Audience members yearning to return to the exotically extraterrestrial locale of Pandora will have to wait for at least three more years, as James Cameron has confirmed that the first of his back-to-back Avatar sequels won’t arrive until Christmas of 2014.
While Cameron’s original 3D sci-fi smash frequently changed release dates before it finally settled on December 2009, both Avatar 2 and Avatar 3 are less likely budge from their still tentative winter holiday dates in 2014 and 2015, respectively.
Entertainment Weekly spoke to Cameron, who told them “I am in the process of writing the next two ‘Avatar’ films now. We are planning to shoot them together and [edit them in post-production] together, and we will probably release them not quite back to back, but about a year apart.” The filmmaker also teased about the return of some familiar faces, saying that “Basically, if you survived the first film, you get to be in the second film, at least in some form.”
Cameron also revealed that a portion of the profits from Avatar 2 and 3 will be donated to “environmental causes that are at the heart of the ‘Avatar’ world.” Considering that the first film pulled in over $2.7 billion at the global box office, that should amount to some significant coinage.
Producer Jon Landau previously spoke out about the Avatar sequels, confirming the news that Avatar 2 will explore the ocean of the Na’vi homeworld but won’t amount to “an underwater movie”, a la Cameron’s The Abyss. Landau additionally implied that although the second two chapters in the franchise were being conceived simultaneously, the filmmakers won’t follow in the footsteps of previous back-to-back sequels and end Avatar 2 on a cliffhanger that immediately leads into the third film.
Both Pandora and the other worlds of the Alpha Centauri AB system will be explored to some degree in the Avatar sequels, which look to deliver visual spectacle beyond that of even the original film – and hopefully a more creative narrative as well. Cameron has a good deal of freedom with respect to the possible storylines of Avatar 2 and 3 and look of not-yet glimpsed regions of the photo-realistic alien setting. Hopefully, the return trip to Pandora will be be worth all the time, effort, and money.
Sam Worthington and Zoe Saldana are essentially set to reprise their roles as Jake Sully and Neytiri, respectively, but it’s not clear yet who else will be returning in Avatar 2 and/or Avatar 3 – much less what new stars will be signing on for the sci-fi sequels. We’ll keep you updated on the status of both films as more information is released.
Follow us on Twitter @screenrant and @feynmanguy for more movie and TV news.
Source: EW
‘Assassin’s Creed’ Gets Memorial Day 2015 Release Date [Updated] 
J.J. Abrams Planned ‘Star Trek’ TV Show; Rights Issues Led to Jump to ‘Star Wars’? 
New ‘Anchorman 2′ Teaser Trailer: Brick Wishes You Happy Easter 
Kevin Feige Talks Possible Movies for Marvel’s Phase Three 
Personally…the first time I saw Avatar I thought it was an good movie. However, after the second time of watching it with my extremely analytical and artistically intuned mind, I find this film to be fantastic. Most of the negative comments are not from people that understand the graphic design, digital illusrations, etc that is involved.
Most people just talk about James Cameron’s personality. Maybe he might be narcistic and not think about the fact that arrogance is not the same as confidence. But right or wrong, whether you like his personality or not, he did put in a tremendous amount of artist creativity, writing, direction and bringing a fantasy to life digitally. Has any other person in the film industry ever done anything like that? Certainly not near to that extent. The conversion of the details from the actual human form to a blue hybrid character. Notice the details of every line and muscle when the character moves. Even the creases in the forehead around the eyes, etc. show the actual expressions the human character makes.
Artistically, Avatar is amazing. So I suggest the negatives to watch th movie again with more of an open mind and look at the details of the graphics, etc. You might just change your mind about it when you realize how much time and talent it took to do it.
I have watched Avatar several times now and still find different things and details (such as how a plant was made, etc.) that I had not noticed before. I am truly looking forward to Avatar 2. I hope that Cameron puts every bit of creativity, innovations, ambition and effort into it as he did in the first “performance capture.”
I love Avatar it is the best move ever
