Holiday movie preview: 11 burning questions about Avatar, Wakanda, Whitney Houston, Will Smith, and much more

There’s a reason we call these burning questions: wondering whether or will come out on top is the kind of thing that keeps The A.V. Club’s film team up at night. Both films are long-awaited sequels with massive budgets, fandoms, and expectations (and, coincidentally, lots of underwater sequences). Even with the guarantee of third and even fourth films, it’s the second installment of a hit franchise that’s the important one, as it must balance existing material with new territory while establishing forward momentum. It’s also possible that one of these films could, in the last moments of 2022, overtake the current box office champion: , itself another years-in-the-making hit sequel. While film historians will look back on this time in Hollywood as a mess of recycled and extended IP, it doesn’t change the fact that a post-Chadwick Boseman Black Panther could become the year’s most sentimental favorite, or that a new Avatar could remind audiences why spectacle belongs on the big screen. Get ready to have your block busted. [Jack Smart]