It has been more than seven years sinceAvatarfirst hit theaters and we still don’t have a sequel. By now it feels like we should have had at least one, if not two sequels, butJames Cameronis taking his time. After a ton of false starts and a whole lot of prep work, the director has finally confirmed that actual work onAvatar 2and the other three impending sequels is underway, with motion-capture set to begin in August.
James Cameronrecently spoke at length withThe Daily Beastabout quite a few topics, but it was impossible not to bring upAvatar 2in the process. When the subject of the long-in-development sequels to the most financially successful movie ever made came up, the 62-year-old director offered some incredibly encouraging information. Here is what he had to say about it.
““The thing is, my focus isn’t on Avatar 2. My focus is on Avatar 2, 3, 4, and 5 equally. That’s exactly how I’m approaching it. They’ve all been developed equally. I’ve just finished the script to Avatar 5. I’m now starting the process of active prep. I’ll be working with the actors in the capture volume in August, so I’m booked in production every day between now and then. Our volume is up and running, and everything is designed, and so we’re going full-guns right now. I feel like I’ve been let out of jail, because I’ve been in the writing cave for the last two years. I’m actually enjoying life. I don’t enjoy writing. I wouldn’t wish writing on a dog.”
The scripts are finally done andJames Cameronis “full-guns” onAvatar 2throughAvatar 5as we speak. A massive part of the reason for the long delay is becauseCameronis planning on shooting all of the movies at the same time and discovered amuch larger storyduring the process of developingAvatar 2. Fans who have been waiting impatiently for another installment ofAvatarmay be hesitant to believe the movie is actually happening until cameras start rolling, but it seems as though it is the real deal this time around. It is hard to not noticeJames Cameron’s comments about the writing process and what that may mean for the scripts, but we can’t know about that until the movies actually hit theaters.
As of right now,Avatar 2is scheduled to hit theaters in December of 2018, butSigourney Weavermentioned a couple of months ago that they hadn’t started yet and that could delay things. Given that themotion-capture processwon’t even start until August, it seems highly unlikely that they can make that December 2018, release. The post-production process is very long on a movie likeAvatar 2and since they will be shooting all four movies at the same time, it will probably be a very long production process.
Story details for theAvatarsequels have largely been kept under wraps, but we know thatZoe Saldana,Sigourney Weaver,Stephen LangandSam Worthingtonare all coming back for the sequels. If we’re lucky,James Cameronmay crack the code on “glasses-free” 3D before the finalAvatar movieis released. The firstAvataris still the highest-grossing movie ever, having grossed $2.7 billion worldwide.Avatar 2may not be able to match that, but it is very likely that Fox should be rolling in the dough once the movie finally hits theaters. As of right now,Avatar 2is scheduled to hit theaters in December 2018, and the three sequels will follow in December of 2020, 2022 and 2023. Before the movies hit, fans can explore the world ofPandoraat Disney theme parks around the world.
