Avatar (2009 Film) - Sequels

Sequels

In 2006, Cameron stated that if Avatar were successful, he hoped to make two sequels to the film. In 2010, he said the film's widespread success confirmed that he will. The prospect of sequels was something he planned from the start, going so far as to include certain scenes in the film for future story followups. In August 2010, Cameron stated that his plans are to shoot both sequels in the planned trilogy back-to-back. He also mentioned, "what I'm working on primarily is the novel" and "presumably, once the novel is nailed down, work will begin in earnest on getting the sequel going."

Cameron stated that they are going to widen the universe while exploring other moons of Polyphemus. The first sequel will focus on the ocean of Pandora but will also feature more of the rainforest from the original movie. Later in 2010, Cameron announced his intention to capture footage for this sequel at the bottom of the Mariana Trench using a deepwater submersible. In December 2011, Cameron revealed that he is writing second and third films together, but that he is just starting to design the ocean ecosystem of Pandora and the other worlds to be included in story. The storyline, although continuing the environmental theme of the first film, will not be "strident", as the film will concentrate on entertainment.

The sequels will continue to follow the characters of Jake and Neytiri. Cameron implied that the humans would return as the antagonists of the story. "I expect that those nasty humans didn't go away forever," he said. Sam Worthington and Zoe Saldana have signed on to reprise their roles in future sequels. In February 2010, Cameron confirmed that Sigourney Weaver, who played Dr. Grace Augustine, will also be appearing in Avatar 2, stating that "no one ever dies in science fiction."

The sequels, to be produced by Cameron's own Lightstorm Entertainment in partnership with 20th Century Fox, were originally scheduled to be released in December 2014 and December 2015. In January 2012, producer Jon Landau stated that Avatar 2 is "four years away" and is scheduled to be released in 2016. During the 2011 CinemaCon in Las Vegas, James Cameron stated his intention to film the two Avatar sequels at a higher frame rate than the industry standard 24 frames per second, in order to add a heightened sense of reality. In May 2012, Cameron said that " making Avatar 2, Avatar 3, maybe Avatar 4". In June 2012, actress Sigourney Weaver revealed that the three sequels were shooting simultaneously, and that she was not sure how long shooting for the movies was expected to take. In early September, 2012, Cameron told MTV he had a concept for a fourth movie. It would be a prequel, set 35 years before the events of the first film, that deals with the early colonisation of Pandora. That same month, while promoting the 3D Blu-ray release of Titanic, he stated that the scripts for the second and third Avatar parts are still being written, with both being "separate stories that have an overall arc inclusive of the first film", and the second having a clear conclusion instead of a cliffhanger to the third film. Cameron expects to start pre-production in January 2013 and release Avatar 2 in 2015.