*Shrug* – ‘Avatar’ sequels delayed, ain’t going to drop until 2017
Avatar sucks, in my overly-caffeinated, poorly-constructed opinion. But like, a lot of people liked it. Or did like it. Or maybe saw it. So these people may be disappointed to know the trifecta of shit-sequels won’t start dropping until 2017.
In a move that will surprise no one, James Cameron has revealed that the Avatar sequels will be pushed back by one year. That means Avatar 2 will be out in 2017, followed by Avatars 3 and 4 in 2018 and 2019. “We were probably a bit ambitious,” he admitted of the original release dates. More details on the Avatar sequels delay after the jump.
Cameron revealed the release date shift to the AP (via Variety). As of now, the plans is still to shoot all 3 Avatar sequels simultaneously — and that’s part of the issue.
There’s a layer of complexity in getting the story to work as a saga across three films that you don’t get when you’re making a stand-alone film. […]
We’re writing three simultaneously. And we’ve done that so that everything tracks throughout the three films. We’re not just going to do one and then make up another one and another one after that. And parallel with that, we’re doing all the design. So we’ve designed all the creatures and the environments.
Cameron’s goal is to have all three scripts done this month. He’s heading up the writing team, which also includes Josh Friedman, Shane Salerno, Rick Jaffa and Amanda Silver. Then again, he said a similar thing in early 2013 and look where we are.
The Avatar delay leaves Fox without its big tentpole franchise for the 2016 holiday season, though the studio does have the P.T. Barnum biopic The Greatest Showman on Earth scheduled for that Christmas.
Seriously though — does anyone still care about Avatar? I was thinking this a couple of days, walking around Disney World. Cause like, they’re building a huge park for it or whatever. And I began to wonder if the movie was a genuine benchmark in people’s minds, or if the majority of the people just sort of experienced it as a phenomenon powered by the gimmick of 3D. What chu think?