James Cameron Says ‘Avatar 3’ Will Have “Greater Character Depth”
Following James Cameron’s triumphant return with Avatar: The Way of Water, the maverick filmmaker is not planning on slowing down anytime soon.
Any fears that Avatar fans would not turn out for the film’s sequel were put to bed when last year’s Avatar: The Way of Water earned an astounding $2.32 billion at the box office. Following the film’s release, the Avatar franchise has the highest-grossing film of all time (2009’s Avatar) and the third-highest-grossing film of all time (Avatar: The Way of Water).
Photo: D23
Based upon the success of The Way of Water, Disney announced that Avatar 3, 4, and 5 were in development.
‘Avatar 3’ Was Filmed Simultaneously With ‘The Way of Water’
Avatar 3 is set to hit theaters on December 19, 2025, and according to James Cameron, everything is on track. Interestingly, Cameron filmed Avatar 3 simultaneously with Avatar: The Way of Water, concluding production in December 2020.
Photo: D23
This meant that Avatar 3 was completed before Avatar: The Way of Water was released to theaters.
According to Cameron, filming on Avatar 3 was much easier than Avatar: The Way of Water.
Photo: Disney
“Three is actually much more straightforward than two,” Cameron told People. “Two, we got hit with the pandemic in the middle of it and we were interrupted, and then we had to reboot and reboot the production and all that sort of thing. And it was a scramble to get it done.”
‘Avatar 3’ Will Focus on Character Depth
In a recent interview with GQ magazine, Cameron explained that by expanding the story of Avatar, he hopes to create a franchise that prioritizes its characters, not just its technological breakthroughs.
Photo: Avatar
“The big [creative] advance in [‘Avatar 3’] is just going to be greater character depth,” Cameron said.
Source: 20th Century Studios
“We’re seeing new cultures, new creatures — all the same stuff you’d expect from an ‘Avatar’ movie, but the whole idea of this cycle of films is to live with these people and go on this epic journey with them. So I think it’s not about, ‘We’re going to show you the best water [VFX] ever done’ — but you get more into the heart and soul of the characters. And there’s some very interesting new characters that come in as well. This is a journey over time. It will play out through movie three, into movie four and movie five. There’s an epic cycle to the whole thing.”
‘Avatar 4’ Will Feature a Time Jump
As it turns out, Cameron even shot sections of Avatar 4 during this time to ensure age continuity among the film’s characters.
Source: 20th Century Studios
“We did the [motion capture] capture on three and the live-action photography on three as an intermingled production with [‘Avatar: The Way of Water’], and we even did part of movie four because our young characters are all going to have a big time jump in movie four,” Cameron said.
As previously revealed, Avatar 4 will be set six years after the events of Avatar 3. While Cameron has filmed parts of the fourth film, he still needs to shoot the rest, along with the entirety of Avatar 5.
Photo: Walt Disney Co./Courtesy Everett Collection
“We see them and then we go away for six years and we come back,” he added. “And so the part where we come back is the part we haven’t shot yet. So we’ll start on that after three is released.”
Photo: Disney/Everett Collection
As of this writing, Avatar 3 is set to hit theaters on December 19, 2025. Avatar 4 will then be released on December 21, 2029. If the pattern holds up, Avatar 5 will be released on December 19, 2031. That would be an astounding 22 years after the original film hit theaters in 2009.
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