Disney’s World Of Avatar Prepares For Summer Debut
by Cheryl Rosen /A rendering of Pandora.
Eight years after James Cameron’s Avatar set a record for the biggest box office in movie history in 2009, grossing $750 million in the United States alone, Disney’s Animal Kingdom will open?Pandora — The World of Avatar?next summer at Walt Disney World in Florida, Walt Disney Parks and Resorts chairman Bob Chapek announced over the weekend.
Guests will cross a bridge to enter, arriving at the base camp of Alpha Centauri Expeditions. From there, they can explore the Na'vi River or ride gigantic flying lizards above the forests of Pandora.
There will be a restaurant called “Satu’li Canteen, with a focus on Na’vi art and cultural items,” and Pongu Pongu, a “special drink location.”
Does eight years seem too long for Avatar to stay popular in the mind of a fickle public? Not to worry, Disney is on the case. Four sequels to the movie will begin filming concurrently early in 2017, with the first scheduled for release for Christmas 2018—just in time to help promote the park.