It took James Cameron over fifteen years to bring Avatar to the big screen, so it’s not really much of a surprise that six years after the release of the film, he’s still hammering away at development on his planned sequels. Initially planning to shoot two movies back-to-back for release in 2014 and 2015, the sequels were pushed back two years when Cameron subsequently extended his plans to a third movie, before being delayed another year, with the first now slated for 2017.
Speaking to Entertainment Weekly, Cameron has now given an update on the status of the follow-ups, as well as discussing the pressure of following the highest-grossing movie of all time, and having to prove that Avatar’s success wasn’t a “big fluke.”
“I’m in the process of doing another pass through all three scripts right now. Just refining. That’s in parallel with the design process. The design process is very mature 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].”
Asked if the process has become easier after the technological advancements made for the first movie, Cameron replied: “No, because you have to challenge yourself. Obviously, expectations are going to be very high on these films, especially on Avatar 2, to make sure it wasn’t just some big fluke the first time. So we’ve got to deliver. I’ve created a nice rod for my own back, so they say.”
The Avatar sequels will see the return of Sam Worthington and Zoe Saldana as Jake Sully and Neytiri, while Sigourney Weaver and Stephen Lang have also signed on to return despite the death of their characters in the first movie.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?list=PL18yMRIfoszEaHYNDTy5C-cH9Oa2gN5ng&v=jWc-DNbd-pM
Originally published December 12, 2015. Updated April 15, 2018.
