James Cameron has been working on the sequels to his 2009 film Avatar for a long time. How long? Well, the original plan was to make the first film the start of a trilogy and the third and final installment would have been released in December 2015. Well, plans have a way of changing. Now, over a year after we should have seen the film franchise close out, Cameron has exploded his ideas for the series from two additional films to four. But the director has been dragging his feet on getting the whole thing into production, but that may soon be changing.
Speaking to The Daily Beast, Cameron stated that he finally has the scripts for the four films finished and will start simultaneous production on the films in August.
So how is Avatar 2 coming along? Obviously the first one is the all-time box office champ, so the bar is set pretty high here.
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.
Now to be honest, we have heard Cameron say that he was finished with the scripts for the sequels and was gearing up for production before. Should we believe him this time? Who knows? But I think that the bigger question now is whether people will be interested in sequels to the film ten years on. Sure, Avatar was the first film to surpass $2 billion in box office receipts, but how often does the film come up in conversation now?
