Filmmaker James Cameron announced plans for four sequels to “Avatar” years ago. Once he got the go-ahead, he then proceeded to shoot the second and third ones before hitting a pause on the other two (though some of the fourth was shot).
How the box-office reacts to “Avatar: The Way of Water” will be a determining factor as to whether Cameron can go ahead with his planned fourth and fifth films. Presuming they go well, Cameron indicates he could go beyond that as he may have more story to tell.
Speaking with THR for a feature piece, Cameron was asked about how the box-office will come into play in regards to the next films:
“We’ll probably finish movie three regardless because it’s all shot. We’d have to really crater for it not to seem like it was worth the additional investment. We’d have to leave a smoking hole in the ground. Now, hopefully, we get to tell the whole thing because five’s better than four, four’s better than three, and three’s better than two.”
Should the success keep rolling, he says the story has further places he can take it and already has an idea for a sixth and seventh film. However, he admits he may not be able to do so by that point:
“I’d be 89 by then. Obviously, I’m not going to be able to make Avatar movies indefinitely with the amount of energy required. I would have to train somebody how to do this because I don’t care how smart you are as a director, you don’t know how to do this.”
He also says there are no plans for a TV series based on the property as technologically it would be unfeasible at this time:
“The problem with these CG characters is that they’re so cost- and labor-intensive that it really doesn’t work for TV. Now, come back in 10 years, with a lot of machine deep learning. Insert it into our pipeline, which we hope to do, over time. We might be able to get to a TV schedule, but it doesn’t interest me right now.”
Cameron has previously indicated the film will need to be “in the top five films of all time to be a success”. “Avatar: The Way of Water” arrives in theaters on December 16th.
