Shared universes are undeniably in vogue in Hollywood at present, with the likes of DC, Sony and Universal marching down the path carved out by Marvel not so long ago. And though James Cameron’s Avatar franchise doesn’t necessarily match this billing, with news surfacing that the esteemed director has mapped out a script for a potential Avatar 5, the lush world of Pandora seemingly boasts a scope on par with the other shared universes rolling in the dollars for the studios of Tinseltown.
As a matter of fact, the director recently postponed the planned trio of sequels, meaning moviegoers won’t be revisiting the alien world until 2017 at the earliest. However, in a recent interview with Hey U Guys, James Horner – sound composer who has worked alongside Cameron for Aliens, Titanic and the original Avatar in 2009 – revealed that the filmmaker currently has an embryonic plan for a fourth sequel, though it’s understood Cameron is attempting to streamline the best parts and integrate them into either Avatar 2, 3 or 4.
Here’s what Horner had to share on the matter:
Right now Jim has four sequels, script wise. And he’s trying to make it into three. And that is where, I think, his effort is going right now. To keep it to three sequels. Because he’s got so much going on how do you keep it from expanding into a fifth movie, total. And he’ll get that sorted out.
Whether Avatar 5 ever comes to pass is a decision that ultimately rests in the hands of Cameron. However, with three sequels already planned, one would imagine that the logical decision would be to streamline the narrative nuggets into the confirmed sequels – sequels he himself described as “bitchin’” – as any other strategy would just appear to be an attempt to milk Hollywood’s biggest cash cow in history.
Avatar 2 has been tentatively slated for December 25, 2017.