Last week, James Cameron added an extra instalment to its Avatar franchise, announcing that four sequels to the 2009 mega-blockbuster will hit cinemas between 2018 and 2023. Avatar 2 had originally been slated for release in December 2017, only to be pushed back a year to give Cameron more time to prep, as well as avoiding the box office behemoth that will be Star Wars: Episode VIII.
Speaking to Famous Monsters of Filmland, the filmmaker has spoken about his release pattern for the series, and avoiding Disney’s latest franchise: “My original plan was to release them a year apart, but we’re opening that up,” states Cameron. “If for no other reason than that I don’t want to land on the same date as one of the Star Wars sequels. That wouldn’t be fair to them. [Laughs] No, that’s just good business. I don’t want to go head-to-head with Star Wars. That would be stupid. And hopefully they won’t want to go head-to-head with us.
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Cameron also discussed his plan to shoot the four sequels, stating that: “It’s not back-to-back. It’s really all one big production. It’s more the way you would shoot a miniseries. So we’ll be shooting across all (Avatar scripts) simultaneously. So Monday I might be doing a scene from Movie Four, and Tuesday I’m doing a scene from Movie One. … We’re working across, essentially, eight hours of story. It’s going to be a big challenge to keep it all fixed in our minds, exactly where we are, across that story arc at any given point. It’s going to be probably the most challenging thing I’ve ever done. I’m sure the actors will be challenged by that as well. It’s like, ‘No, no, no, no, this person hasn’t died yet, so you’re still in this phase of your life.’ It’s a saga. It’s like doing all three Godfather films at the same time.”
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Sounds like a mammoth task, but if anyone can pull it off, it’s James Cameron.
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Originally published April 20, 2016. Updated April 15, 2018.
