Where to Watch Avatar and Avatar: The Way of Water

Looking to head back to Pandora?

When Avatar came out in 2009, it stunned the entire world. Premiering during a massive economic recession, the film managed to gross over $2.9 billion at the box office, turning it into the highest-grossing movie of all time.

Directed by James Cameron and featuring an all-star cast that included Sigourney Weaver, Zoë Saldaña, Sam Worthington and Michelle Rodriguez, Avatar follows humanity as they harvest resources on the planet Pandora. But the planet is already inhabited by the Na’vi, a giant species of blue humanoids who live in harmony with nature rather than trying to exploit and control it.

Filmed using cutting-edge motion capture and CGI technology, Avatar was a visual spectacle that created a colorful and larger-than-life alien world. On top of its visual accomplishments, the movie also became known for its messaging on environmentalism and imperialism. After the movie’s success, Cameron said that Avatar would become a franchise with an entire saga of films creating a cinematic universe around Pandora.

A sequel, Avatar: The Way of Water, premiered in 2022 and became an equally successful smash hit, also crossing the $2 billion mark at the box office. Cameron has promised that three more sequels are on the way, with Avatar 3 already scheduled for a December 2025 release.

If you’re looking to catch up on the series before then, here’s where to watch Avatar and Avatar: The Way of Water.

Where can I watch Avatar?

In Cameron’s 2009 epic, audiences meet the Na’vi for the first time in a story that parallels Disney’s Pocahontas. But taking place on a vibrant alien planet filled with cutting-edge graphics, Avatar was also a dazzling cinematic experience moviegoers had never seen before.

Avatar can be streamed on Max (formerly HBO Max) and Disney+. The movie can also be rented on Prime Video and is available to purchase on DVD.

Avatar was also recently given a high-definition Blu-Ray release.

Where can I watch Avatar: The Way of Water?

In the 2022 sequel, audiences discover a new clan of Na’vi, the Metkayina, who live on the planet’s remote islands and spend much of their lives in harmony with the surrounding ocean.

Many of the original stars returned for Avatar: The Way of Water, and the cast gained some new faces as well, including Kate Winslet, Jack Champion and Edie Falco, among others.

The Way of Water is streaming on Disney+ and Max and can be rented on Prime Video. For anyone with an HBO subscription, the film airs periodically on the network’s various channels.

Hardcore fans can also get Avatar: The Way of Water on Blu-Ray, which comes complete with special featurettes and behind-the-scenes bonus content.

Where can I watch documentaries about Avatar?

For fans who want to dive deeper into Avatar and its production, there are two making-of documentaries on Disney+: a full-length 20/20 special Avatar: The Deep Dive, which chronicles the making of The Way of Water, and the shorter 9-minute featurette Building the World of Pandora, which follows Cameron and his team as they create the lore and history of Avatar.

Are there any other Avatar movies or TV shows?

More Avatar films are on the way, with the next expected to premiere in 2025. Until then, fans can explore Pandora through other media.

Avatar has been adapted into both a comic series and a trilogy of graphic novels, and in December 2023, Ubisoft is releasing the video game Avatar: Frontiers of Pandora. The game will let players become a Na’vi who awakens after being placed in suspended animation, only to find that Pandora is under attack.

For a fully immersive exploration of Avatar, Disney’s Animal Kingdom park in Orlando, Florida, has an entire section dedicated to Avatar called Pandora - The World of Avatar, complete with rides, themed experiences, Na’vi cuisine and more.

Disney also announced that an Avatar-themed experience is coming to Disneyland in Anaheim, California, in early 2023.