Disney+ Quietly Removes Avatar Before Theatrical Re-release

The first Avatar film came out in 2009, and after its record-breaking success, director James Cameron announced four more sequels. The second film, Avatar: The Way of Water, is coming out on December 16, 2022. This means it has been 13 long years since the first year has come out.

So, to refresh people’s memories, the studio is re-releasing Avatar in theatres on September 23, 2022. While this is a great way to generate buzz around the sequel while still earning from the first one, the studio did something which could be considered capitalistic.

Disney+ quietly removed Avatar from its streaming library before the film’s theatrical re-release. This was first reported on What’s on Disney Plus. The streaming giant and 20th Century Fox haven’t officially given a reason for this yet.

This isn’t the first time Avatar has been re-released. After Avengers: Endgame surpassed Avatar’s collections to become the highest-grossing movie of all time, Avatar was re-released in China, and within a short time, the film reclaimed its position on the leaderboard.

This time a remastered version of the film will be shown on the silver screens. This means that the sound and VFX quality would be better, and the viewers’ experience would be enhanced.

The news of Disney+ removing Avatar from its library has frustrated many subscribers claiming the move to be extremely capitalistic. After all, it’s not even about records anymore. In fact, the subscribers disliked the decision and were annoyed that the platform didn’t announce the same beforehand.

For instance, when films like The Matrix Resurrections came out on HBO Max, it was clear that the film would only stay temporarily on the platform, after which it would be removed. In general, users have expressed their displeasure which led to some people still vouching for physical media which would remain with them once purchased.

Now that this has occurred, it would be interesting to see if the move backfires or if people flock to the theatres to enjoy the remastered version. Furthermore, when Avatar returns to the streaming platform, it will be in its new version. So perhaps, there’s some silver lining behind this action by the giant.

About Avatar: The Way of Water

Avatar: The Way of Water is an upcoming American epic science fiction film directed by James Cameron and produced by 20th Century Studios. It is the second film in Cameron’s Avatar franchise, following Avatar (2009).

Cameron produces with Jon Landau. Cast members Sam Worthington, Zoe Saldana, Stephen Lang, Giovanni Ribisi, Joel David Moore, Dileep Rao, CCH Pounder, and Matt Gerald are all reprising their roles from the original film, with Sigourney Weaver returning in a different role. New cast members include Kate Winslet, Cliff Curtis, Edie Falco, Brendan Cowell, Michelle Yeoh, Jemaine Clement, Oona Chaplin, Vin Diesel, and CJ Jones.

Avatar 2 revolves around a universal concept of family and follows Jake Sully and Neytiri 14 years after the first film as they focus on protecting their child. However, they are forced to leave their home and explore the different regions of Pandora when an old threat returns to finish what they started. Jake has never faced a bigger challenge.