It’s the blockbuster sequel — or rather, sequels — that no one is particularly excited about. James Cameron has an ungodly four “Avatar” followups in the works, but there’s big business attached to it, not just for 20th Century Fox, but also Walt Disney World, who are opening “Pandora: The World of Avatar” on May 27th. However, they won’t be able to count on the movie sequels to help drive customers to the attraction, at least not for a few years yet.
“Avatar 2,” which was expected to open in 2018, has been delayed along with the rest of the sequels — again. Having already recycled through release dates for 2016 and 2017, Cameron says the massive scope of the project is requiring additional time.
“Well, 2018 is not happening,” he told The Star (via JoBlo). “We haven’t announced a firm release date. What people have to understand is that this is a cadence of releases. So we’re not making ‘Avatar 2.’ We’re making ‘Avatar 2, 3, 4 and 5.’ It’s an epic undertaking. It’s not unlike building the Three Gorges dam. (Laughs) So I know where I’m going to be for the next eight years of my life. It’s not an unreasonable time frame if you think about it. It took us four-and-a-half years to make one movie and now we’re making four. We’re full tilt boogie right now. This is my day job and pretty soon we’ll be 24-7. We’re pretty well designed on all our creatures and sets. It’s pretty exciting stuff. I wish I could share with the world. But we have to preserve a certain amount of showmanship and we’re going to draw that curtain when the time is right.”
In fairness, Cameron is attempting to simultaneously shoot all the sequels. But with each push back, the expectation level is going to rise, and Cameron is really going to have to deliver, especially since “Avatar” will now be landing in a landscape filled with plenty of blockbuster, franchise competition. In short, “Avatar 2” is going to have to be well worth the wait. Until then, check out these previews of the Walt Disney World attraction.