James Cameron Plans Back-to-Back Avatar Sequels

James Cameron Plans Back-to-Back Avatar Sequels

Movie News

By our guest blogger, Joe Oliveto

When a movie takes in close to $2.8 billion at the worldwide box office, a sequel’s a sure thing. It’s been nearly one year since James Cameron unleashed “Avatar” on movie-going audiences, and those of us longing for another trip to Pandora will be happy to know that two sequels are officially in the works.

According to the New York Times, Cameron will take a “Lord of the Rings” approach to these movies and film them both back-to-back, hoping to begin production next year. Where the story will go is unclear, but “Avatar” introduced audiences to a remarkably immersive world and it seems like there’s plenty of potential for another adventure.

What we do know is that Cameron has never been a director who takes the easy way out (often to the immense displeasure of his cast and crew), so he’s decided that the next film will take place in one of his favorite locations: the ocean.

While the first movie introduced us to the land of Pandora, Forbes claims that the sequel will take us underwater. Unwilling to simply rely on CGI to create this world, Cameron apparently plans to actually film parts of it underwater.

Historically, this hasn’t worked out for the filmmaker, whose picture “The Abyss” suffered from a notoriously problematic production that so angered a few of the stars that they refused to promote the movie. Hopefully, Cameron has learned some lessons about the process since that experience.

The downside to all this news is that, for at least the next few years, Cameron will be thoroughly distracted from any other potential projects he may have had in the works. Although he’s not the most prolific director—there was a 10-year period after “Titanic” where he didn’t make a single major feature—when he does put something up on the screen, it’s not only entertaining but often unique. He may have dozens of potential stories up his sleeve, but it seems like they’ll all have to wait until the “Avatar” saga is wrapped up. (And let’s just pray it’s not followed with a prequel trilogy).

Love it or hate it, “Avatar” has already secured a place as one of the most widely renowned science-fiction films of all time. Plenty of viewers will flock to theatres to see the follow-up. Can James Cameron top himself?

Well, if he can’t, there’s probably no one who can.