Anyone who followed the production of Avatar: The Way of Water and its sequels will not be surprised Disney has once again delayed the releases of James Cameron’s ambitious Avatar 3, 4 and 5, ensuring audiences will see plenty of the Na’Vi and Pandora all the way until 2031.
Avatar 3, which was largely filmed back-to-back with The Way of Water, has been pushed back many times before this with its most previous release date scheduled for December 20, 2024. Now, however, the film has been pushed back a whole year to December 19, 2025. Avatar 3‘s delay is likely due to Sigourney Weaver revealing Cameron plans to shoot some extra scenes for the film early next year as well as Cameron’s own desire to take a break from his sci-fi franchise between Avatar 3 and Avatar 4.
In that interim, Cameron plans to make a movie about the atomic bombings of Hiroshima and Nagasaki at the end of World War II. It will be an adaptation of The Last Train From Hiroshima: The Survivors Look Back by author Charles R. Pellegrino, which includes an interview with the late Tsutomu Yamaguchi, the only known survivor of both the Hiroshima and Nagasaki bombs. The legendary filmmaker also recently revealed he began a script for a new Terminator film, but has put that on hold until the future of AI programs has been more solidified before writing further.
As for Avatar 4 and 5, those films previously had release dates of December 18, 2026 and December 22, 2028. With Avatar 3‘s delay, as well as Cameron’s Hiroshima film, they have been pushed back by 3 years each. Avatar 4 will now be released December 21, 2029 and Avatar 5 on December 19, 2031.
Not much is known about Avatar 3, but it will introduce a new tribe of Na’Vi called the Ash People which is a more aggressive tribe on Pandora compared to the ones we’ve seen so far. Game of Thrones veteran Oona Chaplin will play the leader of the Ash People and the film’s villain. Cameron and producer Jon Landau have also teased the next Avatar sequels, specifically Avatar 5, will take the characters to Earth for the first time in the franchise.
After over a decade since the first Avatar hit theatres, Avatar: The Way of Water repeated history by earning over $2 billion at the box office, being one of the most successful movies ever and beat Cameron’s own Titanic to become the third-highest movie of all time.
Ricky Church – Follow me on Twitter for more movie news and nerd talk.
