James Cameron May Not Direct AVATAR 4 and 5 Because He Has Other Films He Wants To Make
James Cameron has spent over a decade developing his Avatar sequel saga and he already directed Avatar 2 and Avatar 3. When it comes to Avatar 4 and Avatar 5, it sounds like he’s going to pass the directing duties off to another filmmaker so that he can focus on other movie ideas that he’d like to make.
In a recent interview with Empire, Cameron said: “The Avatar films themselves are kind of all-consuming. 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.”
Cameron has been living in the world of Avatar for over a decade! It makes sense that he’d want to step out of it at some point to do something new and different.
Cameron previously handed off his Alita: Battle Angel project to director Robert Rodriguez, and that movie actually turned out really great! Rodriguez is certainly a filmmaker that Cameron trusts, but he might have other directors that he’d like to work with as well.
Cameron goes on to talk about his excitement for the Avatar sequel saga, saying: “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. I got more excited as I went along. Movie four is a corker. It’s a motherfucker. 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.”
Avatar 4 and 5 all depend on if the next two films are successful. I hope these movies are good, and I hope Cameron gets to share his full vision with audiences.
Avatar: The Way of Water is set more than a decade after the events of the first film. It “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.”
The movie hits theaters on December 14th, 2022.