James Cameron: Christmas 2017 is ‘target’ release date for ‘Avatar 2’
Avatar smashed the box office records in 2009 and surprised fans with amazing visual effects and 3-D technology. Now 20th Century Fox announced that there would be three sequels arriving in 2017, 2018 and 2019, director James Cameron is speaking out to lock in the first date.
Speaking to the Montreal Gazette about the Avatar-themed Cirque Du Soleil show Toruk: The First Flight, conversation eventually steered towards the Avatar sequels, and that’s when Cameron confirmed the Christmas 2017 release plan
“Christmas of ’17 is the target…At least, that’s what we’ve announced. But I don’t consider that to be as important as the fact that when we get all three films done, we drop them a year apart. I call it a meta-narrative that runs across the three movies. Each film stands alone, but it also tells one much larger story.”
There has been delay after delay, with the first sequel thought to arrive in 2014, but Cameron explains production-wise, why this had to be the case.
“We have design more or less finished, which is an enormous task. It’s been about a two-year task. [We’ve finished] all the creatures and the landscapes, and the new worlds within the world of Pandora that you see. The writing is ongoing, but almost finished. Technical development is done. Stages are done. Infrastructure. So we’re really poised to start after the first of the year.”
Cameron recently said that he wants the sequel to prove that the first film’s success wasn’t just a fluke, so stay tuned for updates. All three films are thought to film simultaneously, so an early 2016 production start wouldn’t be a big surprise.
Sam Worthington and Zoe Saldana are set to return with Sigourney Weaver and Stephen Lang making some sort of appearance as well.
James Cameron directing “Avatar” Photo/20th Century Fox
