Avatar: The Way of Water (After $2 Billion Box Office Now Stands as Number 4 on the All Time List)

James Cameron announced yet another sequel in his planned follow-up to “Avatar.”

Appearing onstage at ComicCon 2016 at 20th Century Fox, the prolific franchise director was introduced by studio co-CEO’s Stacey Snider and Jim Gianopulos where he dropped a full release schedule for the new films.

“Avatar 2” hits Christmas 2018,  followed by “Avatar 3” at Christmas 2020, “Avatar 4”  for Christmas 2022 and “Avatar 5” dated for Christmas 2023.

Cameron has been developing his followup films to his monstrous 2009 hit — which remains the highest grossing movie of all time worldwide (though “Star Wars: The Force Awakens” did dethrone “Avatar” from its record-breaking top spot domestically).

With every shift in the plan over the past three years, the scope of the series has mushroomed, with plans of a World of Pandora theme park, a touring Avatar-themed Cirque du Soleil show, and graphic novels also in the works.

The release date for “Avatar 2” has been pushed back twice before Cameron shared his slate of projected debut dates on Thursday. And with the addition of “Avatar 5” the vision has expanded even more.

It’s not yet clear whether Cameron and his Lightstorm Entertainment producing partner Jon Landau still intend to shoot the sequels at the same time in New Zealand.

Leads Sam Worthington and Zoe Saldana signed on for the trilogy in 2014, which is expected to pick up where the original left off. Cameron has indicated much of it may be set on a moon of the planet Pandora and underwater.

ForeverBlu wrote:Kill it with FIRE!

UltimateMarvel wrote:I really hate the idea of this. I hated Avatar and I don't understand why they would want more of that.

Cameron has been developing his followup films to his monstrous 2009 hit — which remains the highest grossing movie of all time worldwide

joey con carne wrote:

WyldeMan wrote:

Cameron has been developing his followup films to his monstrous 2009 hit — which remains the highest grossing movie of all time worldwide

I remember reading there were some who went to see the movie 5+ times and there were even some who were depressed because they could not live on Pandora.

UltimateMarvel wrote:

WyldeMan wrote:I used to work with a guy who openly bragged that he'd seen Avatar in theaters 27 times.............he used to get super pissed when I told him Pandora was not really in his mother's basement where he actually lived.

27 times? Poor guy, did you at least find him a therapist or something?

joey con carne wrote:This is a longshot but is there any chance you have a photograph? You can blur out the face. I feel like I need to see this.

Way back in October 2013, director James Cameron confirmed that Stephen Lang will return as Colonel Quaritch in all of his Avatar sequels. At the time, there were only three sequels, but now that there are four movies all moving forward, with production starting on September 25, the director revealed that his plans for Quaritch haven't changed, confirming he will be appearing in Avatar 2 through Avatar 5. Here's what the director had to say, revealing he plans to keep the same characters but introduce them to new settings and creatures.

"The interesting conceit of the Avatar sequels is it's pretty much the same characters. 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 motherfucker 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."

Along with Stephen Lang, other confirmed cast members include returning stars such as Sam Worthington (Jake Sully), Zoe Saldana (Neytiri), Sigourney Weaver (Dr. Grace Augustine) and Joel David Moore (Norm Spellman), along with franchise newcomers Cliff Curtis (Tonowari) and Oona Chaplin (Varang). The process of scheduling the cast for four sequels that are shot simultaneously has been described by Stephen Lang himself as a "Mongolian clusterf--k," with James Cameron admitting that the inspiration for such an ambitious schedule was Peter Jackson shooting all of his Lord of the Rings movies simultaneously. Here's what James Cameron had to say about what he told Peter Jackson about his schedule, in an interview with Empire.

"I said 'It's your fault I'm doing this, motherf---er!' It's one big story. But I would say a little bit different from The Lord Of The Rings, which you knew was a trilogy and that allowed you to accept a sort of truncated ending for movies one and two and then a fulfillment. This is a greater narrative broken up into four complete stories."

In related news, a new report from Deadline reveals that Matt Gerald, who played Corporal Lyle Wainfleet in the original Avatar, will be back for all of the Avatar sequels. Since the character was believd to have died in the first movie, there is no word on how he'll be brought back, but then again, Quaritch himself was thought to have died in the first movie, so it's unclear how exactly both characters will be back for all four sequels. Hopefully we'll get some new plot details when production starts next month.

