James Cameron Shooting Avatar 2 and 3 Back-to-Back

James Cameron to shoot Avatar 2 and 3 back-to-back
James Cameron to shoot Avatar 2 and 3 back-to-back
James Cameron recently spoke with MTV about his proposed plans for the upcoming Avatar sequels, and the novelization he has been working on since the first film debuted to record numbers last December.

The acclaimed director doesn't rule out shooting Avatar 2 and Avatar 3 back-to-back. In fact, he would prefer it that way. Here is what he had to say about the future of the franchise:

"Avatar 2? We are still working on deals. We don't start the movie until we get the deals done. I am making notes. I am not sitting idle."


About shooting both upcoming sequels back-to-back, the director said:

"Yeah, we are actually talking about that. That is not a decision yet, but that makes a lot of sense, given the nature of these productions. We can bank all of the capture. Then we can go back and do cameras for a long time. We just went back for a DVD supplement. I went back to fill in some gaps on certain scenes that were otherwise complete, but didn't have cameras on certain key moments. We went back and captured stuff that was three years old. But we just shot it the other day. Given the freedom to do that, without having to have the actors present? We can shoot this stuff in a concentrated manner. The way these back-to-back productions fall apart is because you are shooting live action. You are breaking your back, working on it for a year and a half, shooting. Everybody is dead. It's not humanly possible. But with this type of film, it would absolutely work."


Finally, James Cameron had this to say about the long planned novel version of the film:

"What I am working on now primarily is the novel. I always intended to get to the novel while we were making the movie. And I didn't want to do some cheesy novelization, where some hack comes in and makes shit out of something that was a legitimate idea. Ideally that becomes a bible for any other writers that come along and want to riff off it for any other Avatar stories. I don't mind that happening. I just don't want it to happen until I've got more meat on the bones. The film is pretty spare when it comes to the details, the backstory, the company that we have on earth. Grace's backstory. Jake's backstory. That all needs to be filled in before other writers can come in and run with it."


You can hear more of James Cameron's interview at MTV.

Avatar 2 comes to theaters in 2014. The film is directed by James Cameron.

Avatar 3 comes to theaters in 2015. The film is directed by James Cameron.

Avatar was released December 18th, 2009 and stars Sam Worthington, Zoe Saldana, Sigourney Weaver, Stephen Lang, Joel Moore, Giovanni Ribisi, Michelle Rodriguez, Laz Alonso. The film is directed by James Cameron.

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Comments (238)

  1. Greekgod

    @Daveactor7 YOUR WELCOME

    2 years agoby @greekgodFlag

  2. Daveactor7

    @Greekgod thank you!

    2 years agoby @daveactor7Flag

  3. Greekgod

    i dont get what the big hype is over this movie ok it was very visually detailed ill give u that but the story wasnt original ok go watch a movie thats just as good its call pocahontas

    2 years agoby @greekgodFlag

  4. CBF

    This is NOT confirmation. Cameron said it hisself - the decision has not been made. What is the point to keep posting these misleading news titles?

    2 years agoby @comicbookfanFlag

  5. Bryan Yentz

    Avatar: 2 will be called "Avaception" and it will be about these blue-cat people that wear suits and jump into human's brains to plant the idea that Pandora never existed, so that they'll never come and dig up unobtainium again. The catch? These blue-cat people can jump into dream after dream after dream. Some haters are saying it's a rip-off of some other movie, but Cameron said that he came up with the idea when he was being conceived. As for Avatar: 3 That one is about a ringed planet called CIRCLE and this coalition of humans and aliens called "The Agreement" chase the blue-cat people to it. But there, they find that there's an enemy known as "The River" which are a parasitic life-form that take control of their host's body. Thus, blue-cat guy, Master Soldier 118, must escape with the remainder of his allies. I mean, doesn't that sound F*CKING awesome? Cameron is a genius! They should just make a game about it right now!

