It has already been six years ago since the first installment of the "Avatar" franchise premiered in theaters, broke blockbuster records and was even declared as one of the highest-grossing films ever produced. Undeniably, with the success it has achieved, it comes to no surprise when the movie was approved to have sequels.
Now, the latest catch is director James Cameron recently confirmed that they might hit their target 2017 release date for "Avatar 2." "Christmas of '17 is the target," said the award-winning writer, producer and filmmaker told Montreal Gazette. "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."
James and the entire production team have been working hard in designing the forthcoming film in the past two years. He even revealed that the writing of the movie is ongoing, but it is almost done.
At the moment, the team is going through a scrupulous pre-production process since the actors will be doing this for three films all at once. Slash Film reported in January that 20th Century Fox has announced that "Avatar 2" will be a principal part of a trilogy with "Avatar 3" which is set to be released in 2018 and "Avatar 4" the year after.
"I call it a meta-narrative that runs across the three movies," James added. "Each film stands alone, but it also tells one much larger story."
To recall, "Avatar 2" was originally set to be released in Christmas 2016. However, the whole team encountered several quandaries in crafting the script interconnected with three huge films to fulfill. James, then, cancelled the said target date to Christmas 2017, but things could change anytime. What is clear by far is that the next two films will be released a year apart from each other once the second installment is out.
Meanwhile, Jon Landau, producer of "Avatar 2," admitted that the whole production team is fully aware that fans have high expectations from the upcoming films. As a matter of fact, he told Entertainment Weekly that they want to make sure that they could meet or even surpass the expectations and standards followers have set for the succeeding installments. "Obviously, expectations are going to be very high on these films, especially on Avatar 2, to make sure it wasn't just some big fluke the first time," he said.
What are you expectations for "Avatar 2," "Avatar 3" and "Avatar 4"? Share to us your thoughts in the comment section below.
