With the term “Avatar” now being equated more to James Cameron's sci-fi film (and money in general) than the franchise M. Night Shyamalan pretty much derailed, it's not so much a question of “if” but “when” Avatar gets the sequel treatment.
Sitting down with MTV, Cameron notes that he and Fox are “still working on deals and so we don't start the movie until we get the deals worked out" (a real details man). With the amount of cash Avatar raked in, and will continue to do so with it's DVD/Blu-Ray release and a theatrical re-release in the coming weeks, there is no question a sequel is coming.
From the rumblings out of the Cameron camp, not only could there be more than one sequel, but they may possibly be shot back to back if that be the case.
Again, everyone involved stresses that the sequels are not confirmed, but that Cameron is “making notes” for them as well as a tie-in novel that will hammer out the fine print regarding the world of Pandora (backstory, cultural practices, etc.).
Given how it took ten years for the technology to catch up to Avatar, it's understandable how the sequels could be done back to back in virtually no time; they've got the tools they need now. Not to mention Cameron can take the approach of “banking footage” shot at various points, and digitally rework them to suite the purposes for a sequel.
Cameron explains,“that's something that makes a lot of sense given the nature of these productions as we can bank all the capture and then go back and do cameras over a period of time.” All he needs is the performance capture footage of the actors and he can run wild. It's the upside to working on a film where essentially everything is built within a computer.
But again, Fox insists nothing is confirmed regarding the Avatar sequel(s).
Yet.
