Patient Avatar fans have a reason to celebrate this week, as Avatar 2 filming is officially starting! While pre-production has been going on for some time, the actual filming and motion capture with the actors will now go full speed ahead.
20th Century Fox and Lightstorm Entertainment announced release dates for the four Avatar sequels back in April. Avatar 2 will be coming to theaters on December 18, 2020, and will be followed by the third film on December 17, 2021. Then there will be a three-year break in releases, as the fourth film opens on December 20, 2024, and the fifth Avatar movie is scheduled for a December 19, 2025 release.
Released in 2009, the first Avatar film remains the highest-grossing film worldwide with over $2.7 billion in box office grosses. It was dethroned by Star Wars: The Force Awakens as the highest at the domestic box office, pushing past Avatar‘s $760 million with a total of $936 million.
Returning from the original film are Sam Worthington, Zoe Saldana, Joel David Moore, Stephen Lang, Matt Gerald and Sigourney Weaver. Cliff Curtis and Oona Chaplin are also joining the sequels. Cameron recently explained that Stephen Lang’s Colonel Miles Quaritch is coming back for all four sequels and will be the main villain throughout the story.
“The interesting conceit of the ‘Avatar’ sequels is it’s pretty much the same characters,” Cameron said. “There are new characters and a lot of new settings and creatures, so I’m taking characters you know and putting them in unfamiliar places and moving them on this greater journey. But it’s not a whole bunch of new characters every time. There’s not a new villain every time, which is interesting. Same guy. Same motherf*cker through all four movies. He is so good and he just gets better. I know Stephen Lang is gonna knock this out of the park.”
The Avatar sequels will be produced by James Cameron and Jon Landau through their Lightstorm Entertainment. The James Cameron-directed sequels are written by Cameron along with Rick Jaffa and Amanda Silver, Josh Friedman, and Shane Salerno.
Are you guys excited that the Avatar 2 filming has started? Are you looking forward to seeing more of James Cameron’s franchise? Let us know in the comments!
