After years of wondering when we’d see a sequel to “Avatar,” James Cameron‘s 2009 megahit that went on to become the biggest movie of all time, we finally got an answer for when moviegoers will return to the exotic planet of Pandora.
Actually, we got three answers.
That’s because Cameron’s plan to make two sequels to “Avatar” is now a plan to film three movies simultaneously. The director and 20th Century Fox announced plans today to bring on three teams of writers to collaborate with Cameron separately on “Avatar 2,” “Avatar 3,” and “Avatar 4,” due in theaters December 2016, December 2017, and the third at some point the following year. The current plan is to get the scripts in good enough shape to film all three at the same time.
We heard yesterday that Josh Friedman, a writer for TV spin-off of Cameron’s “The Terminator,” “The Sarah Connor Chronicles,” was being hired to help the director finish the script for “Avatar 2,” but now the plan involves two additional movies and two more writing teams, Rick Jaffa & Amanda Silver (“Rise of the Planet of the Apes”) and Shane Salerno (“Savages”).
“Building upon the world we created with ‘Avatar’ has been a rare and incredibly rewarding experience,” Cameron said in a released statement. “In writing the new films, I’ve come to realize that ‘Avatar’s’ world, story and characters have become even richer than I anticipated, and it became apparent that two films would not be enough to capture everything I wanted to put on screen. And to help me continue to expand this universe, I’m pleased to bring aboard Amanda, Rick, Shane and Josh — all writers I’ve long admired — to join me in completing the films screenplays.”
In an interview with MTV News this past April, Cameron spoke about his plans to continue making “Avatar” movies in order to fund his trips to the bottom of the ocean.
“The correct conclusion is I do the movies to pay for the expeditions, so every once in a while, I have to come back to make a movie,” Cameron said. “It’s pretty much that simple.”
