By now, you should have already digested the news that the world will be bestowed with three sequels to James Cameron’s baby Avatar, but now the director has released some new information about the progress of his ambitious project.
According to a press release from 20th Century Fox and Lightstorm Entertainment, Cameron is taking a cue from Peter Jackson and moving production of the films down to New Zealand. This seems like a solid choice, considering the lush scenery and ample space available for filming. In terms of what the next Avatar films will bring, Cameron offered up some details that may not be what people were expecting from the world of Pandora.
According to the director, the sequels will focus more on the character of Jake Sully and “spread it around quite a bit more as we go forward. It’s really the story of his family, the family that he creates on Pandora. His extended family. So think of it as a family saga like The Godfather.”
There you have it. A blue-tinged, James Cameron-helmed, CGI’d Godfather is a strange concept to embrace, but it has already made these sequels that much more intriguing. In terms of how the sequels expand the Avatar universe, Cameron had this to say:
“It’s going to be a lot of new imagery and a lot of new environments and creatures across Pandora. We’re blowing it out all over the place. At first I thought I was going to take it onto other worlds as well, in the same solar system, but it turned out not to be necessary. I mean the Pandora that we have imagined will be a fantasy land that is going to occupy people for decades to come, the way I see it.”
The films are supposed to start shooting next fall, and are slated to begin releasing in December of each year, starting in 2016. It’s going to be a long while before we see anything of this very involved project, but knowing what we know from the first film, they will at least be visually stunning.
