20 Films to See in December

Sci-fi/Action-adventure | Directed by James Cameron
Opens in theaters December 16
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It has been 13 years since Avatar began its record-breaking run at the box office—yes, it’s still the highest-grossing film of all time. What do you remember about Pandora, the Na’vi, Hometree, the Tree of Souls, Eywa, ikran, and unobtanium? James Cameron hopes to refresh your memory with this sequel set more than a decade after the events of the original film which resulted in paraplegic Marine Jake Sully (Sam Worthington) being permanently transferred into his avatar to live with Zoe Saldana’s Neytiri, who saved him from the evil Colonel Miles Quaritch (Stephen Lang). Jake and Neytiri now have a family, but Quaritch is still a threat. Along with the main cast returning, Sigourney Weaver returns as a new character and is joined by Kate Winslet, Cliff Curtis, Edie Falco, CCH Pounder, and Jemaine Clement. Cameron will attempt to revive 3D moviegoing once again as he introduces new tribes, and, as the title suggests, shifts locations from the land to the water (which required another leap in technology to deal with underwater motion-capture cinematography). Now the only question is how many people will show up to see a new Avatar movie in 2022? If the film is a disappointment, Cameron claims he can wrap up the story with a third film; otherwise, expect three additional sequels to follow.