Making “Avatar” movies is tough, even for James Cameron.
In a new interview with Empire magazine, the Canadian director admitted that his plan to direct a total of five movies himself may not come to fruition.
The second movie in the series, “Avatar: The Way of Water” is scheduled to hit theatres this December, with a third film already wrapped and planned for release in 2024.
“The Avatar films themselves are kind of all-consuming,” Cameron told Empire. “I’ve got some other things I’m developing as well that are exciting. I think eventually over time – I don’t know if that’s after three or after four – I’ll want to pass the baton to a director that I trust to take over, so I can go do some other stuff that I’m also interested in. Or maybe not. I don’t know.”
That said, if he can do it, Cameron would still very much like to direct at least the fourth film in the series.
“Everything I need to say about family, about sustainability, about climate, about the natural world, the themes that are important to me in real life and in my cinematic life, I can say on this canvas,” he said. “I got more excited as I went along. Movie four is a corker. It’s a motherf—er. I actually hope I get to make it. But it depends on market forces. Three is in the can, so it’s coming out regardless. I really hope that we get to make four and five because it’s one big story, ultimately.”
If Cameron does end up passing the reins on “Avatar 4”, it wouldn’t be the first time. The director brought Robert Rodriguez on board to helm his long-in-the-works “Alita: Battle Angel”, which was finally released in 2019.
