AVATAR Sequels Could Shoot Back-to-Back and Cameron Writing the Novel First
We all know there are going to be a sequels to Avatar, and there's been a lot of anticipation building up to what James Cameron has planned for them. The guy obviously has a lot of ideas racing around in his head, we don't really know what exactly these ideas will entail, but we do know that there is a lot more to the story to tell, which he's said many times. MTV recently did an interview with Cameron in which he reveals where he currently stands on the project and what his plans for this story are.
Avatar 2'... we're still working on deals. We don't start the movie until we get the deals worked out. I'm making notes. I'm not sitting idle, but really, what I'm working on primarily is the novel.
So as of right now he is working on writing the novel for the sequel. I guess it's a way to get things everything down in preparation, for the deals that need to be made and the scripts that need to be written. He continued,
I never had a chance to get the novel done while we were making the movie, and I always intended to. I didn't want to do a cheesy novelization, where some hack comes in and kind of makes s--t up. I wanted to do something that was a legitimate novel that was inside the characters' heads and didn't have the wrong culture stuff, the wrong language stuff, all that.
Once the novel is complete he will bring in some more talent to flesh out the universe even further. He wants to specifically develop the ongoing story of what is happening on Earth as well Jake and Grace's characters and their relationship, before he takes the movies to the next level.
I don't mind opening the universe, but I just don't want that to happen until I've got more meat on the bones. ... That all needs to be filled in before other writers can come in and run with it.
Cameron then goes on to talk about possibly filming the next two Avatar sequel back-to-back, which means this Avatar story is a planned trilogy.
We're actually talking about that. That's not a decision yet. That is something that makes a lot of sense, given the nature of these productions, because we can bank all the [motion] capture and then go back and do cameras over a period of time.
The way these back-to-back productions fall apart is that you're trying to do two live-action films back to back, and you're working on it for a year and a half, shooting. Everyone is dead. It's not humanly possible. This type of film, it absolutely would work.
Fact of the matter is, it's going to be a few more years before we see any Avatar sequel hit the big screen. I'm definitely looking forward to them though, I can't wait to see where Cameron ends up taking the story, characters, and effects.
Check out the video interview below and let us know what you think about Cameron's Avatar sequel plans.