Cameron Pushes AVATAR Sequels Back One Year

In an interview with the Associated Press, James Cameron has announced that the sequels to Avatar will be released one year later than originally planned.

“There’s a layer of complexity in getting the story to work as a saga across three films that you don’t get when you’re making a stand-alone film,” he said.

The filmmaker was in Wellington, New Zealand, helping promote the local film industry with other directors including Peter Jackson. Cameron shot the first Avatar in New Zealand and plans to return for the other films.

The delay confirms rumors that Cameron has yet to turn in a script to 20th Century Fox. “We’re writing three simultaneously. And we’ve done that so that everything tracks throughout the three films. We’re not just going to do one and then make up another one and another one after that,” he said. “And parallel with that, we’re doing all the design. So we’ve designed all the creatures and the environments.”

Avatar continues to hold the record for box office with $2.8 billion.

In an earlier interview with Variety, 20th Century Fox chairman and CEO Jim Gianopulos said that he expected the films to be costly, but worthwhile. “We know it’s going to be a long journey,” said Gianopulos. “We know it’s not going to be cheap. We know it’s not going to be without new discoveries and new challenges in the process of producing something that is so beyond the normal form of filmmaking and technology, but what could be more exciting than that.”

Cameron told the AP that the goal is to have the three scripts completed by the end of January. One of the objectives is to make sure the three films work together to tell a single story, but that they also can stand alone with each having its own respective resolution so as to not leave the audience hanging.

This leaves the Christmas 2016 release slot open now that Avatar 2 won’t be there, so look for other studios to maneuver for a position.