James Cameron’s Avatar franchise is already two movies down, having created an impact at the box office worldwide. Both movies have not only been successful in creating a world different yet similar to ours, but also in creating a connection between the characters and the audiences. Avatar and Avatar: The Way of Water are the No. 1 and No. 3 highest-grossing movies of all time. And we can not wait to see how the rest of the movies will perform.
Avatar 3 and 4 are already in the works, as revealed by Cameron himself. Avatar 3 is set to release on December 19, 2025, and Avatar 4 is set for December 21, 2029. Given the gap between Avatar and Avatar 2 was 13 years, audiences are just happy to know they won’t have to wait that long for the next two installments.
James Cameron Has Already Finished Writing Avatar 5
James Cameron, in an interview during the 51st Saturn Awards in Los Angeles, revealed his plans for the Avatar franchise. He told PEOPLE that he has already completed a draft for Avatar 5 and has plans for what to do with Avatar 6 and 7.
“We’re fully written through movie five, and I’ve got ideas for six and seven, although I’ll probably be handing the baton on at that point. I mean, mortality catches up. But I mean, we’re enjoying what we’re doing. We’re loving it. We get to work with great people.”
Avatar 5 also has a set release date for 2031, probably towards the year’s end, keeping to the tradition of releasing the movies during the holiday season.
While the writer-director is busy building the world of Pandora and its people, he says he might not be directing the movies after Avatar 5‘s release. With time, his age is catching up, as the director confronts his mortality.
The Director Wants Avatar to Become Like Star Wars and Star Trek
During the interview, Cameron also spoke about how he wants the Avatar franchise to become like Star Wars and Star Trek. The world-building in the two franchises that he has witnessed since he was a kid has majorly influenced his work. He said that even though Avatar is only two movies old, he has time to make it bigger and add more components to its world of beauty that fans have come to admire so much.
He told PEOPLE,
“Star Trek, Star Wars, the world building franchises that have been around since I was a kid, those were my inspirations. And as I was saying out there, we’re still a young universe. We’re only two movies in, we’re halfway through our third right now, To have that kind of cultural impact over time, you got to pour all your heart and energy into it.”
Cameron is ready to give this his all, a world built from scratch, something he had tried to do with the Terminator franchise as well. But he left the Arnold Schwarzenegger-starrer movies behind after two installments and passed the baton to someone else, which is also what he intends to do with Avatar. Whether that will doom the Avatar franchise as it did with Terminator, only time will tell.
Avatar and Avatar: The Way of Water are available on Disnye+ and Max.
