In a different timeline, we might have already reached the end of the run of James Cameron’s original plans for sequels to his film Avatar. The original plan back in 2009 was to make the first film the start of a trilogy and the third and final installment would have been released in December 2014 and 2015 respectively. After years of delays, Cameron has expanded his initial plans from two sequels to four and is finally at work on the second and third installments of his franchise, shooting the films concurrently. And then, if 20th Century Fox likes what they see once he is in post-production, they’ll greenlight parts four and five.
But it is possible we may not be referring to these films by just a number for long.
The BBC has reportedly seen a document which purports to have all four sequels full titles. And they are –
- Avatar: The Way of Water
- Avatar: The Seed Bearer
- Avatar: The Tulkun Rider
- Avatar: The Quest for Eywa
Until official, take these with a grain of salt. Fox has yet to comment on the report. With Disney’s acquisition of Fox set to close this January, I would suspect that we won’t get any official word on the sequels until afterwards, once Disney and Fox management have had a chance to see what Cameron is cooking up and to formulate a marketing strategy forward.
I know that there is a lot of speculation and discussion about how, despite being a huge box office hit upon its release, Avatar has quickly faded into the background. It seems like the only time that myself and other film fans bring it up in discussions is to mention how no one brings up the movie for discussion any more. Another common complaint is that no one seems to be asking for Avatar sequels. But over the course of his career, there have been times when people questioned what Cameron was doing as a filmmaker. Everyone was sure that Titanic was going to be a disaster financially. No one was particularly sure that Avatar was going to be a hit at first. Cameron may just surprise here again as well.
Avatar 2 – Or is it Avatar: The Way of Water?- hits theaters December 18, 2020. Avatar 3 will follow on December 17, 2021. Avatar 4 is scheduled for December 20, 2024 and Avatar 5 rounds off everything on December 19, 2025.