    2 years agoby @bryanyentzFlag

  6. slysnide

    I didn't want more, just more of a point to even having the ones they killed off. Afterall, if he's gonna set up rivalries with characters like Grace or Tsu Tey, be them friendly or not, then why not have their fates have something to do with what Jake does, rather than from some random incident, as rather than coming up with an interesting way for Jake to earn back their respect after the first attack, JC just took the cop out by having him wrangle some bird and then they all listen to him like he's a god. Not very creative or inventive at all, especially since the Navi victims of the first attack would warn the others of what happened, such that they'd defend themselves on their own, without Jake's help, as in the climax Jake does nothing but fights the general, who means nothing to the Navi, as he's just one of thousand(s). I mean really, so many missed opportunities to make something of the characters. And then Neytiri's purpose expires after Jake's accepted into the tribe. She literally disappears until the end of the climax when she saves him from the general.

    As for Titanic, JC tossed out a lot of the historical incidents in favor of exaggerated portrayals of the few real life characters with considerable screentime in the film, being Ismay, Andrews, Smith, and Murdoch.

    2 years agoby @slysnideFlag

  7. Daveactor7

    @moviegeek that i agree on lol

    2 years agoby @daveactor7Flag

  8. moviegeek

    @Dave I agree that everything evaporated in the end, but I don't have a problem with a formula picture that requires a big battle at the end. Sure, I've seen it before. Sure, Inception was WAY better. Sure, people will talk about Inception a lot longer than Avatar. But Avatar is one great movie. Not because its so shockingly original, but because it was a great time at the movies.

    2 years agoby @moviegeekFlag

  9. Daveactor7

    @moviegeek the story about a handicap marine who goes to a planet and goes in a manmade alien body to have a "pocahontus" and "dances with wolves" style adventure? That sounds so simple, a little entertaining, but not great enough. Inception (A way better scifi) had an original plot that was so engaging. Avatar was good till the second hour of the movie. The introduction of the movie and meeting the characters was good, but then it ended in another hollywood style ending.

    2 years agoby @daveactor7Flag

  10. moviegeek

    I think with 'the simple uninteresting story' (which I don't agree on), it would have worked with simply focusing on Jake and Netyirewifahi whatever her name is. I don't think bigger movie needs a bigger character listing. Less is more.

    2 years agoby @moviegeekFlag

  11. Daveactor7

    @moviegeek if avatar could support a large cast, and still had interesting characters that went along well with the storyline, it could've worked. But with such a simple uninteresting story, it was not possible.

    2 years agoby @daveactor7Flag

  12. moviegeek

    Haha! @daveactor7 wants LESS characters and @slysnide wants MORE! You can't win!!

    2 years agoby @moviegeekFlag

  13. Daveactor7

    The characters in avatar were totally uninteresting except for Neytiri and Jake. Characters are really important in a movie, and last year The hurt locker had the greatest characters. In avatar, there were simply too many unnecessary characters and that brought the structure of the movie down.

    2 years agoby @daveactor7Flag

  14. moviegeek

    Well, unlike Star Wars, I think Avatar tried to be more of a love story than an action picture. (Not that it fully succeeded). So I think in adding more characters, it would have taken away from the central focus. You don't see a bunch of characters in Titanic, do you?

    2 years agoby @moviegeekFlag

  15. slysnide

    @moviegeek: I agree in that the original Star Wars was basically the classic damsel in distress story that was loved for the effects, and some offbeat characters, like Han and the droids. I would however like to see a film about something different, but set somewhere appealing, like Avatar was, but with a less predictable story, and better characters. They killed a lot off needlessly, like the friendly rival with the fellow Navi went nowhere as he died in the climax, as did Grace earlier on, and all the while, Jake just sat on the bird and only intercepted the general. Not very endearing of a climax when the main character sits it out.

    2 years agoby @slysnideFlag

  16. Daveactor7

    Oh my god, @Brian most didnt like it as well. It wasnt a great movie. Period.

