Just when you thought it was safe to lock in those Avatar release dates in your diary, James Cameron has gone and busted out another script for his ever growing franchise.
The news was announced while Cameron was promoting his new NatGeo produced documentary Atlantis Rising. During at interview for with The Daily Beast, the director had the following to say:
“The thing is, my focus isn’t on Avatar 2. My focus is on Avatar 2, 3, 4, and 5 equally. That’s exactly how I’m approaching it. They’ve all been developed equally. I’ve just finished the script to Avatar 5. I’m now starting the process of active prep. I’ll be working with the actors in the capture volume in August, so I’m booked in production every day between now and then. Our volume is up and running, and everything is designed, and so we’re going full-guns right now. I feel like I’ve been let out of jail, because I’ve been in the writing cave for the last two years. I’m actually enjoying life. I don’t enjoy writing. I wouldn’t wish writing on a dog.”
So apart from the eyebrow raising comparison of screenwriters with dogs, the other tidbit I gleamed from these comments is that all four Avatar sequels will finally begin shooting in August of this year, but when exactly they will finish is still anyone’s guess.
Add to this last week’s news that Cameron is keen to produce a new Terminator film, and you start to wonder whether this is all physically possible, or indeed necessary. But this is James freaking Cameron we’re talking about, and as easy as it is to criticize his decision to expand a franchise that arguably few people care about, he has a knack for putting his money where his mouth is.
AVATAR 2, 3, 4 and 5 are tentatively set for release in 2018, 2020, 2022 and 2023.