James Cameron has been promising (threatening?) to make more Avatar movies soon. Variety reports that the filmmaker has finally confirmed the release dates for those sequels, slated to hit theaters starting in 2020.
Avatar 2 opens on December 18, 2020. Avatar 3 will open December 17, 2021, with Avatar 4 set for December 20, 2024 and Avatar 5 opening December 19, 2025. “Great to be working with the best team in the business!” the director wrote on Facebook. “Avatar takes flight as we begin concurrent production on four sequels.”
Variety reminds us that the film remains “the all-time worldwide box office champion with $2.8 billion.” And what will these next movies be about, exactly? “We have decided to embark on a truly massive cinematic project, making four epic films, each of which stands alone but together forms a complete saga,” Cameron told audiences a year ago at CinemaCon.
The original Avatar took four years to make, from pre-production to release. Cameron originally wanted to release the film in 1999, but his special effects needs increased the budget to $400 million, which meant no studio was jumping to fund the film. It was shelved for almost a decade.
So yeah, get ready for Avatar mania (again). RIP anyone writing about movies for a living for the next eight years.