Rapidly ramping up box-office numbers so great it looks likely to take the all-time number one position, James Cameron’s Avatar sequel, ‘The Way of Water’ is currently wowing cinema audiences with its cutting-edge special effects. The original Avatar movie was quite unusual. It was a fantastic success in box-office terms, but left no lasting impression on popular culture, as did Star Wars, Alien, and Star Trek, for example. However, plans for several new movies are underway, and we’d expect interest in the franchise through the memorabilia market to increase.

The New Zealand Post have announced their intention to add silver coins to their extensive stamp range featuring the latest movie. There will be a pair of two-coin sets, with each of the four coins struck to a proof finish, with colour, and weighing in at one ounce of 0.999 silver. The first set, pictured above, depicts some fauna from the world the movie is set in, Pandora. One shows an aerial predator (Banshee), and the other a marine creature (Tulkum) of great intelligence. The limited colour palette and stylised design make a nice change from the usual, tiresome movie screenshots.

The second set (below), depicts the two main characters, Jake and Neytiri, and the portraits look decent enough, with colour used sparingly for effect. Both sets will come boxed (the NZ Post does this well) and with a certificate of Authenticity. We don’t have information on prices or mintage yet, but they will launch this quarter, and we’ll take a fuller look at them then.

LINKS: NEW ZEALAND POST