Back in April,AvatardirectorJames Cameronmade the dual announcement that there will actually be four newAvatar sequelsinstead of three, while pushingAvatar 2’s release up a year to December 2018. The director didn’t address when exactly production will begin onAvatar 2, but today we have word fromSigourney Weaver, who is returning as Dr. Grace Augustine, who shed some doubts on whether or not the sequel will be ready by that date. Here’s what she had to say in a recent interview, while also commenting on three of the four sequel’s scripts.
“We haven’t started it, so I don’t know how realistic that date is, but I think it’s going to be very exciting. I’ve read three of the foursequel’s scripts, and they’re even more extraordinary than the first one.”
The actress revealed these details to The Hollywood Reporter, during a screening of her new filmA Monster Calls, which debuts in limited release December 23 before opening nationwide on January 6. We reported back in February thatJames Cameronwas scheduled tostart productiononAvatar 2this past April in New Zealand, but that was before the release date was pushed into 2018. It’s possible that production will begin next spring in New Zealand, but that has yet to be confirmed.
Way back in 2014,AvatarstarZoe Saldanarevealed that all of theAvatarsequels will be shooting simultaneously, throughout a eight to nine month stretch of filming. That was before a fourth sequel was added, though, and it hasn’t been revealed yet ifJames Cameronnow intends to shoot all four simultaneously as well. AfterAvatar 2arrives in December 2018,Avatar 3will arrive two years later in 2020, followed byAvatar 4andAvatar 5arriving back-to-back in 2022 and 2023. With four movies arriving within a span of five years, it seems likely that at least a few of these movies will be shot back-to-back, if not all four being shot simultaneously.
Our most recent update onAvatar 2was in late October, when directorJames Cameronrevealed that he wants “glasses-free 3D” technology to be implemented for all of his sequels. The filmmaker stated he is still “very bullish” on 3D, while adding that it needs to have a brighter projection with no glasses required, but he thinks that he can get there by the timeAvatar 2hits theaters in December 2018. Hopefully we’ll have more updates on these highly-anticipated sequels very soon.
