Can James Cameron and ‘Avatar’ wow again? Don’t doubt it.

By JAKE COYLE
AP Film Writer

NEW YORK (AP) — Thirteen years after the original “Avatar” and five years after production started on its sequel, “The Way of Water,” James Cameron is finally unveiling the long-awaited follow-up to the highest grossing film of all-time. For a long time, the “Avatar” sequel was the “Waiting for Godot” of blockbusters — more theoretical than real, with release dates that kept spiraling into the future. Meanwhile, an unending parade of pieces pondered the original’s curious place in entertainment: a box-office behemoth with little cultural footprint, a $3 billion ghost. But the first look at Cameron’s “Avatar” sequel has thrown some cold water on that notion. The overwhelming reaction to the director’s latest three-hour opus? Never bet against James Cameron.