    2 years agoby @daveactor7Flag

  17. moviegeek

    Who really sees the movies for their stories.

    There are exceptions but it usually is to make them laugh, the effects, or critical acclaim. Maybe the passion of the Christ and shindlers list for story, but star wars was for the effects as well as even the wizard of oz.

    2 years agoby @moviegeekFlag

  18. slysnide

    @moviegeek: Actually, the media hyped the disaster big time when it happened. Ships sank alot back then. There are hundreds of shipwrecks everywhere which killed thousands and nobody could care. No one even cared about her twin ship Olympic's glroious 25yr run. And the whole world wasn't really caring about Titanic when it launched, only when they heard it sank. It was a shocker, but the media kept the story going far too long. It was a simple matter of the crew's habits and the ships poor design which sank it. That's it. Its engineers even recognized the fatal flaw when examining the blueprints again and corrected them for the third twin ship. The movie however was well rounded I agree, but many weren't interested, nor went to see it for the story. They went for the effects and the look given how popular the disaster was. The fact that someone made it look real was intense, and recaptured the public's fascination with the ship. People in the Phillipines could careless about a Kate Winslet/Leo DiCaprio romance, but they gave it bucks too. If the market of appeal was the same, then every film would open worldwide with amazing receipts, but they don't. And "Titanic" was popular a subject enough to merit such a successful release for the subject, not the story. That's common sense. As many who saw and reviewed it back then loved that aspect, but they didn't think the story was so amazingly perfect that it merited best picture. technically yes, but storywise, no.

    2 years agoby @slysnideFlag

  19. Emmytt

    @dan1 yea same here

    2 years agoby @emmyttFlag

  20. Dan

    Actually, most people I know have said that after the hype died down, while they still felt it was good, it wasn't nearly as good as others made it out to be. I'm with that group, as well.

    2 years agoby @dan1Flag

  21. Brian

    Yeah, "some" people didn't like Avatar, but MOST people did. And that's a fact, not an opinion. #1 theatrical release of all-time. #1 blu-ray sale of all time. Just accept it.

    2 years agoby @brianFlag

  22. Daveactor7

    @Brian
    You were right about me making no sense and a respect ur opinion. But people didnt like avatar and liked avatar letsjust leave it at that

    2 years agoby @daveactor7Flag

  23. Goodbye

    You know.We've all been either complaining about this movie or praising it.Why dont we move on to the novel he's supposed to be writing.I mean...Does it really need a novel with two sequels in the works?

    2 years agoby @drifter49Flag

  24. Johnnyblaze09

    Hahahaha! Nice one guys. Love reading yo'll comments.

    2 years agoby @johnnyblaze09Flag

  25. Cyn

    @Brian - no, I didn't.

    2 years agoby @cyn-de-harvenFlag

  26. Emmytt

    @brian and thank u for accepting my apologize

    2 years agoby @emmyttFlag

  27. Brian

    @emmytt You're a good man. Definitely not weak. Thanks for the words! I understand where you're coming from...everyone has their opinion about this one. :)

    2 years agoby @brianFlag

  28. moviegeek

    I would be fine, more than fine, with an Avatar re-release. . . 10 years from now. That way people will WANT to go and see it again the way it was meant to be seen. The little screen don't do it justice. But I'm not shelling out cash to see this 6 months after I saw it in IMAX 3D. Forget that.

    2 years agoby @moviegeekFlag

  29. JasonKat

    yea if this was a star wars movie getting 8 more mins of extra footage or even 8secs, all those die hard fans wouldnt b talking crap, lol they would b like "hell yea dude im there" but since this is avatar, most of you are just hating cause its not your type of movie.

    2 years agoby @jasonkatFlag

  30. Emmytt

    @brian i dont care if this makes me weak i am sorry for how i acted early i was just fighting for no reason i dont hate avatar i gave it a 3.5 i liked the visuals the story just felt too familiar to me i am sorry i acted immature

    2 years agoby @emmyttFlag

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