James Cameron Plans to Finish All Three ‘Avatar’ Sequel Scripts Within Six Weeks

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Reddit users got scoop from James Cameron himself on Saturday when the director offered up meaty details about the upcoming “Avatar” movies.

Cameron told the site during an AMA session (“Ask Me Anything” Q&A) that he’s currently working on the scripts for “Avatar’s” three sequels and plans to complete them within six weeks.

“The second, third and fourth films all go into production simultaneously,” he wrote. “They’re essentially all in pre-production now because we are designing creatures, settings and characters that span all three films. And we should be finished with all three scripts within the next, I would say, six weeks.”

Although he wrote the screenplay for “Avatar” by himself, Josh Friedman, Rick Jaffa, Amanda Silver and Shane Salerno are collaborating with him on the sequel scripts.

“The biggest pressure I feel right now is cutting out things I love to get the film down to a length that is affordable,” he wrote on Reddit.

Cameron also reiterated his love of 3D movies and large screen formats.

“I believe all movies should be made in 3D, forever, but the projection needs to be better and brighter,” he wrote. “I want people to see in the movie theaters what I am seeing in my perfectly calibrated screening room and people aren’t seeing that. Larger formats. I’d love to see screens get bigger.

But when it comes to storytelling, he’d like films to mirror the smallscreen.

“I’d like to see Hollywood embrace the caliber of writing in feature films that we’re currently seeing in the series on television – more emphasis on character, and less on explosions and pyrotechnics,” he wrote. “And I’m talking the big tentpole movies, I think they’re obnoxiously loud and fast.”

Production on “Avatar 2? is scheduled to begin this fall. The pics are slated for December 2016 to 2018.

“Avatar” grossed $2.8 billion worldwide in 2009. The sci-fi epic won Oscars for cinematography, visual effects and art direction in 2010. The new films, which are supposed to introduce new habitats and cultures, are sure to push the technological boundaries of film even further.

Sam Worthington, Zoe Saldana and Stephen Lang, who starred in the blockbuster, will return for the sequels. Despite her character’s death in the first movie, Sigourney Weaver will also reprise her role as Dr. Grace Augustine. “Who said she died? Nobody dies in a science fiction movie,” Cameron said back in 2010. “Whether Grace lives or dies depends more on Sigourney’s agent than anything.”

(Variety)