Cameron Announces 2 AVATAR Sequels

With it being the biggest money making film of all time, not adjusting the returns of Gone With The Wind for 71 years of inflation, it was almost inevitable that there was going to be a sequel to Avatar. And now James Cameron and studio Twentieth Century Fox have come to an agreement that will see the director making his next two films Avatar sequels.

Cameron had this to say in a press release announcing the deal –

It is a rare and remarkable opportunity when a filmmaker gets to build a fantasy world, and watch it grow, with the resources and partnership of a global media company.  AVATAR was conceived as an epic work of fantasy – a world that audiences could visit, across all media platforms, and this moment marks the launch of the next phase of that world.  With two new films on the drawing boards, my company and I are embarking on an epic journey with our partners at Twentieth Century Fox.  Our goal is to meet and exceed the global audience’s expectations for the richness of AVATAR’s visual world and the power of the storytelling.  In the second and third films, which will be self contained stories that also fulfill a greater story arc, we will not back off the throttle of AVATAR’s visual and emotional horsepower, and will continue to explore its themes and characters, which touched the hearts of audiences in all cultures around the world.  I’m looking forward to returning to Pandora, a world where our imaginations can run wild.

The current plan is for Cameron to start scripting the two films in the new year and having cameras rolling by the end of 2011. Of course, since there is a certain amount of post-production work required for these films, we won’t get to see them in our local cineplexes until December 2014 and 2015.

While I’ll admit that I am excited to see new wonders Cameron has cooked up for the world of Pandora, I’m hoping that there he takes a bit more time to flesh out the characters who will be exploring this world than he did with the first film.