Zoe Saldaña wows crowd with epic first look at 'Avatar: Fire & Ash'
Zoe Saldaña wows crowd with epic first look at 'Avatar: Fire & Ash'
LAS VEGAS – Humans aren't the only problem for our Na'vi heroes in the next "Avatar" movie.
Closing out Disney's presentation at CinemaCon on Thursday, franchise star (and newly minted Oscar winner) Zoe Saldaña introduced the first 3D footage of "Avatar: Fire & Ash" (in theaters Dec. 19) at the convention of theater owners. Director James Cameron sent a video message from New Zealand, where he's finishing up the third "Avatar" installment before its holiday release.
The last film, "Avatar: The Way of Water," introduced the aquatic Metkayina clan to the film's mythology, and the sweeping and expansive first footage gave the audience a peek at two more tribes. Saldaña described the Windtraders as a "nomadic air clan" while the Mangkwan clan, aka the "Ash People," are former Nai'vi who have forsaken the deity Eywa and live amid volcanos.
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The footage showed the Sully family – including Jake (Sam Worthington) and Neytiri (Saldaña) – traveling from the oceanic environment where they ended up in "The Way of Water" and taking to the skies in large jellyfish-y air ships. They're attacked by bandits on winged creatures, and while we don't really know anything about the plot yet, it's clear that there's not a lot of peace these days in Pandora. "We cannot live like this, in hate," Jake says.
But trouble comes from a couple of sides for Jake and Co. in "Fire & Ash." The human invaders as usual are a major threat to Pandora in an existential sense, plus former military guy/Na'vi villain Colonel Quaritch (Stephen Lang) is a constant thorn in their sides. And while the Ash People look really cool, they're quite fearsome when our heroes run afoul of the rage-filled and fiery antagonists.
"Your goddess has no dominion here," snarls the Ash People's leader, Varang (Oona Chaplin).
Saldaña teased that "Fire & Ash" is "unlike anything audiences have ever seen and exactly what they want."
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