James Cameron said “Avatar 4”, “Goes Nuts”

• James Cameron’s box office sensation is Avatar from 2009,
• The first sequel Cameron has released in 31 years.
• A third movie will be released in 2024, and a fourth will be in 2026.

James Cameron is a filmmaker who is skilled at creating successful sequels. Such sequels as 1986’s Aliens and 1991’s Terminator 2: Judgment Day, which many would argue outperformed the first film, was directed by Cameron. Avatar: The Way of Water, the follow-up to James Cameron’s box office sensation Avatar from 2009, marks the first sequel Cameron has released in 31 years. But Cameron’s planned sequels don’t end with The Way of Water; a third movie will be released in 2024, and a fourth will be in 2026.

Cameron recently spoke with Collider’s Perri Nemiroff about his writing process, having all the screenplays for the upcoming movies written before The Way of Water was put into production, and how the fourth Avatar movie might be the most bizarre in the series. Regarding his intention to complete all of the scripts before The Way of Water production began, Cameron stated:

“My model was what Peter Jackson did with The Lord of the Rings, which was a crazy bet in its time. And really hats off to that, that they took that chance to launch on all three of those films. But he had the books mapped out, so he could always show the actors what they needed to know about their character arc. So I felt I had to do the same thing. I had to play this as if the books already existed. So the only way for us to do that was to write all the scripts and let the actors read all the scripts and see where their characters were going and what it all meant. Not that that’s actable at the moment, but I think it’s something that the actors could work into their preparation for their characters.”

Cameron, Rick Jaffa, and Amanda Silver, who also penned Jurassic World, the most current Planet of the Apes trilogy, and the impending Kingdom of the Planet of the Apes, wrote the screenplay for The Way of Water. Along with Josh Friedman (2005’s War of the Worlds) and Shane Salerno (2012’s Savages), Cameron, Jaffa, and Silver all have story credits. Additionally, the Avatar sequels were also shot in New Zealand, just like Peter Jackson’s The Lord of the Rings movies.

Cameron also discussed the challenges of simultaneously filming several sequels:

“So they knew, ‘Okay, we’re going to come in and film this in bite-size chunks, not necessarily in sequence. We’re going to be shooting parts of 2, parts of 3, parts of 4 on any given day.’ That’s a challenge, but it’s no different a challenge than, let’s say, if you’re working on a limited series, and you’ve got a home setting that’s going to be seen across six hours. It’s no different. I’m not saying there’s anything unique about this, but I felt that it was the right way to approach it with the actors. And also to let them see where it’s all going, so they’re properly motivated and enthused. Because the story’s a corker. By the time we get down to 4 and 5, if we’re so lucky, knock wood, to get that far, which is obviously driven by market forces, we have to be successful.”

With Cameron’s enormous vision, the cast is aware of what to expect. Sam Worthington, Zoe Saldana, Sigourney Weaver, Joel David Moore, CCH Pounder, and Dileep Rao are all present in The Way of Water, as director James Cameron reunites with Titanic star Kate Winslet. Cameron explained what makes Avatar 4 a “corker,” including the following:

“I can’t tell you the details, but all I can say is that when I turned in the script for 2, the studio gave me three pages of notes. And when I turned in the script for 3, they gave me a page of notes, so I was getting better. When I turned in the script for 4, the studio executive, and creative executive over the films wrote me an email that said, ‘Holy fuck.’ And I said, ‘Well, where are the notes?’ And she said, ‘Those are the notes.’ Because it kind of goes nuts in a good way, right?”

Additionally, Cameron stated that he hopes to be able to direct Avatar 4 and that “you think you know what it’s about, and then, oh no, you don’t.” There should be no problem with the public wanting more of what Cameron is producing if his prior successes are any indication, so hopefully, we’ll get to see this ostensibly wild fourth installment.

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