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‘Avatar’ back on Kenyan screens after 13 years

By Hilary Kimuyu September 24th, 2022 2 min read

Avatar, the highest-grossing movie of all time is headed to the theaters. The 2009 sci-fi film re-premiered on September 23. The film’s return to theaters comes just before its highly-anticipated sequel Avatar: The Way of Water set for release on December 16.

Avatar stars Sam Worthington, Zoe Saldaña, Stephen Lang, Michelle Rodriguez and Sigourney Weaver. The film was nominated for nine Academy Awards, including Best Picture and Best Director, and won three Oscars, for Best Cinematography, Production Design and Visual Effects.

The original Avatar centers around Jake Sully (Worthington), a disabled former Marine who is recruited for the Avatar Program after his twin brother is killed. He travels through the world of Pandora in a genetically engineered body to infiltrate the Na’vi tribe. However, he soon falls in love with Neytiri (Saldaña) and begins to question what the government actually wants to do with the land of the Na’vi.

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According to a trailer released this week, the 2009 movie is coming back to theaters for two weeks starting September 23 and will be shown in “all formats,” including IMAX, 4K / HDR, and of course 3D.

Cameron’s Avatar became the top-grossing film of all time at the worldwide box office with more than $2.8 billion in revenues. In 2010, a special extended theatrical re-release of Avatar exclusively in 3D theatres and IMAX 3D fetched USD 44 million worldwide. Early last year, the re-release of the movie in China raised $57.7 million.

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Worthington and Saldana return as Jake Sully and Na’vi Neytiri, respectively, as the film’s story focuses on the two primary protagonists, their family and the lengths they go to keep each other safe.

It will also mark the return of Sigourney Weaver as Dr Grace Augustine and Stephen Lang as Colonel Miles Quaritch. The new entrants include Vin Diesel and Kate Winslet, who had famously starred in Cameron’s 1997 hit Titanic.

After the release of Avatar: The Way of Water, there will be three more films scheduled to be released every two years. Avatar 3 is scheduled to open in December 20, 2024 while Avatar 4 will be released on December 18, 2026 and Avatar 5 is set to open on December 22, 2028.

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