James Cameron doesn't think Marvel movie special effects are "even close" to what moviegoers will see while watching "Avatar: The Way of Water."
"I just want to say ahead of time that I’m not going to dis the Marvel or DC Universe," Cameron began his comments to ComicBook.com.
However, he then went on to compare the Marvel films special effects to his upcoming movie.
"Obviously the big comic book films have been driving the sheer volume of the industry," Cameron said. "The rising tide of technique raises everybody together. It gives you higher-quality artists, more tools and plug-ins and code [to use]. You’ve got more talented people writing code out there."
‘AVATAR’ SEQUEL TO FOCUS ON A THEME OF FAMILY
"Our team at WETA Digital is constantly having new hires, and it's coming out of that pool, so it improves everything," he added. "That said, WETA Effects, as it's now known, is the best! Right? Industrial Light & Magic does great work, but when it comes to the kind of emotive facial stuff that we're doing. Thanos? Come on. Give me a break. You saw [Avatar: The Way of Water]. It's not even close. It's what WETA did."
"Avatar: The Way of Water" is set over a decade after the original film. Sam Worthington plus Zoe Saldana reappear in the sequel, along with Sigourney Weaver, Giovanni Ribisi, Vin Diesel, Kate Winslet and more.
Cameron previously revealed why it took 13 years to put together the sequel to the original "Avatar."
"First of all, I was doing deep ocean expeditions for a few years. Then we got serious about doing ‘Avatar,’ we wrote four scripts – that took a couple of years," he noted.
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Following "Avatar: The Way of Water," the director is wanting to drop three more "Avatar" films – one in 2024, one in 2026 and one in 2028.
"What we’re trying to do is kind of front-load the whole process so that we can drop them into the marketplace a couple of years apart so that once we’re back, we’re back to stay."
Production for "Avatar: The Way of Water" began back in 2017 but was stalled due to the coronavirus pandemic.
The film will be released in theaters on Dec. 16.