20th Century Fox had originally given Avatar 2 a December 2014 release date with Avatar 3 hitting a year later in December 2015, however while speaking at a screening of Titanic 3D producer Jon Landau said “it will be four or so years” before the second film will be released.

Assuming he’s got his numbers right, that means James Cameron and the team are now aiming for either December 2015, or 2016. In order to have hit the original 2014 release filming would have had to begin sometime this year, but in a recent interview Sam Worthington said Cameron still hasn’t got a complete script and he’s trying to “push the boundaries” in regards to the technology, which could be one of the reasons for the delay.

Cameron has previously revealed the sequels to Avatar would be “focusing on the oceans on Pandora, which will be equally rich and diverse and crazy and imaginative” as the rain forest environment we saw in the first film. This will require some underwater performance-capture, which has never been done before. Cameron is also planning to shoot at 60 frames per second which, again, has never been done before on a feature film.

The sequels will be shot back-to-back so whenever the second film hits, the third won’t be far off.

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Last year James Cameron said the sequels to Avatar would be “focusing on the oceans on Pandora, which will be equally rich and diverse and crazy and imaginative” as the rain forest environment we saw in the first film.

While exploring the depths of Pandora will prove a technical and visual challenge (performance-capture underwater, for example), it will give Cameron the opportunity to slip in some environmental issues causing concern here on Earth.

Cameron recently spoke to ABC’s Nightline about the ocean issues which will be present in the sequel, and you can watch the interview using the player below:

I didn’t mind Cameron’s environmental themes in the first film as it’s welcoming to see a popular movie with a message, but at the same time it’s good to know he won’t be overbearing with the environmental issues in the sequels, admitting that “it has to be entertainment first and foremost.”

Avatar 2 has a release date of December 2014 and Avatar 3 will hit a year later in December 2015. Back-to-back filming of the sequels will begin sometime next year.

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Despite the box office success of Avatar the sales of Avatar: The Game weren’t that impressive. It wasn’t a flop, selling over 2.7 million copies, but it didn’t meet expectations, which some blame on Ubisoft’s decision to release it 2 weeks ahead of the movie (before the hype).

With Avatar 2 and 3 set for 2014 and 2015 Ubisoft will have another chance to make an Avatar game, and director James Cameron thinks the universe is “perfect” for an MMO (Massively Multiplayer Online Game).

From IGN:

I think Avatar is a perfect IP for an MMO. It’s a very, very big world and based on the first film, you might not sense that, but we’re talking about an entire planet, an entire alter world, and in fact a universe that has other planetary bodies, as well, and other cultures, other life forms. Eventually people will see enough scope to be able to see how the MMO will work, but that’s going to have to be launched…the timing of that is going to have to be carefully orchestrated with the release of the second and third film because we don’t want to be giving away elements before the fact. And also I think one of the cool things about an MMORPG is that you have to have a lot more possibilities for characters than what you see in the film. The film is really just a leaping off point, so we’ve got to create a rich and diverse world that lives well beyond the films.

While no plans are currently in place to develop an Avatar MMO, it’s an interesting prospect. If it does happen we probably won’t be seeing it for another 3-4 years so, like the movies, we’ll just have to wait patiently.

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Earlier this year Peter Jackson made the decision to shoot The Hobbit movies at 48 frames per second, despite 24 fps being the film industry norm since the late 1920s. His reasoning was because at 48fps “the image has hugely enhanced clarity and smoothness” and “looks much more lifelike, and it is much easier to watch, especially in 3-D”.

This decision was a risk as there has never been a wide release feature film shot at this higher frame rate, so Warner Bros. and Jackson are “hopeful that there will be enough theaters capable of projecting 48 fps” by the time the first movie hits next December. Now James Cameron, who is familiar with technology-related risks, wants to go even higher by shooting the Avatar sequels at 60 fps.

Cameron told THR that he would “personally favor” 60 fps, but “other people may choose 48 for other reasons.”

“The reason I went down that path is because I believe it makes for better 3D,” Cameron said of his advocacy of higher frame rates in a new interview. “There were lots of arguments for why 48 and why 60. My feeling is if it is a software upgrade (for digital cinema projectors), do both. It doesn’t change anything at the projector; you don’t have to change the lamp house or the lenses. If you are uploading software you can upload it for 48 and 60 and let the filmmakers decide.”

In terms of how he will decide at what rate to shoot the Avatar sequels, Cameron said, “If the exhibitors will adopt the idea of a dual standard, than I’ll probably want to shoot 60. If they don’t, then I will have to look very carefully at the pros and cons of 60 and 48.”

When Peter Jackson announced his 48 fps decision he said 24 fps was by no means the best film speed, and it has only been used for so long because “it was the cheapest speed to achieve basic acceptable results back in 1927″. I’m always up for technological advancements when it’s clear there’s room for improvement, so hopefully The Hobbit can be shown at 48 fps next year. As Avatar 2 isn’t hitting screens until December 2014 Cameron has plenty of time for exhibitors to adopt the higher frame rates.

