James Cameron’s Avatar hasn’t been in theaters for two weeks yet, and Cameron is already discussing potential sequels for the film, SlashFilm is reporting. “We have some story ideas about how to branch out into other moons of Polyphemus and the Alpha Centauri A (ACA) solar system,” Cameron explained. “This means we’ll be seeing further human exploration into that solar system, or perhaps even the newly Na’vi born Jake heading back into space with Neytiri in tow. I also would love to get a good look at the destroyed Earth they keep referring to in the film,” he said, referencing the energy-depleted Earth that Jake hails from.
According to Cameron, Avatar had always been looked at as a franchise. “Actually, when I pitched this to 20th Century Fox four-and-a-half years ago, I said, ‘You know, we’re going to spend a lot of money and time and energy creating not only a process but the assets, the CG assets, we call them – all the models of every rock and tree and plant and creature and the muscle rigs for all the creatures and the facial rigging for the main characters and all that’… huge, millions and millions of dollars. So it really makes sense to think of it as the potential start of a franchise, if you will, or a saga that plays out over several acts, each movie being an act of that saga.”
And we won’t have to wait another ten years for Avatar 2. “Part of what we set out to do is create a world and create these characters. From the time we capture and finish the capture, it’s literally nine to 10 months to get the CG characters working, to get their facial musculature working. … So now we have Jake, we have Neytiri. Sam can step right back into it, the characters will fit them like a glove, and we’ll just go on. So a lot of the start-up torque that had to be done for one movie really makes more sense if you play it out across several films.”
What realms would you like to see Jake and Neytiri explore in Avatar 2?
Sam McPherson got his start blogging for Lostpedia, a job which he still maintains. He also writes for TVOvermind. His favorite films are Fight Club and Donnie Darko, though he has a greatly varied interest in films of all genres.
