'Avatar 2', Original Runtime 202 Minutes?..."Some Gunfight Scenes Deleted"

Director James Cameron: "I Wanted to Remove Ugly Things"

Avatar 2 promotional video at a movie theater in Seoul.
[Photo by Yonhap News]

[Asia Economy Reporter Heo Midam] Director James Cameron revealed that he deleted about 10 minutes of 'gun scenes' from his film Avatar: The Way of Water (Avatar 2).

On the 27th (local time), in an interview with the magazine Esquire Middle East, James Cameron said, "I cut about 10 minutes of action scenes involving firearms," adding, "I wanted to find a balance between light and darkness in the work, so I wanted to remove ugly things." Accordingly, he deleted unnecessary violent scenes from Avatar 2.

James Cameron expressed a negative opinion about scenes involving firearms. Referring to his own film Terminator, he said, "I don't want to obsess over gunfight scenes like in the Terminator series from over 30 years ago," and "It makes me uneasy to see incidents caused by guns in our society." He continued, "I occasionally rewatch the movies I made, but now I don't want to make such films."

He also revealed that he currently resides in New Zealand, adding, "New Zealand banned the sale of all semi-automatic rifles after a horrific mosque shooting incident a few years ago. I am glad to live in such a New Zealand."

Director James Cameron is greeting fans at the blue carpet event for the movie 'Avatar: The Way of Water,' held on the afternoon of the 9th at Times Square in Yeongdeungpo-gu, Seoul. [Image source=Yonhap News]

Meanwhile, Avatar 2, which was released on the 14th, surpassed 6 million cumulative viewers domestically within two weeks. With this, Avatar 2 became the fifth film released this year to surpass 6 million viewers. The distributor, Walt Disney Company Korea, explained that Avatar 2 reached 6 million viewers three days faster than its predecessor.

Avatar 2 is a sequel to the 2009 film Avatar, depicting the journey and battles of Jake Sully (played by Sam Worthington) and Neytiri (played by Zoe Saldana) and their family as they seek a new home on the planet Pandora. The film's running time is 192 minutes, or 3 hours and 12 minutes.