The eagerly-anticipated sequels to James Cameron’s Avatar have finally been given release dates.
The first will be released on 18 December, 2020, with Avatar 3 slated for a 17 December, 2021 release, while Avatar 4 and 5 will be in cinemas on 20 December, 2024 and 19 December, 2025, respectively.
Cameron announced the news there would be four Avatar sequels, instead of the previously planned three, at CinemaCon last year (16). The filmmaker explained that each of the four sequels will be a stand-alone film, but will fit together to create a saga.
The original movie, released back in 2009, and followed the story of paraplegic marine Jake Sully, played by Sam Worthington, who falls in love with Zoe Saldana’s alien native warrior Neytiri during a unique mission to the moon Pandora.
Sigourney Weaver, Michelle Rodriguez, and Giovanni Ribisi co-starred in Cameron’s epic sci-fi fantasy drama, which is still the highest grossing film of all time, racking up an enormous $2.78 billion at the box office worldwide.
The Titanic filmmaker and 20th Century announced the news of the four sequels, alongside a photo of Cameron with the crew, on the movie’s official Facebook page.
“Great to be working with the best team in the business! Avatar takes flight as we begin concurrent production on four sequels,” the director wrote in the post on Saturday (22Apr17).
Weaver previously hinted the the Avatar sequels will begin production later this year (17), telling The Hollywood Reporter cameras will roll this autumn (17).
“We’re starting training, and we’re starting,” she says. “I probably can’t say anything. We will be actually shooting it by the fall.”
And Sigourney is confident fans will agree the films were worth waiting for when they hit the big screen.
“I’m telling you, these scripts are so amazing, I’m not worried at all,” she says. “Am I worried about how we’re going to bring them to life? Yes, because they’re so ambitious. They’re so worth it. They’re well worth waiting for. I’m not worried about that at all. We’re trying to get it done as quickly as possible.”
Avatar 2 was initially slated to hit theaters in December, 2018, but James scrapped the release date to give himself more time to develop the technology.