We also reported in June that James Cameron's Lightstorm Entertainment has extended their deal with Christie Digital Systems to create glasses-free 3D projection systems for Avatar 2 and all of his other Avatar sequels. While this sounds like quite the monumental task, Lightstorm and Christie still have more than two years to get this system ready. Avatar 2 hits theaters on December 18, 2020, with Avatar 3 arriving December 17, 2021, Avatar 4 coming December 20, 2024 and Avatar 5 debuting December 19, 2025.

EXCLUSIVE: Kate Winslet and James Cameron have a little history. Two decades ago she starred in his global juggernaut Titanic, which was the top-grossing film of all time until Cameron’s Avatar came along in 2009. Now the two are reuniting for the first time since the Big Boat sailed — Winslet has signed on for a starring role in the ongoing Avatar adventure at Fox.
  
“Kate and I have been looking for something to do together for 20 years, since our collaboration on Titanic, which was one of the most rewarding of my career,” Cameron said. “I can’t wait to see her bring the character of Ronal to life.”

Winslet stars opposite Idris Elba in The Mountain Between Us which opens this Friday. The Reader Oscar winner next appears in Woody Allen’s Wonder Wheel for Amazon, which opens December 1. She will also star in eOne’s untitled biopic about American photojournalist and war correspondent Elizabeth “Lee” Miller. Her other recent credits include Collateral Beauty, Triple 9, The Dressmaker and Steve Jobs.

Production for all four planned Avatar sequels officially began on September 25 in Manhattan Beach, CA. The first film will be released on December 18, 2020. The second sequel will open on December 17, 2021, followed by Avatar 4 in December 20, 2024 and Avatar 5 on December 19, 2025.

ForeverBlu wrote:After all the shit Cameron put her through, while filming Titanic.

Ummmmmmmmmmmmmmm, kay.

UltimateMarvel wrote:

LOL! You can find plenty of problems with Avatar.

Tyger wrote:That was the best one, you could tell he was laughing and he was facing away from the camera

All 4 Avatar Sequels Have Wrapped

James Cameron has announced that the main cast of the Avatar sequels have wrapped production. While the main cast is finished with the sequels, Cameron will go through the lengthy post-production process. Actress Sigourney Weaver revealed last month that she was working on Avatar 4 and Avatar 5, adding that there is a lot of underwater scenes, which meant that she and the other actors had to learn how to free dive to get into their roles.

In a new video on social media, James Cameron announced that the Avatar sequels have finished principal photography. The director made the announcement while also promoting the latest trailer for Alita: Battle Angel. Cameron mentioned Sam Worthington, Zoe Saldana, Sigourney Weaver, Stephen Lang, and Kate Winslet, praising them for all of their hard work on the Avatar sequels. Production on the sequels started back in September of 2017, so the cast and crew have been going pretty hard in order to meet all of their deadlines. With that being said, Cameron was still on the set filming some stunt work as of yesterday.

Avatar 2 hits theaters on December 18th, 2020, and will be followed by Avatar 3 on December 17th, 2021. Avatar 4 and Avatar 5 are expected to hit theaters on December 20th, 2024 and December 19th, 2025. James Cameron has said that they will not release the fourth and fifth installments unless the first two sequels are hits at the box office. Considering that the first installment is the highest grossing movie of all time, and taking into account that Sigourney Weaver has worked on four and five, it seems likely that we will end up seeing all five movies in the next handful of years.

James Cameron spent months in the pre-production process for Avatar 2 with the cast and crew in order to get the new underwater motion-capture technology worked out. It's during this time that the cast learned how to free dive as well. The new technology will more than likely be another gamechanger for the entertainment industry, which is something that Cameron is no stranger to. However, it's going to be another two years before we get to see what Cameron has accomplished. The time frame shows just how much time the director will have to spend in the post-production process to get everything just right.