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Despite Dr. Grace Augustine being “with Eywa now” Sigourney Weaver hinted last year that her character could return in the Avatar sequels as she still exists “in the tree” and director James Cameron has thought of a way to keep “the family together” (i.e. the main cast).

While on the rounds promoting the Taylor Lautner/John Singleton thriller Abduction Weaver was asked about Avatar 2 and 3, and confirmed she will be back.

From Coming Soon:

“Don’t worry, I will be back,” she said of Avatar 2, confirming the hint that she dropped nearly a year ago, “Jim [Cameron] says no one ever dies in science fiction. He’s told me the stories for the next two movies and I have to say that they’re absolutely wonderful and there’s a real treat in store. Now we just have to make them.”

In June James Cameron said he was writing scripts for both films, which will be shot back-to-back, and they are currently “doing a lot of preliminary work right now on new software and new animation techniques.” Earlier this year Sam Worthington mentioned that Cameron is going to explore more of what lies beneath the oceans on Pandora, although he said “it won’t fully take place underwater but he’s definitely going to explore — same as the mountains, he can explore more, outer space [as well] — it’s up to him.”

Avatar 2 has a release date of December 2014 and Avatar 3 will hit a year later in December 2015. Filming will begin sometime next year.

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December 2014 and December 2015 are the release dates currently set for Avatar 2 and Avatar 3, and director James Cameron has been working on the scripts since the beginning of the year. With filming expected to begin next year Cameron still has plenty of time to finish them, and he gave at update on where he’s at in a recent interview.

From Fox News:

“We’re shooting two films back-to-back, so I’m writing two scripts, not one, which will complete a [three]-film story arc – not really a trilogy, but just an overall character arc so I’m pretty excited about that,” he said. “We’re doing a lot of preliminary work right now on new software and new animation techniques and so on. We’re creating a new facility in Manhattan Beach so everybody that’s not already dead is coming back.”

Cameron also spoke about the pressure of making the sequels following the $2.78 billion dollar success of the first film.

“There’s always an expectation. I had to deal with that after ‘The Terminator’ back in 1984. All of a sudden I had a big hit movie and it was ‘what are you doing next?’ But my job is take the audience on a journey and entertain them,” he added. “The second I am sitting down writing, I just go to Pandora. I don’t think about that stuff, about standing on a red carpet. It has its own life, really. The characters have their own lives.”

Earlier this year Sam Worthington mentioned that Cameron is going to explore more of what lies beneath the oceans on Pandora, although he said “it won’t fully take place underwater but he’s definitely going to explore — same as the mountains, he can explore more, outer space [as well] — it’s up to him.” Motion capture underwater will be a challenge, but Cameron has been pushing the boundaries of movie technology for years, so he’ll likely do it again.

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A few years ago James Cameron was deciding whether Avatar or Battle Angel would be his return to directing after nearly a decade long absence. He eventually moved forward with Avatar, as we know, and he has just signed up to direct Avatar 2 and Avatar 3 back-to-back for December 2014 and December 2015.

Fans of the manga comic Battle Angel Alita. which follows a cyborg who is found and repaired by a scientist, have been patiently waiting for Cameron to make it into a movie and while the director will be busy for the next 5 years, he insists he still wants to direct it.

From Collider:

I’m obviously going to be pretty busy for the next five years [with Avatar 2 and 3]. And so I had to consider, do I hand this project off to another director? And then I thought, ‘No, I love it too much.’”

It’s such a rich world. What I’m going to do is take the spine story and use elements from the first four books. So, the Motorball from books three and four, and parts of the story of one and two will all be in the movie.

Last year Cameron said:

Battle Angel, I think, is a science fiction movie that begs the question ‘What does it mean to be human?’ It takes place in a future world, a world that has cyborgs, but are you human if you have a mind, if you have a heart, if you have a soul? It’s a journey of a young girl who tries to discover herself and what she learns upon that journey… I just love the character. Maybe it’s from having daughters. I have three daughters, and thinking about what it’s like, the main character is this little girl that everybody kind of ignores. She’s got such a heroic heart on the inside, I’ve always loved that character.

I think there are a few other directors who could possibly tackle Battle Angel, but it looks like Cameron is keeping his hands on it for now. At this rate we can expect Battle Angel in 2020!

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In October 20th Century Fox revealed that James Cameron had agreed to dedicate the next 5 years of his life to making Avatar 2 and 3, with Avatar 2 having a possible release date of December 2014 and Avatar 3 hitting a year later in December 2015.

In a recent interview the director confirmed those dates, along with hinting that the characters who survived the first film will be back for the sequels.

