A man in India recently died of a heart attack while watching Avatar: The Way Of Water.
According to the Hindustan Times (via the Independent), Lakshmireddy Srinu collapsed inside a cinema in the Kakinada district of southern Andhra Pradesh state.
Srinu was with his younger brother at the time and collapsed in the middle of a screening of James Cameron’s new film. He was taken to Peddapuram Government Hospital where he was declared dead.
Dr Sanjeev Gera, director of Fortis Hospital, Noida, told the publication that “after Covid, there is a continuing inflammation in our blood vessels”.
He added: “Because of stress, increase in blood pressure like what happened in this case, arteries of the heart could have ruptured and that can cause sudden cardiac arrest.”
“These kinds of deaths do happen during exciting matches/emotional situations. The movie per se is unlikely to have caused the death.”
In a four-star review of Avatar: The Way Of Water, NME wrote: “The Way Of Water sometimes comes off like a nature documentary – all soaring strings and sweeping crane shots. And yet the chaotic, angst-fuelled finale is so tense and thrilling that it might have come from a James Bond film.
“Bigger, bolder and definitely better than the original, Avatar: The Way Of Water pushes the technical boundaries of cinema without feeling like a science experiment. “