While chatter of a potential Terminator revival has understandably redirected attention away from his Avatar franchise, James Cameron remains as optimistic as ever about the future of the cutting-edge sci-fi series. So far, the decorated filmmaker has nailed down plans for not one, or two, but four mainline sequels – sequels that will purportedly stretch the saga all the way into 2022 – in what he describes as a “truly massive cinematic process.”
Such a process will involve shooting all Avatar sequels concurrently, and given the first follow-up, Avatar 2, is currently penciled in for release in December 2018, one might assume that Cameron would want to get the ball rolling sooner rather than later. Well, as the director revealed in a recent interview with The Daily Beast (via Screen Rant), the likes of Sam Worthington (Jake) and Zoe Saldana (Neytiri) should be slipping back into the motion capture suits sometime this summer.
But first, James Cameron stressed that he’s not limiting his focus to Avatar 2 and Avatar 2 alone; rather, he’s looking at the big, big picture.
“The thing is, my focus isn’t on Avatar 2. My focus is on Avatar 2, 3, 4, and 5 equally. That’s exactly how I’m approaching it. They’ve all been developed equally. I’ve just finished the script to Avatar 5. I’m now starting the process of active prep. I’ll be working with the actors in the capture volume in August, so I’m booked in production every day between now and then. Our volume is up and running, and everything is designed, and so we’re going full-guns right now. I feel like I’ve been let out of jail, because I’ve been in the writing cave for the last two years. I’m actually enjoying life. I don’t enjoy writing. I wouldn’t wish writing on a dog.”
As things stand, Avatar 2 has been slated for December 21, 2018 – just don’t be too surprised if (when?) that release date gets pushed back. Avatars 3, 4, and 5 will follow soon thereafter, barring any unforeseen hitches in production.