We won’t be returning to Pandora anytime soon. Despite closing in on nearly a decade since Avatar was released and briefly reignited hope that 3D movies were something people cared about (hint: it wasn’t), director James Cameron has revealed what we probably already knew: an Avatar sequel isn’t arriving in 2018.
Cameron mentioned that while fans will no doubt be disappointed, the crew behind the film aren’t just making a sequel, they’re making four sequels. Naturally, these things take time. Speaking with The Star ostensibly regarding his upcoming Discovery Channel documentary, Atlantis Rising, Cameron said:
“Well, 2018 is not happening. We haven’t announced a firm release date. What people have to understand is that this is a cadence of releases. So we’re not making Avatar 2. We’re making Avatar 2, 3, 4 and 5. It’s an epic undertaking. It’s not unlike building the Three Gorges dam”.
“So I know where I’m going to be for the next eight years of my life. It’s not an unreasonable time frame if you think about it. It took us four-and-a-half years to make one movie and now we’re making four. We’re full tilt boogie right now. This is my day job and pretty soon we’ll be 24-7”.
“We’re pretty well designed on all our creatures and sets. It’s pretty exciting stuff. I wish I could share with the world. But we have to preserve a certain amount of showmanship and we’re going to draw that curtain when the time is right”.
20th Century Fox had previously announced a December 2018 release date, as well as subsequent dates for further sequels dating all the way into December 2023. These now look exceedingly likely to be changed. Cameron didn’t reveal too much about how far along the progress is for the films, but just having him utter the phrase “full tilt boogie” made this interview worthwhile.
The director also mentioned that the Avatar theme park attraction opening at Disney’s Animal Kingdom takes place within the canon of the films. Is this the future of cinema? Perhaps in the coming decades we’ll have to ride a rollercoaster to discover the twist of the latest Star Wars film.
It seems we’ll likely be hearing about Avatar sequels for many years yet, rather than actually getting to see them. Considering the huge profits Cameron’s films have pulled in, Fox is happy to wait if it means more record breaking business.
#Peace.Love.Avatar