Story details about the Avatar sequels is being kept under wraps for the time being, but the titles have all reportedly leaked. The sequels will be titled, Avatar: The Way of Water, Avatar: The Seed Bearer, Avatar: The Tulkun Rider and Avatar 5|+|Avatar: The Quest for Eywa}. These titles have yet to be officially confirmed, but they are rumored to come from official documents from the set. They could end up being placeholders for the real titles, so hopefully we the real information soon. For now, you can check out James Cameron's video for the fans below, provided by the Avatar Twitter account.

James Cameron took a (very rare) break from filming on the performance capture stage to record a message to Avatar fans!

Watch for a progress update on the sequels and a brand new trailer for his long-time passion project, Alita: Battle Angel. #AvatarFamily@AlitaMoviepic.twitter.com/Vz6bqp73DA
— Avatar (@officialavatar) November 13, 2018

joey con carne wrote:Just saw this and noted Sigourney Weaver is back? So her character didn't die? Coooooool. I agree with Tyger. I'm going to watch them all.

EXCLUSIVE: Ten years ago this week, James Cameron big gambit payed off with the historic release of Avatar,  a truly singular screen spectacle that took moviegoers to distant Pandora and in the process “changed the way we thought about movies, the way we thought about movie-making, even the way we thought about the movie screen,” says  Stephen Lang, who memorably portrayed the 1999 sci-fi epic’s glowering heavy, Col. Miles Quaritch.

Lang returns to the military-man role in Cameron’s long-awaited sequel, Avatar 2, which Disney-owned 20th Century Fox has now scheduled for release one year from this Saturday: Dec. 21, 2021. That means Avatar 2’s opening weekend will arrive seven years later than Cameron’s originally announced target date, which makes the interplanetary saga the cinematic equivalent of a Guns N’ Roses album.

Lang’s presence in the sequel’s ensemble adds to the project’s aura of miracles-in-the-making. That’s because the scary and scarred Quaritch took two arrows to the chest during his fight-to-the-finish with Jake Sully (Sam Worthington) and Neytiri (Zoe Saldana) in the original film. Lang chuckled when asked about his character’s unexpected recovery but the veteran actor stayed tight-lipped about the details of his screen resurrection.

“Jim indicated to me years ago, before filming on Avatar was completed, that Quaritch had a future,” Lang said this week. “I might have taken that with a grain of salt at the time because we’d had a few beers. Shortly after Avatar opened Jim mentioned again that the Colonel was coming back, and by then I knew Jim well enough to know that he means what he says and he says what he means.”Cameron offered a vivid declaration of his intentions for the revived commando in an Empire interview in 2017: “There’s not a new villain every time, which is interesting. Same guy. Same motherf*cker through all four [planned] movies. He is so good and he just gets better. I know Stephen Lang is gonna knock this out of the park.”

Lang’s impressive body of work on screen and on stage includes plenty of “highly authentic” men like Quaritch, many of them military men who live and die by a code that sets them apart from other characters. In 1989, Lang introduced the role of Lt. Col. Nathan Jessep, the signature character in Aaron Sorkin’s Broadway play A Few Good Men. He’s also planted a flag with screen roles like Gen. Thomas “Stonewall” Jackson in Gods and Generals (2003), Maj. Gen. George E. Pickett in Gettysburg (1993), and Col. Abraham Biggs in Hostiles (2017).

Most recently, Lang can be seen in the action film VFW and he’s been filming Death in Texas in the Lone Star State.  Lang has also been performing his award-winning, one-man show, Bound for Glory in select cities. Next year marks the 35th anniversary of Lang’s first screen credit, Bud Yorkin’s Twice in a Lifetime, which featured a deep ensemble led by Gene Hackman and featuring Ann-Margret, Ellen Burstyn, Amy Madigan, Ally Sheedy, and Brian Dennehy.

“Such a remarkable cast,” Lang said this week. “Love them all: Burstyn, Ann, Amy, Ally, Dennehy….but working with Hackman? He was and is a major influence. He was great to me. A friend. I wanted another scene with him and Bud Yorkin was cool enough, and kind enough, to shoot an improvised pool hall scene with Gene and myself.”

The New York native’s credits also include a dangerous blind homeowner in Don’t Breathe (2017), Old West outlaw Ike Clanton in Tombstone (1993), strike leader Harry Black in Last Exit to Brooklyn (1989), Vietnam vet Joe Tigra in Band of the Hand (1986), and Texas lawman Charles Winstead in Public Enemies (2009).

