takes your breath away,” she told Sky News, adding that she will need to see the film once more to get the full experience from it.

The sequel also features Kate Winslet in the cast as the matriarch of an ocean-bound clan.

For the Oscar-winning actress it was a chance to work, once again, with the filmmaker who put her on the Titanic:

“He (Cameron) asked and I said yes. Why on earth would I not?,” she told Sky News.

“Also, my children would never have allowed me to. They were like… just do it.”

Cameron, who overtook his own movie, Titanic, with Avatar as the highest grossing film ever in 2009, has already set the wheels in motion for the next films in the franchise – and spent much of the last decade preparing.

“It was a lot of time spent working on the script for four movies, production design for four movies, a bunch of new technology we needed,” he said.

“And then we started at full tilt five years ago… and then we shot two movies, actually part of the third one.”

Cameron also describes his new sci-fi epic as a “love letter to the oceans”.

“A lot of people [in 2009] picked up on the messaging around the rainforest and around the plight of indigenous cultures around the world.

“We have that in spades now because nothing has really got that much better – in the meantime, this one is my love letter to the oceans and a cry for people everywhere to be responsible for guardianship of the oceans.”

Right now the Na’vi’s survival might just depend on what happens off-screen more than on.

Avatar: The Way of Water is in cinemas on 16 December.

Entertainment

Oscars set to leave ABC and will be streamed live on YouTube from 2029

Published

6 hours ago

December 18, 2025

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Oscars set to leave ABC and will be streamed live on YouTube from 2029

The Oscars will be streamed live on YouTube from 2029 after being broadcast on the ABC network for decades.

It means the annual film awards will be available to the video-sharing platform’s two billion users for free around the world in four years.

The Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences announced the deal with Google-owned YouTube on Wednesday, saying the streaming giant will have the exclusive global rights to the Hollywood awards from 2029 to 2033.

YouTube will effectively be the home to all things Oscars, including red-carpet coverage, the Governors Awards and the Oscar nominations announcement.

The Academy Awards ceremony has been broadcast by ABC for most of its history, but 2028 will be its last year showing the Oscars as they celebrate their 100th anniversary.

“The Oscars, including red carpet coverage, behind-the-scenes content, Governors Ball access, and more, will be available live and for free to over two billion viewers around the world on YouTube, and to YouTube TV subscribers in the United States,” an announcement on the Academy Awards’ website read.

“We are thrilled to enter into a multifaceted global partnership with YouTube to be the future home of the Oscars and our year-round academy programming,” said academy chief executive Bill Kramer and academy president Lynette Howell Taylor.

They said the new partnership with the platform “will allow us to expand access to the work of the academy to the largest worldwide audience possible”.

‘Inspiring new generation of creativity and film lovers’

“The Oscars are one of our essential cultural institutions, honouring excellence in storytelling and artistry,” said YouTube chief executive Neal Mohan.

“Partnering with the academy to bring this celebration of art and entertainment to viewers all over the world will inspire a new generation of creativity and film lovers while staying true to the Oscars’ storied legacy.”

The awards will be available with audio tracks in many languages, in addition to closed captioning.

Last year’s Academy Awards were watched by 19.7 million viewers on the Disney-owned ABC, a five-year high but far below the show’s biggest audience of 57 million in 1998.

The network has been the broadcast home to the Oscars for almost its entire history. NBC first televised the Oscars in 1953, but ABC picked up the rights in 1961.

Aside from a period between 1971 and 1975, when NBC again aired the show, the Oscars have been on ABC.

Entertainment

Rob Reiner’s son appears in court accused of murdering Hollywood director and wife

Published

10 hours ago

December 17, 2025

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Rob Reiner's son appears in court accused of murdering Hollywood director and wife

Rob Reiner’s son Nick made his first court appearance on Wednesday on two counts of first-degree murder in the killing of his parents.

Wearing a suicide prevention smock and shackles, the 32-year-old did not enter a plea as he appeared from behind the glass wall of a custody area.

His next court appearance will be on 7 January.

