Yesterday it looked like James Cameron was making some forward progress on his long-awaited Avatar sequels by hiring Josh Friedman to do some rewrite work on the sequel, but that was only a small piece of the puzzle. We've known that he and 20th Century Fox were planning on filming the next two back-to-back, and rumors had circulated but were never confirmed that a fourth movie, possibly a prequel, could be in the works. Now we know that Cameron is indeed expanding the Avatar franchise to four films, and has hired some high-profile writers to help him bring the magical forest world of Pandora to life once again.
Joining Friedman on the writing staff are the husband/wife duo of Rick Jaffa and Amanda Silver, who know a thing or two about blockbuster franchise having written Rise of the Planet of the Apes, Dawn of the Planet of the Apes, and 2015's Jurassic Park IV. They'll tackle the third film while Shane Salerno, writer of Armageddon and Savages, will tackle the fourth. They'll each work with Cameron separately, meaning this won't be a total collaborative effort strangely enough, with plans for all three films to shoot simultaneously beginning next year, with a new one to be released each December beginning in 2016. Regarding the news, Cameron had this to say...
Cameron: “Building upon the world we created with Avatar has been a rare and incredibly rewarding experience. In writing the new films, I’ve come to realize that Avatar’s world, story and characters have become even richer than I anticipated, and it became apparent that two films would not be enough to capture everything I wanted to put on screen. And to help me continue to expand this universe, I’m pleased to bring aboard Amanda, Rick, Shane and Josh — all writers I’ve long admired - to join me in completing the films screenplays.”
Avatar remains the highest grossing film of all-time,earning a whopping $2.8B worldwide, and befitting its status the sequels are speculated to cost nearly $1B when all is said and done. While the sequels remain one of the hottest properties in Hollywood, it's hard to imagine that the follow-ups will manage to maintain that level of excitement over the seven year gap. The schedule would seemingly push back Cameron's plans to adapt Battle Angel, which he had recently said could begin in 2017. [Deadline]
