Long ago, in the era before Netflix, it was a big deal when a blockbuster aired on broadcast television. The major networks would pay a fortune for the rights. There would be an ad blitz. It was an event. That doesn’t happen so much anymore, what with streaming and whatnot. Indeed, few noticed that Avatar — the highest grossing movie of all time (not adjusted for inflation) — never took the broadcast TV route. Until now.
As per Deadline, this coming Sunday night, Dec. 11 — a handful of days before its belated sequel The Way of Water hits multiplexes — the original Avatar will air on ABC. It’s a long movie, albeit not as long as its follow-up, which is super duper long. That’s why it’s starting early, at 7pm, to fit in all three-thousand hours of blue people mayhem, with commercials. (The broadcast is set to end at 10:30pm.)
ABC isn’t the only place one can watch Avatar the old fashioned TV way. It will also play on FX twice, on both Thursday, Dec. 15, on Sunday, Dec. 18, both starting at 8pm. On Monday, Dec. 26, it will play Freeform, starting at 7:30pm. (For Roku/Amazon Stick folks, it’s probably surreal thinking about planning your schedule around a movie set to air at a fixed time. That’s to say nothing of all those commercials, which add some 48 minutes to the running time.)
How will a movie designed to be played on the biggest screen imaginable, seen through giant 3-D glasses, play on a small screen, in the wrong aspect ratio, with ad breaks? You could find out — or you could stream it on Disney+, where it exclusively lives.
The full schedule for Avatar airings can be below:
ABC
Sunday, Dec. 11, 7:00-10:30 p.m. EST/PST
FX
Thursday, Dec. 15, 8:00-11:30 p.m. EST/PST
Sunday, Dec. 18, 8:00-11:30 p.m. EST/PST
Freeform
Monday, Dec. 26, 7:30-11:00 p.m. EST/PST
(Via Deadline)