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What’s the timeline for production on James Cameron‘s next film (or next two films) in the Avatar storyline? At this point, despite hopes loosely being pinned on the films shooting this year, Cameron is still only in the scripting stage, and so it seems like the next trip to Pandora is unlikely to take off until 2015 at the very earliest.
Last time we heard anything from the director on the prospect of Avatar sequels, he was hoping to be done writing by the end of February. But we’re nearly at the end of March, and his latest comments make it sound like he’s got a long way to go yet. If only there were some existing books to base the films on.
Play Goes Strong (via Bleeding Cool) asked Cameron about the status of his sequels:
I’m working on ‘Avatar 2′ and ‘Avatar 3.’ I was talking the other day with Peter Jackson and said, ‘You had it easy dude. You had the books when you did the second and third ‘Lord of the Rings.’ I have to create my own books in my head and extract a script from it. I’m deep into it and I’m living in Pandora right now. There is that start up torque where you feel it’s coming to you. Then you build up momentum. That’s when it gets fun. The characters talk and it’s writing itself. I’m almost there right now. It’s building fast.
Tough to say exactly what “almost there right now” means with respect to actually having scripts written. Seems like he’s still building the momentum.
Asked about feeling pressure to deliver, he party shrugs off the idea:
Pressure, no. It’s a little daunting because sequels are always tricky. You have to be surprising and stay ahead of audience anticipation. At the same time, you have to massage their feet with things that they know and love about the first film. I’ve walked that line in the past, so I’m not too worried about it. At the same time, I definitely have to deliver the goods.