From Inside Movies:

“I am in the process of writing the next two Avatar films now. We are planning to shoot them together and post them together, and we will probably release them not quite back to back, but about a year apart. Christmas ’14 and ’15 is the current plan.”

Cameron also notes that we’ll see some familiar faces return. “Basically, if you survived the first film, you get to be in the second film, at least in some form,” say the director. One thing’s for sure: some percentage of the presumably-massive Avatar sequel gross will go to charity. “Fox has partnered with me to donate a chunk of the profits to environmental causes that are at the heart of the Avatar world,” says the director. “I didn’t want to make more Avatar movies without a grander plan in place.”

So not only will the Avatar sequels entertain the masses, they will also help the planet. You are hereby banned from protesting the making of the sequels on moral grounds!

The aim is to start production towards the end of 2011/early 2012. Avatar began filming in April 2007 and was released 2 and a half years later, so we can expect a similar time-frame again (only they’ll be making two movies this time round).

Sam Worthington said last month that Cameron is going to explore more of what lies beneath of oceans on Pandora, although he said “it won’t fully take place underwater but he’s definitely going to explore — same as the mountains, he can explore more, outer space [as well] — it’s up to him.”

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Back in October James Cameron entered talks with Sony to direct an adaptation of the Stacy Schiff book Cleopatra: A Life with Angelina Jolie in the lead role. Less than 2 weeks later 20th Century Fox signed a deal with Cameron to direct Avatar 2 and 3 back-to-back. His scare tactic worked.

With that out of the way, Sony is now talking with a number of other directors with the aim of getting the Egyptian epic off the ground later this year.

Producer Scott Rudin recently spoke to Deadline about the project:

Rudin isn’t spilling but we hear that the filmmakers “like the idea” of the much respected Paul Greengrass although his name hasn’t even been mentioned yet to Angie who’s attached.

“It is a completely revisionist Cleopatra, a much more grown-up sophisticated version,” Rudin recently told Mike Fleming. “She’s not a sex kitten, she’s a politician, strategist, warrior. In the Joseph Mankiewicz movie, Elizabeth Taylor is a seductress, but the histories of Cleopatra have been written by men. This is the first to be written by a woman. It felt like such a blow-the-doors-off-the-hinges idea of how to tell it, impossible to resist. We’re pretty close. A lot of directors want to do it, but there is only a handful we’ll make it with.”

Sony has been hoping for a start date in 2011 and readily acknowledges that the pic “won’t be cheap”. In fact, Amy Pascal is calling this her Gone With The Wind epic.

Greengrass would be an interesting choice, mainly because we haven’t really seen Ancient Egypt get the shaky-cam treatment yet. The historical epics we saw earlier in the decade such as Gladiator and Troy have died down in recent years, so an expensive one with a female lead will be a risk.

Even though The Tourist made little impact at the box office Angelina Jolie can bring in the crowds with action movies (Salt, Wanted), and if this gets made it will probably be her defining role regardless of whether it is a grand epic or an epic failure.

Are you interested in seeing Jolie play Cleopatra? Who should direct?

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With 20th Century Fox setting Avatar 2 and 3 for 2014 and 2015 Sam Worthington is probably one of the few actors who has the next few years sorted acting-wise. While 2014 is a heck of a long time for us to wait, Worthington can expect to return to Pandora in around a year or so (and when I say Pandora I mean a huge motion-capture stage in New Zealand).

The last we heard Cameron will begin work on the scripts for the currently-untitled sequels early next year, with the aim to start production towards the end of 2011. Avatar begin filming in April 2007 and was released 2 and a half years later, so we can expect a similar time-frame again (only they’ll be making two movies this time round).

Worthington recently spoke to MTV and says he will be getting more story details from Cameron next year.

“I talk to [Cameron] all the time,” Worthington said. “I talked to him last week. I think at the moment he’s still doing the ['Avatar'] bible, the book, and I think the book will then inspire where he wants to take it,” the “Clash of the Titans” star explained. “He’s got great ideas; what he told me about, where he wants to set it, things he wants to explore. We’ll probably talk next year, and then he can fill us in on where, personally, he wants to take it, where emotionally he wants to take it.”

Regarding the sequel’s underwater setting, Worthington said only some of the action will take place in the water.

“[Cameron] is going to explore that [underwater] world,” he said. “It won’t fully take place underwater but he’s definitely going to explore — same as the mountains, he can explore more, outer space [as well] — it’s up to him,” Worthington added. “He created the world.”

Worthington also said he had “no idea” whether we will be seeing Jake Sully in human form again. At the end of the first film he transferred his mind into his Avatar but, as Worthington said, it’s Cameron’s world so he can do what he wants. He’s already suggested he wants to “keep the family together” so we may also see the return of Sigourney Weaver as a tree spirit…or an Ent.

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