The teaser trailer for James Cameron’s “Avatar: The Way of Water” broke viewership records when it debuted online in May, but if you saw the film in front of showings of Disney-Pixar’s “Lightyear,” you may have noticed it looked a little different.
To explain: the end of the “Avatar: The Way of Water” teaser trailer features a big hero moment: Jake Sully (Sam Worthington), on the back of aquatic creature, rising up out of the water (the creature has wings). Over Jake’s shoulder is a serious-looking assault weapon. You can tell he’s ready for battle. Parallels can immediately be drawn to the climax of the first film, where Sully rode the dragon-like banshees into battle against more sophisticated machinery (we imagine that the evil Resources Development Administration are on the other side of this skirmish, in high-tech maritime vehicles).