Select attendees at the Busan International Film Festival on Thursday got a sneak peek into one of the most anticipated movie of 2022 — James Cameron’s long-time-in-the-making masterpiece, Avatar: The Way of Water.

A 15-minute showreel of exclusive footage from the second installment of the Avatar franchise was shown to a large Korean audience who had paid about $5 each for the 3-D glasses and attend the promo event . The producer of Avatar: The Way of Water was present at the event in order to introduce the footage and discuss some of the revolutionary technological processes employed in the new film’s creation.

In order to build hype around this, Disney installed Avatar 2 posters all along the Busan's Haeundae Beach, along with massive sand sculptures on the beach itself, imprinted with Avatar‘s characters and some of the mythical sea creatures that feature in the sequel.

the preview footage shown reintroduces Jake Sully and Na’vi Neytiri against some stunning shots of Pandora’s brilliant blue waters. As revealed by trailers, Toruk, the flying creatures introduced in the first film are back for the sequel, along with new majestic, whale-like creatures. Through a video, Cameron explained that his sequel tries to convey the ongoing collapse and threats to the world’s marine ecosystems. While the previous edition delved into reckless strip-mining rainforests, the director said he wanted to convey how the marine ecosystem affects human conditions in the new sequel. As a scuba diver himself, Cameron also said his passion for ocean conservation led to a film about an underwater world.

Avatar: The Way of Water is an upcoming American epic sci-fi epic helmed by James Cameron and produced by 20th Century Studios. The film will see cast members Sam Worthington, Zoe Saldana, Stephen Lang, Joel David Moore, and Giovanni Ribisi reprising their roles from the original film, while new cast members include Cliff Curtis, Edie Falco, Jemaine Clement, Kate Winslet, Michelle Yeoh, Brendan Cowell, and Vin Diesel.

Avatar: The Way of Water is all set to hit the screens worldwide on December 16.