Speculation about a sequel to AVATAR started before the movie was released. AVATAR’s success has ensured that sequel. Rumors are flying. Who will be in it and what will it be like? Here's what we know so far from comments by James Cameron, John Landau and members of the cast.
AVATAR’s sequel will be about Neytiri and Jake, but it is unlikely to be called AVATAR 2. According to SciFiWire, Cameron has confirmed that the Na’vi culture, including the spiritual aspects, will be a focus point for the movie. "Certainly I don't want to call it AVATAR 2," Cameron said "He's not an AVATAR anymore, is he? Maybe we'll call it Na'vi." James Cameron has said that scenes integral to the sequel were included in the first movie. There are three movies planned at this point, although AVATAR 3 information is mostly speculation on the part of fans.
While Cameron worked on AVATAR for ten years, he expects the making of the first of the AVATAR sequels to be much faster – and cheaper. There will probably be additional technological developments incorporated in the sequels, but the 3D and CGI technology used in AVATAR is already on hand for the making of the first AVATAR sequel. Cameron has confirmed, in interviews with MTV and the LA Times, that there is a trilogy planned, that it will not take ten more years to arrive, and that much of the action in the sequel will take place in the oceans of Pandora. He has also said that the sequel will take place several years after the events in AVATAR.
While the oceans of Pandora were briefly glimpsed in AVATAR with a view of Jake and Neytiri swimming, much more is due to seen in the second movie. Cameron told the LA Times that the oceans would be “rich, diverse, crazy and imaginative”. AVATAR An Activist Survival Guide mentions there are rafts of floating seaweed in the oceans. The book also has an image of the Amenonoid, a bioluminescent invertebrate with poisonous tentacles, found in ponds and lakes. Perhaps there is a larger relation in the oceans…
The sequel is in production, according to IMDB, with a scheduled release date of 2014. Fans of AVATAR are speculating that while Cameron said it will take just three years to make the sequel, the reason it will not be released in 2013 is because The Hobbit I & II are scheduled to be released in late 2012 and 2013. AVATAR’s sequel will have a release date timed not to conflict with the expected blockbusters – most likely 2014. Cameron and 20th Century Fox seem to be taking to heart the lesson learned when AVATAR’s audience share plummeted with the release of Alice in Wonderland, How to Train your Dragon and Clash of the Titans. Since there are that the Hobbit may be shot in 3D, the conflict for theater space would be even more monstrous if the Hobbit Part 2 was released at the same time as the AVATAR sequel.
It seems to be standard policy in movies that may spawn sequels to have the stars sign agreements for multi-movie contracts when they are first cast in a movie, ensuing continuity. However, not every movie pans out. With the take from AVATAR an estimated 2.7 billion, those signatures are very important. In many ways stars in AVATAR really are avatars with CGI bodies. This does not mean that the actors behind those AVATARs can be replaced easily. The distinctive personal style those actors gave their characters – and their voices – cannot easily be replaced by a different person. While Worthington and Saldana previously signed contracts for sequels to AVATAR, the terms for those contracts are likely to have changed.
More and more of the cast of AVATAR are confirming they are back in the sequel. Jake, Neytiri and Mo’at's actors are all saying they have signed on for the sequel. Curiously, Colonel Quaritch may also be back. “You think those two arrows in my chest are going to stop me from coming back?” said Stephen Lang, who plays the evil Quaritch, "Nothing’s over so long as they’ve got my DNA." Sigourney Weaver, whose character became one with Eywa in AVATAR, is going to return in the sequel too, although it is not known if she will be embodied. She has said that Cameron may be bringing the whole family together again.
Another rumor with some basis in comments by Cameron says that future movies will explore more of Alpha Centauri, especially the other moons of Polyphemus. This certainly would offer some spectacular scenery. Those moons also influence the tides on Pandora, making them important even if they are not explored in the first sequel.
The constructed language of Na’vi has a strong fan community trying to learn it. Those fans will get a vocabulary boost in the second movie. Additional Na’vi dialog and more abstract concepts can be expected as we learn more about the Na’vi spiritual beliefs. The ecological themes in AVATAR have resonated with people around the world, and variations on the themes will play out in the conflicts that can be expected between the Na’vi and the RDA.
With the news that time has passed on Pandora, and a projected release of 2014, the events on Pandora may match the real time passed here on Earth.
article courtesy of: Rebecca Scudder
Also, it looks like said Sequel may already have a title!
It looks like James Cameron might be going ahead with his Avatar sequel much sooner than we had anticipated.
The first film took him 3 years to make. Well, if 20th Century Fox's newest production schedule is being read correctly then fans can expect to see Cameron's majestical blue world back in theaters in January of 2011.
The production report reads as follows:
January 28 -- Avatar: Na'vi - World Infinity -- Director James Cameron
Cameron was recently asked about this during a press junket for Avatar in Japan.
"Well, you know there is still 40 minutes of unused 3D footage that Avatar lovers, or I should say, the world, would give their eye-teeth to see," he offered. "I actually have the sequel ready to go. I started writing it the day I saw the first 3D images. I knew that no matter what Avatar would have an audience and I wanted to reward them before they even saw the first film."
One reporter mentioned how Cameron is apparently stewing over the fact that Avatar had to leave U.S. screens early to make way for other 3D films. Apparently, he feels this compromised the box office grosses. This might have something to do with getting Avatar: Na'vi - World Infinity out sooner rather than later.
"Yeah... obviously if the 'tar (Cameron's pet name for the film) was the only game in town, the grosses might've been well over $800 billion domestically. Once I realized what was going on I vowed that this wouldn't happen again. This made me really work extra hard at locking down the sequel. As an American I live in a capitalist society. Sure, Pandora is a beautiful planet but if you're not paying the bills those green plants dry up pretty quick, right? You can't knock me for protecting my brand. It's just good business."
Once the director left the press junket, Cameron's own press people were quick to point out that the director never committed to Fox's production announcement. However, when pressed they did acknowledge that he was shooting some footage with certain cast members from the original film (they wouldn't say who), and that the title of the sequel is going to be Avatar: Na'vi - World Infinity.