As it happened: Nick Reiner makes first court appearance

Nick Reiner spoke only to say, “yes, your honour” to agree to the date.

He was charged Tuesday with killing the 78-year-old actor and director Rob Reiner and his wife, Michele Singer Reiner, Los Angeles County District Attorney Nathan Hochman announced at a news conference.

Nick Reiner is being held without bail and could face the death penalty.

Along with the two counts of first-degree murder, prosecutors added a special circumstance of multiple murders, as well as an allegation that he personally used a dangerous and deadly weapon, a knife.

Speaking outside the court, Nick Reiner’s lawyer, Alan Jackson, called on the public not to “rush to judgement”.

Mr Jackson pointed to “complex and serious issues that are associated with this case” that needed to be thoroughly and “very carefully dealt with and examined”.

He added that it was a “devastating tragedy that has befallen the Reiner family”.

‘Unimaginable pain’

Nick Reiner’s two siblings Jake and Romy have released a statement, saying “words cannot even begin to describe the unimaginable pain we are experiencing every moment of the day”.

“The horrific and devastating loss of our parents, Rob and Michele Reiner, is something that no one should ever experience,” they said.

“They weren’t just our parents; they were our best friends. We are grateful for the outpouring of condolences, kindness, and support we have received not only from family and friends but people from all walks of life.”

The two asked for “respect and privacy” and for speculation to be treated with “compassion and humanity”.

Authorities have not disclosed a motive for the killings.

Rob Reiner and Michele Singer Reiner were found dead from apparent stab wounds in their home in the upscale Brentwood neighbourhood of Los Angeles.

Nick Reiner did not resist when he was arrested hours later near the University of Southern California, about 14 miles (22.5 kilometres) from the crime scene, according to police.

Rob Reiner was a celebrated director, whose work included some of the most memorable films of the 1980s and 1990s, including This Is Spinal Tap, The Princess Bride, When Harry Met Sally and A Few Good Men.

He met Michele Singer, a photographer, movie producer and advocate for LGBTQ+ rights, in 1989, while directing When Harry Met Sally.

Entertainment

Warner Bros set to rebuff hostile takeover bid – as major backer pulls out of deal

Published

24 hours ago

December 17, 2025

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Warner Bros set to rebuff hostile takeover bid - as major backer pulls out of deal

Warner Bros is reportedly set to reject a hostile $108bn (£81bn) takeover bid from Paramount, with one of the prospective buyer’s financing partners confirming it’s pulled out of the offer.

A spokesman for investment firm Affinity, owned by Donald Trump‘s son-in-law Jared Kushner, told Sky News’ US partner network NBC News “the dynamics of investment have changed significantly”.

It had backed Paramount’s bid, along with funds from Saudi Arabia and other Middle Eastern countries.

Bloomberg and The Wall Street Journal report the Warner Bros Discovery board are set to advise shareholders to reject Paramount‘s bid – paving the way for Netflix, which had struck a $72bn (£54bn) deal.

If the takeover goes through, it would give the streaming giant the rights to hit Warner franchises like Harry Potter, Batman, and Game Of Thrones, as well an extensive back catalogue of classic films.

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It is the latest twist in a takeover saga where the winner will acquire a huge advantage in the streaming wars.

In June, Warner announced its plan to split into two companies – one for its TV, film studios and HBO Max streaming services, and one for the Discovery element of the business, which primarily comprises legacy TV channels that show cartoons, news, and sports.

Netflix agreed a $27.75 per-share price with the firm, which equates to the $72bn purchase figure deal to secure its film and TV studios, with the deal giving the assets a total value of $82.7bn.

However, Paramount said its offer would pay $30 (£22.50) cash per share, representing $18bn (£13.5bn) more in cash than its rival offered. The offer was made directly to shareholders, asking them to reject Netflix’s deal, in what is known as a hostile takeover.

The Paramount deal would involve rival US news channels CBS and CNN being brought under the same parent company.

The US government will have a big say on the final deal, with the winning company likely facing the Department of Justice’s (DOJ) Antitrust Division, a federal agency which scrutinises business deals to ensure fair competition.