Don’t make the mistake of praising Lang’s screen prowess as a bad guy. When I first met the actor in 2009 I made the mistake of referring to the sinewy Quaritch as the villain of Avatar.

“I didn’t play a villain,” Lang said with a corrective edge in his voice. “I played a man who is doing his job the best way that he can. He makes choices. Quaritch has cauterized some aspects of his own soul. Dirty wars have numbed his psyche and spirit. But I did not go at him as a villain. Quaritch is number-orientated, he’s very squared away, and there’s nothing raggedy about him at all. He is in a constant state of Code Red.”

Fair enough. Lang originally got the Avatar part by pouncing on a started production assistant who was reading lines opposite of him (“He grabbed him by the head,” Cameron told me, “and he pretty much got the job right there.”) and the actor said he considers it “a true privilege” to work with “a genuine visionary” like Cameron, whose intellect, ambition, and wide-ranging skill set put him in a different class than other blockbuster filmmakers.

Lang explained: “He demands a tremendous amount not by saying, ‘This is what I demand of you’ but by his own intensity and preparation.” Cameron is also “the rare genius that is also a funny guy you can have a beer with,” Lang said, and “someone who truly listens to people and does so with his full attention.”

All of which explains why the giddy Lang is locked and loaded for another tour of duty in Cameron’s greatest screen quest. “I can’t wait,” he said, “to see where we finish.”

Set more than a decade after the events of the first film, “Avatar: The Way of Water” begins to tell the story of the Sully family (Jake, Neytiri, and their kids), the trouble that follows them, the lengths they go to keep each other safe, the battles they fight to stay alive, and the tragedies they endure.

Rusty wrote:I still haven't see the first movie. Have no intention to either.

Tyger wrote:That’s the argument people always make and it makes no sense to me. “Its terrible because it’s exactly like an award winning film and a beloved children's movie”

During its presentation at the D23 Expo on Saturday, 20th Century Studios drop a major surprise on fans by revealing several scenes from Avatar: The Way of Water, James Cameron’s second installment of his epic sci-fi franchise. It also showed a new trailer.

The film is set for a Dec. 16 release in theaters.

The scenes, which were in 3D, were shown for attendees on two huge screens in the main Anaheim Convention Center room where the studio’s presentations with Disney siblings Marvel and Lucasfilm were held.

One scene showed the Nav’i swimming underwater. Another is a youngster saying he wants to be different than his father. Additionally, there were scenes of some kind of hostage situation, with combat in the woods at night. Another moment showed an emotional conversation between Sam Worthington’s and Zoe Saldana’s characters. A tribal leader all told a younger Nav’i that war is bad.

A sequel to 2009’s Avatar, the script comes from Cameron and Josh Friedman, with Worthington and Saldana starring alongside Michelle Yeoh, Kate Winslet, Sigourney Weaver, Stephen Lang, Oona Chaplin and more.

Cameron joined the presentation today virtually from New Zealand, where he is finishing the film and working in the middle of a “pretty hectic” five-year production cycle on the second, third and fourth installments of the series.

“It’s going great and the stuff coming in from Weta is looking spectacular,” Cameron told the crowd. “I’m super excited to be finally finishing up movie 2. I know everyone’s been waiting a long time. Hopefully, we’ll show something today and you can decide if it’s been worth it.”

Worthington and Saldana are parents in the new film. “The whole movie deals with protecting family. We’ve all gone through Covid and realized that love and being with family is paramount to what life is and it’s worth fighting for. We put that in the movie,” Worthington said on stage.

Cameron also said they remastered Avatar for a whole new generation of movie fans “who never got to see it in a movie theater. That will be the drumroll and remind people of the story.”

Get ready for a long sit when viewing James Cameron’s Avatar: The Way of Water.

Sources indicate the film will clock in at more than three hours, but no exact final run-time has been decided. Disney has provided no comment, but Cameron has publicly said it is a long movie.

The sequel is scheduled to open in North America Dec. 16, some 13 years after the stunning original film bowed. It is still No. 1 in total box office receipts. The original was two hours and 41 minutes.

News of the run-time began leaking when the film was rated PG-13. The run-time was also posted on theater websites.

The sequel starts ten years after the original.

Source: Deadline