Director James Cameron is all set to return to Pandora, and plans to direct his Avatar sequels back to back...
It was big, blue and made lots and lots of money. At least one sequel to James Cameron's blockbuster Avatar was inevitable, and the director has revealed that he intends to shoot two follow-ups back-to-back.
"Our plan right now is to do two and three as a single large production and release them a year apart," Cameron revealed, in an interview with Coming Soon. "In order to do that, we have to refine our technical processes beyond the end of where we were finishing Avatar one a year ago. We need to future-proof ourselves out five or six years to the end of the third film."
As for when shooting on these films might take place, the director was rather more vague.
"We're evaluating how much of our techwork and how much of our facility work it's going to take," Cameron said. "That's not decided as of right now. I'd love to just start on Avatar 2 right now, but I don't know if that's possible or if it makes sense to wait."
For some, the arrival of further adventures on the planet Pandora will be greeted with open arms, and I must admit I'll probably be waiting in line at my nearest Imax along with everyone else.
At the same time, I wish Cameron would put the franchise aside in favour of Battle Angel Alita, the live-action adaptation Yukito Kishiro's manga, a film which was originally pencilled in for release in 2013. With the director's attention now apparently focused on Avatar sequels, his Battle Angel film could well be postponed, perhaps indefinitely.
On a more positive note, Cameron concluded his interview with the tantalising hint that Sigourney Weaver may yet return in Avatar 2 or 3, despite her character's apparent death at the end of the original.
"Who said she died?" Cameron said. "Nobody dies in a science fiction movie. Whether Grace lives or dies depends more on Sigourney's agent than anything."