Avatar 3 director James Cameron commented on rumors about a nine-hour version of the film, which was allegedly planned to be released on the Disney Plus streaming service after the theatrical release.
According to the director, this was a rare case when his words were misinterpreted:
There is no such thing as a nine-hour rough cut! If I ever… I would put a shotgun in my mouth if I ever made a nine-hour cut of the film. We were talking about nine hours of material for three films – “Avatar 3”, “Avatar 4” and “Avatar 5”. That is, it turns out that only three hours per film. Somehow it turned into a nine-hour version of one movie… Can you imagine? He would have shot me (points to producer Jon Landau).
Avatar: The Way of Water has a running time of three hours and 12 minutes. The film took years to make, with pre-production beginning in 2017. The premiere took place in December 2022, 13 years after the release of the original.