James Cameron Claims That "Avatar 2" Will Come Out Christmas 2017

Scene from Avatar

There is a general reason why I don't report on Avatar 2 updates with a frequency. As it has been, director James Cameron has been supposedly planning to release the sequel in every year since 2014. With additional plans to build theme parks and dedicating his life to them, there's very little esteem that should be transferred onto this post. However, there is a certain enthusiasm that fans should be getting. There may be in fact a release date that is actually set in stone. During this past week, Cameron opened up about those planned sequels and what exactly he plans to do with them. The answers are pretty reassuring.

There's a strange phenomenon with Avatar, which is arguably the most successful film of all time. Most people know it, but nobody really talks about it. Considering that it was thought to be a revolutionary film at its release, the lack of iconography that is present in pop culture just six years later is disheartening for Cameron's planned franchise. However, it's still fascinating that the film was successful, given the nature of the biggest films of any given year being sequels. Cameron's never been one to make films fast and loose. Before Avatar in 2009, he released Titanic in 1997. On the bright side, he's looking to beat this record by a few years for the next output, and then again with the planned sequel.

So, what exactly has been keeping the sequel from coming out? There is one good reason. Cameron wants to release each of the next three sequels in sequential years, a'la The Lord of the Rings or The Hobbit films. It isn't just because it's a business model that everyone has adopted. It's supposedly because Avatar 2, Avatar 3, and Avatar 4 all are one continuous story that are necessary to complete one narrative. While it would be suggestible to film one at a time, Cameron wants to do something more time consuming with them. He claims that:

"...But I don’t consider that to be as important as the fact that when we get all three films done, we drop them a year apart. I call it a meta-narrative that runs across the three movies. Each film stands alone, but it also tells one much larger story."

Considering that Avatar isn't just the familiar technologically enhanced film, it makes sense why it would take time to get things right. His ambitions with story are also pretty high, and who knows if he'll actually be able to pull it off. However, he does go further on to claim that he will most likely make the deadline this time, because:

“We have design more or less finished, which is an enormous task. It’s been about a two-year task. [We’ve finished] all the creatures and the landscapes, and the new worlds within the world of Pandora that you see. The writing is ongoing, but almost finished. Technical development is done. Stages are done. Infrastructure. So we’re really poised to start after the first of the year."

Now the question is if it will actually meet its goal. Also, with Avatar not holding up its reputation as well as most thought, it will have an uphill struggle against other major franchise films that are planned for 2017 through 2019, including several Marvel movies and the recently resurrected Star Wars franchise, which is quickly beating any and all of Avatar's records. It does even seem likely that The Force Awakens will out gross every film shortly. So, can Cameron work his magic and still maintain his throne as king of the box office? Who knows, especially since he's also to blame for 3D surcharges and various other inessential costs.

Don't expect me to cover any major development about Avatar 2 until the film actually will be released. However, it felt worth covering this time, if just because it looks to finally be upon us. Is it considered Oscar news? It does seem doubtful that the film will be as Best Picture competitive as in 2009, but who knows. Nobody expected much from Mad Max: Fury Road, and it has quickly become a serious contender (The Force Awakens is no slouch either). It'll probably be more of a box office thing than awards deal. So who knows how much I'll cover it.