It's been six years since "Avatar" hit the big screen and fans have been heavily anticipating the movie's sequel. In a phone interview with Entertainment Weekly, James Cameron offered an update on "Avatar 2," sharing where it is right now in the production process.
According to him, he has three scripts and is in the middle of ironing out kinks on the second, third and fourth installments' screenplays. Passing through all the scripts, he's refining all details to ensure they are parallel to the design process, which has greatly matured at this point.
"We've been designing for about a year and a half. All the characters, settings and creatures are all pretty much [set]," he said.
Great! With production proceeding as planned, that must mean Cameron has a whole lot of load lifted off his chest, right?
Wrong.
To the director, finishing research and development does not make make bringing an installment of a big hit any easier, referring to the high expectations people will have of the coming films, especially "Avatar 2." There's particular pressure on the second installment because it will determine whether or not the first film's success is a fluke.
"So, we've got to deliver. I've created a nice rod for my own back, so they say," said Cameron.
"Avatar" was massively successful but it wasn't always smooth sailing for the film. In fact, studio bosses were second-guessing the technological demands Cameron was making, production delays and, most especially, cost overruns. Twentieth Century Fox, the movie's distributor, even almost backed out of the deal to make "Avatar" at all.
It's a good thing they didn't because the film went on to rake in over $2.7 billion in the global box office and got nine Oscar nominations.
The coming installments of "Avatar" are scheduled for concurrent filming. "Avatar 2" is due to hit theaters in December 2017, "Avatar 3" will follow in December 2018 and "Avatar 4" will come in December 2019. Sam Worthington and Zoe Saldana will be reprising their roles as Jake Sully and Neytiri for the sequels.
