Avatar: Last year’s biggest film is back – but this time it’s a video

Willy Wonka will get lots of bums on seats at the cinema this month, but it is hard to envisage him getting close to the box office takings amassed by last year’s Christmas number one.

Avatar: The Way Of Water grossed a whopping $2.3bn (£1.8bn) following its long-awaited release 12 months ago, only topped on the all-time list by its own predecessor and the latest Avengers.

Glory in the visual effects category at the Oscars came as no surprise given the fantasy setting of Pandora and cast of big blue Na’vi characters heavily owe their existence to computers.

Parts of the production were even handled by new techniques usually associated with video games, with director James Cameron long known for embracing technology to push storytelling forward.

The film’s success puts a certain amount of pressure on the shoulders of the team pushing the Avatar story forward again this year – but perhaps fittingly, this time it really is in video game form.

From the big screen to your games machine

Avatar: Frontiers Of Pandora is the final blockbuster of what has been another big year for the industry. It came to PlayStation, Xbox, and PC this week via French publisher Ubisoft, best known for the Assassin’s Creed games.

Creative director Magnus Jensen, of the company’s Swedish studio Massive Entertainment, is well aware of the expectations that come with delivering a new entry in the Avatar series.

“It needs to have a completely new story, new environments, new creatures,” he says.

“And be a fantastic, rich spectacle – a real rollercoaster ride.”

Frontiers Of Pandora is an open world game, allowing players to create their own Na’vi and explore the vast titular planet at their own leisure….