James Cameron and Fox have announced the release dates for three sequels to Avatar and named the screenwriting team that will work on the films. The announcement is the first official confirmation that there will be an Avatar 4.
According to Variety, the studio and Cameron said that the three films will be made simultaneously, that way they can come out a year after each other. The three sequels will be out in December of 2016, 2017 and 2018.
As for the writing crew, there were reports Wednesday that Josh Friedman, the creator of Terminator: The Sarah Connor Chronicles and writer of War of the Worlds, will be working on Avatar 2. Today’s news confirmed that. MTV News notes that Rick Jaffa & Amanda Silver (Rise of the Planet of the Apes) and Shane Salerno (Savages) will be joining the team crafting the next chapters of Na’vi history.
It’s worth noting that Friedman hasn’t actually worked with Cameron before, since the director did not work on The Sarah Connor Chronicles, even though it used characters Cameron and Gale Anne Hurd created.
Today’s news also confirms comments actress Sigourney Weaver made last summer, when she mentioned that an Avatar 4 was going to be made and that they’d all be made simultaneously. That followed Cameron’s famous comment to the New York Times that, “I’m in the Avatar business. Period. That’s it.”
Avatar is the highest-grossing film of all time, making $2.8 billion after its release in 2009.
image: Amazon