James Cameron's Sequel to "AVATAR" - Part 1

[terry78]

Avatar was never about the plot, it was about the technology he wanted to show off after decades of that idea just sitting in his desk.

 

[Kane52630]

Look back at my original post report, this had me cracking up.

http://forums.superherohype.com/showpost.php?p=17956652&postcount=1

The good news? The sequels won't take four years to make. Cameron has said he can get them out faster than the first AVATAR.

 

[redhawk23]

Avatar was never about the plot, it was about the technology he wanted to show off after decades of that idea just sitting in his desk.

At the same time, while the plot is very very simple and for a lot of people comes of as rote, it was not poorly told. The fact that it is so straight forward is what allowed this film to become the global common denominator for so many different audiences in so many different places.

 

[Kane52630]

At the same time, while the plot is very very simple and for a lot of people comes of as rote, it was not poorly told. The fact that it is so straight forward is what allowed this film to become the global common denominator for so many different audiences in so many different places.

Pretty much.

 

[dark_b]

I am really interested to see what the script turns out like since the first film wasn't that original apart from CGI.

why is everyone so obssesed with originality with Avatar? why is noone writting the same kind of posts for comicbook movies or other scifi movies that are not based on books ?

to me Amazing Spiderman 2 looks like 200 different movies with 2.0 at the end. it looks 100% similar. noone is writting about it. t:

 

[Octoberist]

why is everyone so obssesed with originality with Avatar? why is noone writting the same kind of posts for comicbook movies or other scifi movies that are not based on books ?

to me Amazing Spiderman 2 looks like 200 different movies with 2.0 at the end. it looks 100% similar. noone is writting about it. t:

I think we should champion originality, and like what you said, Avatar is an original IP. But never at one point did anything grab me.

Even if it's meant to be a variation of classic Joseph Campbell style storytelling, please give me interesting characters. Only the princess was interesting while everyone else were just flat archetypes and troupes. I didn't think Cameron really pulled in the character interaction as well as he did with his past movies, and that's my problem with the story, not the plot itself.

 

[dark_b]

whats funny is that Avatar was so popular because it showed an unique looking world. Cameron knows this. so Avatar 2 will have to show something new. by something new they will have to create a new world. so they will have to create new 3D cgi assets. so no time will be saved from the old cgi models. and since i am a little up to date with the WETA rendering workflow they will remodel Jake and Neytiri's alien body. only the trees in the background will be used again IMO. everything else will be modeled and textured.

so 2015 is not happening IMO.

 

[Octoberist]

I'm looking forward to what Avatar 2 has to offer. I just thought that Cameron was too distracted with the first one.

 

[SilentWarriorZ]

I think Cameron should do more different SciFi stories instead of making sequel for Avatar and just let it be one shot .

 

[Octoberist]

You mean like 'Battle Angel'.

 

[747]

3 more Avatar movies, released year-to-year starting 2016? Well they are filming it all back-to-back. And if Cameron has come up with enough story to make three more films, why not.

Since I'm a big fan of the first movie, I can't say I mind three more, it won't take much longer for him than two movies seemingly would have anyway. But I do also want something that's not Avatar from Cameron after all this (that will say: I want Battle Angel).

 

[MrMaooz]

Fox, James Cameron Set Group Of Writers To Spearhead Trio Of ‘Avatar’ Sequels

BREAKING: James Cameron and 20th Century Fox have upped the number of Avatar sequels they’ll make from two to three, and they’ve set three high level screenwriters to get the movies in shape to be shot simultaneously. That is easily a recipe for the most expensive set of pictures ever made, and an ambitious production plan not seen since New Line and Peter Jackson made three The Lord Of The Rings films back to back. Back then, Jackson was coming off The Frighteners. Fox has the confidence of knowing Cameron’s last two films are the biggest grossing pictures in movie history, with Avatar at the top by a wide margin. It’s still a gutsy play; it is not unimaginable that three Avatar installments could cost close to $1 billion. The original grossed $2.8 billion.

Cameron has set War of the Worlds scribe Josh Friedman, Rise Of Planet Of The Apes‘ Rick Jaffa & Amanda Silver and Shane Salerno, who wrote and directed the upcoming documentary Salinger and who previously worked with Cameron on a remake of Fantastic Voyage at Fox. The writers will collaborate with Cameron separately and co-write three separate movies with him.

The three pictures will be filmed simultaneously with production beginning next year. The release of the first sequel will be in December 2016, with the second to follow in December 2017, and the third a year later. Avatar 2, 3, and 4 will be produced by Cameron and Jon Landau through their Lightstorm Entertainment banner. Lightstorm will work once again with Joe Letteri and his team at WETA Digital on the three films.

Commented Cameron: “Building upon the world we created with Avatar has been a rare and incredibly rewarding experience. In writing the new films, I’ve come to realize that Avatar’s world, story and characters have become even richer than I anticipated, and it became apparent that two films would not be enough to capture everything I wanted to put on screen. And to help me continue to expand this universe, I’m pleased to bring aboard Amanda, Rick, Shane and Josh — all writers I’ve long admired -* to join me in completing the films screenplays.”

