There had been a question mark about whether the Canadian-American filmmaker James Cameron would have enough energy to complete another two “Avatar” installments. Despite there being two more movies planned and cemented on Disney‘s slate, there had been some hints from Cameron that he may consider having someone else jump in, at some point, possibly on “Avatar 5.”
However, during a chat with Empire Magazine, Cameron clarified that he’s still ready to go on the next two “Avatar” adventures, but also mused that “Battle Angel: Alita” was another project he planned to make himself until he was forced to hand it off to pal Robert Rodriguez. So, he’s not entirely against the idea if circumstances call for someone else to jump into the director’s chair.
“I mean, there’s no reason not to. I’m healthy, I’m good to go…I’m not going to rule it out,” Cameron said of his current feelings on making two more of these massive VFX-heavy and labor-intensive films. “I mean, I’ve got to make it in a vigorous way, to handle the kind of volume and energy of the work for another six or seven years. You know what I mean? I might not be able to do that.”
“I had a great working relationship, and I’m using this as an example, not as an answer, with Robert Rodriguez on Alita,” Cameron said when asked about considering other directors to take on the sequels if he can’t do it himself for various reasons out of his control. “He honored what I had written. We worked very collaboratively…If I can, I’ll just do it.”
Cameron didn’t exactly say he’d want Rodriguez to jump into the franchise fray with “Avatar” sequels but given his experience working with Jim on “Alita” alongside working in the world of “Star Wars” with “The Mandalorian” and “The Book of Boba Fett,” I’m sure nobody would blink if he was considered.
Although we can rule out longtime pal Tim Miller (“Love, Death & Robots”) working with Cameron on live-action projects anytime soon after his frustrating experience on “Terminator: Dark Fate,” where he had multiple creative conflicts trying to get the legacy sequel made.
Cast members have already mentioned that various sequences/scenes for “Avatar 4” have already been shot alongside the filming for “Avatar: Fire & Ash,” so we already knew that Cameron was coming back for the fourth installment, but it seemed to leave the door open for a replacement on “Avatar 5” as he is busy developing other things like fantasy actioner “The Devils,” a secreative new “Terminator” project, is still producing a remake of “Fantastic Voyage,” his Japan-set WWII drama “Ghosts of Hiroshima,” and a 3D concert project with mega-popular singer Billie Eilish.
That said, there doesn’t seem to be a slowing down of the franchise expansion as Cameron has also teased going beyond “Avatar 5” with lofty ambition to keep those stories going and has spoken with Disney about an animated anthology film/series similar to “The Animatrix.”
“Fire & Ash” releases on December 19 as audiences return to Pandora for another larger-than-life cinematic event.
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