In a recent interview with The New York Times, box office “king of the world” James Cameron left little doubt about his devotion to the Avatar franchise that he created.
Cameron, who at the time of the interview was in Beijing for the Chinese capital’s film festival and to talk to the higher-ups within the country’s film industry about business and distribution, was asked about contemporary (Zack Snyder, Robert Rodriguez), all-time (Steven Spielberg, Stanley Kubrick) and new (none!) filmmakers he admired.
But the talk quickly turned toward his future projects. Throughout his career, Cameron has written and produced movies that he hasn’t directed, but going forward, it’ll be pretty much all Avatar, all the time … all his own movies.
“I’m not interested in developing anything,” Cameron said. “I’m in the Avatar business. Period. That’s it. I’m making Avatar 2, Avatar 3, maybe Avatar 4, and I’m not going to produce other people’s movies for them. I’m not interested in taking scripts.”
So there’s the exciting news: a potential Avatar fourquel! The bad — but understandable, given the logistics, financial and otherwise — news is that there remains no firm ETA for Avatar 2 (last we heard, 2016 seemed like the optimistic premiere year), which, Cameron said, is still in the “production pipeline,” with effects stages merely being set up in Los Angeles and New Zealand. Simply put, it’s gonna be a while, but also presumably well worth the wait.
More:
‘Avatar 2’: What We Know So Far
‘Avatar’ Sequel “Four Years Away,” Says Producer Jon Landau