This is far and away the beach head project for 20th Century Fox chairman and CEO, Jim Gianopulos, who pulled Cameron out of a proposed plan to direct Cleopatra at Sony with Angelina Jolie, and instead made a deal that ensured his focus would be on expanding his Avatar universe and the groundbreaking 3D technology that brought it to life. The move by Gianopulos kept Cameron in the Fox fold, a relationship that spans nearly 30 years, starting with 1985′s Aliens. Said Gianopulos: “We at the studio have no higher priority, and can feel no greater joy, than enabling Jim to continue and expand his vision of the world of Avatar. The growing breadth and scale of Jim Cameron’s plans for his magnificent fantasy worlds continue to amaze us all.”

Cameron wrote Avatar from an idea he nurtured over a decade, including the technology required to make it happen in immersive 3D, which Cameron accomplished working with WETA Digital. That explained the long absence he took after helming Best Picture Oscar winner Titanic,. which was co-financed by Fox and Paramount. Aside from being the all time biggest grosser, the film is also the biggest selling Blu-ray disc ever. It got nine Oscar nominations and won three.

http://www.deadline.com/2013/08/fox-james-cameron-set-group-of-writers-to-spearhead-trio-of-avatar-sequels/

 

[mclay18]

Good, I'm glad Cameron is letting other writers polish up his work. I'm bit surprised Cameron asked Shane Salerno to help co-write Avatar 4... but getting Josh Friedman and Rick Jaffa & Amanda Silver on is a nice touch.

 

[747]

Avatar might not have had a very original story, but it was very effectively told in a very original, immersive and absolutely stunning context. And I know many didn't, but the thing that sealed my love for the film, was the connection I got to the Navi people and their world. Getting emotionally hooked by both the love and war story. All simple, but extremely effective for me.

 

[redhawk23]

I know a lot of people a lot of people weren't impressed by Worthington but I totally bought Jake Sully as a character (the extra few minutes at the beginning of the extended edition help a lot too, drives me nuts that it was cut).

You have a guy who was formerly a soldier who is then disabled and is leading basically a nothing existence. He's just looking for something worth doing, worth fighting for (one of the extended scene shows him getting thrown out of a bar after trying to stick up for a woman who is being harassed, even she shrugs him off).

He's then faced with the opportunity to take his brothers place with the Avatar driving project so he takes it. I thought the film did a really good job of showing how he kind of gets lost in it, spending more and more time with Na'vi.

Quarritch and the company offer Jake a chance to have his body healed, but doing so would be in service of nothing but the companies intersts in contrast to life among the Na'vi with presents him with both personal purpose and a more enriching lifestyle than he found on Earth.

I thought all of this was well told, even if the whole "This Town Needs a Honkey" trope is old as dirt.

 

[747]

Worthington was OK for me. Zoe's Neytiri is my favorite character though.

 

[Tacit Ronin]

I am a sucker for simple stories too, if they are well told. Which is why I like films like Avatar, Avengers and Pacific Rim, well told conventional blockbusters and loathe Michael Bay, Damon Lindelof convoluted crap.

 

[Sentinel X]

I think three is overkill. I have to wonder....why? James Cameron will be a billionaire by the time Avatar II comes out so it can't be for the money. And there are definitely more ambitious things he can be doing, like Battle Angel. I just don't see the point, and I'm one of those people who are SUPER excited for Avatar II.

 

[ThePhantasm]

I think three is overkill. I have to wonder....why? James Cameron will be a billionaire by the time Avatar II comes out so it can't be for the money. And there are definitely more ambitious things he can be doing, like Battle Angel. I just don't see the point, and I'm one of those people who are SUPER excited for Avatar II.

I think James Cameron may see this as his "Star Wars," a potential huge cultural achievement that gets embedded in the popular consciousness. Which I don't think Avatar is, really, and I'm a little skeptical that the sequels will have the same success that the first did.

 

[Bruce Malone]

At the rate he's been releasing his films the last couple decades or so the 3rd avatar will be out sometime near mid-century.

 

[dark_b]

the first movie made just way to much money. dar lord 3 sequels from 2016 to 2018.

it will be 7 years when Avatar 2 comes out. Battle Angel is never going to happen.

 

[mclay18]

If Fox goes for the mid-December slot Avatar did, I expect the dates to be:

Avatar 2: December 16, 2016
Avatar 3: December 15, 2017
Avatar 4: December 14, 2018

 

[Lord]

I think James Cameron may see this as his "Star Wars," a potential huge cultural achievement that gets embedded in the popular consciousness. Which I don't think Avatar is, really, and I'm a little skeptical that the sequels will have the same success that the first did.

It may not have had the same cultural achievement as Star Wars, but it was oretty close to that, it should be obvious with the fascination for the Na'vi and all the money the film made.

 

[redhawk23]

I think three is overkill. I have to wonder....why? James Cameron will be a billionaire by the time Avatar II comes out so it can't be for the money. And there are definitely more ambitious things he can be doing, like Battle Angel. I just don't see the point, and I'm one of those people who are SUPER excited for Avatar II.

Because he wants to and has the resources to do it?

I think people need to give up on the whole Battle Angel thing.

 

[redhawk23]

It may not have had the same cultural achievement as Star Wars, but it was oretty close to that, it should be obvious with the fascination for the Na'vi and all the money the film made.

A ton of people saw the movie but it had a weird lack of further representation in Pop culture. Things were a bit different web culture wise between 09 and 12 but Avatar didn't really inspire much of a following in contrast to the plethora of parodies, references and memes and such that spun out of the Avengers. There were some, but not much.

Do a search for #Avatar and you'll get far far more hits of the cartoon than anyone discussing the James Cameron film, even with the recent news.