Canadian-born director James Cameron, speaking at CinemaCon on Thursday, revealed that he’s planning to make four sequels to sci-fi blockbuster Avatar, not three as he’d originally planned.
Cameron insists that he has so much material, he can’t squeeze it into three films. Each film will hit theatres at Christmastime, the first in 2018, followed by 2020, 2022 with the final film set for 2023.
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“It’s going to be a true epic saga that’s told in this rich and complex world,” said Cameron to the crowd. “But we’ve begun to bump up against the limitations of our art form. There’s just too much story, and too many great visual ideas for two sequels. So we talked to Fox and we expanded it to three sequels. And then as the writing process has continued, and now that the script work is finishing up, it’s not three. It looks like it’s four.”
He joked about how much work the sequels require, but also communicated the incredible passion it takes to make four movies in less than 10 years. As seen before with Cameron (he’s borderline obsessed with the saga of the Titanic), once he gets a project going, it’s all-in.
“I need to get my ass back to L.A. to get back to writing, and the next time I see you will be on Pandora,” he quipped.
20th Century Fox executives also confirmed that a sequel to Deadpool is in the works with star Ryan Reynolds and director Tim Miller.
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The first film came out earlier this year and was a massive hit for the studio, grossing over $757 million worldwide on a production budget of only $58 million.
The studio rolled out new trailers for X-Men: Apocalypse, focusing heavily on Jennifer Lawrence’s character Raven, and Independence Day: Resurgence. Returning stars Jeff Goldblum and Vivica A. Fox were on site to tease the new film, which takes place 20 years after the first. Both arrive in theatres this summer.
Later, audiences got an early look at a new trailer for Sundance breakout The Birth of a Nation with director and star Nate Parker.
With files from The Associated Press
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